{"id":4547,"date":"2016-01-20T14:19:53","date_gmt":"2016-01-20T20:19:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/pilgrimsroadtrip\/?p=4547"},"modified":"2016-01-21T08:09:43","modified_gmt":"2016-01-21T14:09:43","slug":"can-two-dimensional-non-community-be-church","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/pilgrimsroadtrip\/2016\/01\/can-two-dimensional-non-community-be-church\/","title":{"rendered":"Can Two-Dimensional Non-Community Be Church?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

In a world where many large Protestant churches livestream their services online, where both Catholic and Evangelicals\/Charismatics have their own basic cable networks, why show up in person at a local church when you can watch a much slicker version of church on your computer or TV? Why show up at a local church when the \u201cquality\u201d of the worship service may seem like a low-budget version of old school\u00a0TV talent show Ted Mack\u2019s Amateur Hour<\/em> and the group dynamics scream middle school instead of radical community defined by the love of Jesus<\/a>?<\/p>\n<\/iframe>\nFurther, the trend toward <a href=\"http:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/edstetzer\/2014\/february\/multisite-churches-are-here-to-stay.html\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">multi-site churches<\/a> in the Evangelical world means even if you do show up at a local church, you may be sitting in a room with other people watching at least part of a service on a big screen. Certainly broadcasting of church services is not a new phenomenon. Church services aimed at the housebound\u00a0have been aired since radio\u2019s early days.\u00a0I\u2019ve relied on Christian radio programming for spiritual nurture at different points and in different measures throughout my faith journey.<\/p>\nAfter more than a year and a half attending a big box church with a number of multi-site locations that also livestreams its services online, I\u00a0have had the same basic experience of church sitting in the comfy theater seats (sans cupholders) that a person would viewing the service on a screen. While there have been a few 3-D moments throughout that time, notably communion and a couple of all-congregation service projects, almost all of our time at the church\u00a0has been very two-dimensional.<\/p>\nThere are some very good reasons for watching a church service on a screen, so I can\u2019t dismiss the option out of hand. It is a wonderful gift for those too ill or frail to attend in person, in caregiving roles, with work schedules that don\u2019t permit it, or those who may be prohibited, as I was for the first three years of my faith journey, from attending church in person.<\/p>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/340\/2016\/01\/unnamed.jpg\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright wp-image-4551\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/340\/2016\/01\/unnamed.jpg\" alt=\"unnamed\" width=\"260\" height=\"174\"><\/a>I wonder if\u00a0churches making a big, expensive effort to broadcast their services are doing so only with these groups in mind. From the literature I\u2019ve read on the topic over the years and from the way the online option is framed at the church we currently attend, I don\u2019t think so. I get the impression they recognize that more and more people are\u00a0choosing a virtual version of church. Some are those from the Done category \u2013 people who\u2019ve been burned by dysfunction in an earlier 3-D church experience. Some are those who\u2019ve adopted a self-curated approach to their spiritual lives by choosing what is most pleasing out of the banquet of offerings available to us these days. A couple of decades ago, many in the church bashed the way in pop spirituality encouraged this approach: \u201cMix one part yoga class, one part crystals, and three parts Oprah\u201d. Now the church has enabled some to add church services to their own personal smorgasbord.<\/p>\nPerhaps we\u2019ve always done this to some degree. At some point, those of us serious about discipleship discover our local church can\u2019t be the only thing nurturing our spiritual growth. I\u2019ve always supplemented what I\u2019ve learned from my local church through personal spiritual discipline, service outside the four walls of the church, reading, conferences, prayer gatherings, retreats, and countless conversations over coffee.<\/p>\nI understand that a percentage of those watching are not-yet-believers, and may be watching from a safe distance in order to figure out if church\u00a0is for them. I know many others streaming church services have been burned by previous involvement in a local church. They love Jesus, but can\u2019t bear the thought of repeating the insanity again. Watching from a safe distance means they can maintain some level of engagement without risk. Others don\u2019t like the church options in their particular neck of the woods, so they can either replace or supplement what\u2019s available with what they prefer.<\/p>\nThis is where it gets tricky. If church is simply one more item in the buffet line, we\u2019ve reduced it to something far less than what it is meant to be. Scripture never speaks of the church in terms of being a two-dimensional item or just one more consumer menu item on the 57 foot-long steam table of spirituality. There have been plenty of times in my life when I wished it were so \u2013 recovering from spiritual abuse and some of the dysfunctional churches of which we\u2019ve been a part have made an individualistic approach to following Jesus a mighty tempting line of thinking. But I can\u2019t get past the picture of embodied, three-dimensional community that began with Jesus\u2019 first \u201cFollow me\u201d invitation to a prospective disciple and continued like a line drive through the day of Pentecost all the way to here and now.<\/p>\nA building or an organization is not the church \u2013 nor, for that matter, is it merely a corporate worship service. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.biblegateway.com\/passage\/?search=1+Cor+12%3A12-14&version=NIV\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">The church is a living organism<\/a> with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.biblegateway.com\/passage\/?search=col+1%3A18&version=NIV\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">Jesus the Messiah as its head<\/a>. I am grateful for the provision of a number of spaces in my life that have functioned as a kind of \u201cmicro-church\u201d for me during this sojourn at the mega church: a Bible study, the classroom, and all those places I\u2019ve shared\u00a0a cup of coffee or a meal with another believer. I\u2019m grateful for the virtual fellowship I have with a number of friends online. But these are all relationships of my own buffet-line choice. The whole lot is a gift, and an expression of the big C Church.<\/p>\nI understand that a local church is also an expression of that same big C Church. However, she is called to function differently than a self-selected subset grouping of the Church does. A\u00a0church body gathers to give one another the gifts God has given us, worship and learn together, and schelp ourselves\u00a0together \u2013 in all our messy diversity \u2013 to God\u2019s table.<\/p>