Please hear me out. Pastors, I believe we need to be very careful in our use of terms during these unprecedented times in history. No, you will not be having church online. In fact, it is not possible to have “church” online.
Based on some of the comments I have heard and read recently, I am getting the sense that way too many laymen are equating “church” with sitting on the couch in their pajamas while Pastor Jones preaches an online sermon. If we are not careful to define our terms to our people during these temporary interruptions from assembly, we may find that we lose some church members to outperforming online personalities and ministries by the time this pandemic is over.
I thank God for technology that allows pastors to record and even live stream messages directly to their folks over the internet. I thank God for the genuine encouragement and challenges I have personally received through online messages recently. I encourage all of you to use modern technology in every way you can to minister and to edify the flock God has entrusted to your care. I am not recommending that we all ignore the risks and meet anyway. What I am recommending today is that we take care not to unintentionally teach our people to think that “church” can be done online, or that these temporary, live stream messages are legitimate, permanent solutions or substitutions. They are not.
Words and their meanings are important. By definition, the church (“ecclesia”) is a called-out assembly of believers. My intention is not to argue definitions and details of ecclesiology here. Let me just take some time to emphasizes the defining word “assembly.” The church is not a building. The church is not a pastor preaching a message while a group of people sit and listen. The church is not a live steam program (no matter how sophisticated it may be). The church is a called-out assembly of believers who are instructed to meet regularly (Heb 10:25).
Paul refers to the church as a “body” in Romans, 1 Corinthians, Ephesians, and Colossians. The first epistle to the church in Corinth goes into great detail about the activity and value of each member of the body. Every church member has a spiritual gift (1 Cor 12:1-11). Every member is different and necessary (1 Cor 12: 12-27). These spiritual gifts are given for the expressed purpose “that ye may excel to the edifying of the church” (1 Cor 14:12). The church does not assemble together exclusively to listen to the preaching of the word – even though the preaching of the Word is extremely important.
When a church assembles, every single member should prayerfully be looking for opportunities to use his or her spiritual gifts to edify the other members of the church. Every member – every gathering! We are not saved to sit; we are saved to serve (Eph 2:10). The preacher should preach. The servants should serve. The teachers should teach. The exhorters should exhort. The givers should give. The administrators should administrate, and the mercy showers should show mercy. These are just the spiritual gifts listed in Romans 12:6-8. Perhaps there are many others. My first point is that the church members are called to assemble in order to fellowship and edify one another. This is an essential component of why we assemble together. Some of these ministries can and should be done over the phone and in accordance with social distancing restrictions – during these unique times. However, assembly is God’s ideal and mandated method. The type of fellowship and edification described in the Scriptures simply cannot be done while watching and listening to a pastor preach online. “And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works: Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching” (Heb 10:24-25).
Not only can the members of the body not edify one another properly without meeting together, but secondly, corporate worship is not possible without physically gathering. I don’t mean to upset anyone here, but when I refer to corporate worship, I am not talking about singing together. I believe we do our churches a terrible disservice when we confine corporate worship to the musical segment of the service or when we call the music guy “the worship leader.” This philosophy is unwise at best. Every single aspect of the assembled church should be worship. I agree with Scott Aniol who says that "Worship is a spiritual response to God as a result of understanding biblical truth about God.” (John 4:24) Without a doubt, corporate singing is worship. However, the giving of tithes and offerings should also be worship. Testimonies, special music, corporate prayer, the proclamation of the Word, and even the invitation at the end of the service are all aspects of corporate worship.
So let me conclude. I am not trying to discourage anyone here from discontinuing your online teaching, preaching, and praying during normal service times. On the contrary, I have seen some pastors giving daily online devotionals. I love these ministry opportunities! I think these are all tremendous ideas - even though we all agree they are not ideal. My caution is that we are careful not to inadvertently convey to our church members that we are “meeting for church” online. While it is unsafe or temporarily unadvisable by our God-ordained government officials, some of us will not be assembling as local churches. These are tough calls we must all prayerfully make. Keep on preaching, feeding, and teaching the flock online if you can in the meantime – but be sure to explain that online ministry is different than assembly.
The church is a called-out assembly of believers who regularly meet to utilize their spiritual gifts to edify one another. The church is a body of individual members who physically gather for corporate worship. May we carefully and lovingly remind our folks that we are doing the best that we can during these difficult days? May I also encourage you to give the members a righteous thirst and a biblical anticipation for the day when we can meet together again as a church body - the way God intended. Genuine church (not to mention the ordinances of baptism and the Lord’s supper) cannot be done online. Let’s not mislead our people or pretend that it can. The long term results may be devastating for some of the sheep.
Based on some of the comments I have heard and read recently, I am getting the sense that way too many laymen are equating “church” with sitting on the couch in their pajamas while Pastor Jones preaches an online sermon. If we are not careful to define our terms to our people during these temporary interruptions from assembly, we may find that we lose some church members to outperforming online personalities and ministries by the time this pandemic is over.
I thank God for technology that allows pastors to record and even live stream messages directly to their folks over the internet. I thank God for the genuine encouragement and challenges I have personally received through online messages recently. I encourage all of you to use modern technology in every way you can to minister and to edify the flock God has entrusted to your care. I am not recommending that we all ignore the risks and meet anyway. What I am recommending today is that we take care not to unintentionally teach our people to think that “church” can be done online, or that these temporary, live stream messages are legitimate, permanent solutions or substitutions. They are not.
Words and their meanings are important. By definition, the church (“ecclesia”) is a called-out assembly of believers. My intention is not to argue definitions and details of ecclesiology here. Let me just take some time to emphasizes the defining word “assembly.” The church is not a building. The church is not a pastor preaching a message while a group of people sit and listen. The church is not a live steam program (no matter how sophisticated it may be). The church is a called-out assembly of believers who are instructed to meet regularly (Heb 10:25).
Paul refers to the church as a “body” in Romans, 1 Corinthians, Ephesians, and Colossians. The first epistle to the church in Corinth goes into great detail about the activity and value of each member of the body. Every church member has a spiritual gift (1 Cor 12:1-11). Every member is different and necessary (1 Cor 12: 12-27). These spiritual gifts are given for the expressed purpose “that ye may excel to the edifying of the church” (1 Cor 14:12). The church does not assemble together exclusively to listen to the preaching of the word – even though the preaching of the Word is extremely important.
When a church assembles, every single member should prayerfully be looking for opportunities to use his or her spiritual gifts to edify the other members of the church. Every member – every gathering! We are not saved to sit; we are saved to serve (Eph 2:10). The preacher should preach. The servants should serve. The teachers should teach. The exhorters should exhort. The givers should give. The administrators should administrate, and the mercy showers should show mercy. These are just the spiritual gifts listed in Romans 12:6-8. Perhaps there are many others. My first point is that the church members are called to assemble in order to fellowship and edify one another. This is an essential component of why we assemble together. Some of these ministries can and should be done over the phone and in accordance with social distancing restrictions – during these unique times. However, assembly is God’s ideal and mandated method. The type of fellowship and edification described in the Scriptures simply cannot be done while watching and listening to a pastor preach online. “And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works: Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching” (Heb 10:24-25).
Not only can the members of the body not edify one another properly without meeting together, but secondly, corporate worship is not possible without physically gathering. I don’t mean to upset anyone here, but when I refer to corporate worship, I am not talking about singing together. I believe we do our churches a terrible disservice when we confine corporate worship to the musical segment of the service or when we call the music guy “the worship leader.” This philosophy is unwise at best. Every single aspect of the assembled church should be worship. I agree with Scott Aniol who says that "Worship is a spiritual response to God as a result of understanding biblical truth about God.” (John 4:24) Without a doubt, corporate singing is worship. However, the giving of tithes and offerings should also be worship. Testimonies, special music, corporate prayer, the proclamation of the Word, and even the invitation at the end of the service are all aspects of corporate worship.
So let me conclude. I am not trying to discourage anyone here from discontinuing your online teaching, preaching, and praying during normal service times. On the contrary, I have seen some pastors giving daily online devotionals. I love these ministry opportunities! I think these are all tremendous ideas - even though we all agree they are not ideal. My caution is that we are careful not to inadvertently convey to our church members that we are “meeting for church” online. While it is unsafe or temporarily unadvisable by our God-ordained government officials, some of us will not be assembling as local churches. These are tough calls we must all prayerfully make. Keep on preaching, feeding, and teaching the flock online if you can in the meantime – but be sure to explain that online ministry is different than assembly.
The church is a called-out assembly of believers who regularly meet to utilize their spiritual gifts to edify one another. The church is a body of individual members who physically gather for corporate worship. May we carefully and lovingly remind our folks that we are doing the best that we can during these difficult days? May I also encourage you to give the members a righteous thirst and a biblical anticipation for the day when we can meet together again as a church body - the way God intended. Genuine church (not to mention the ordinances of baptism and the Lord’s supper) cannot be done online. Let’s not mislead our people or pretend that it can. The long term results may be devastating for some of the sheep.
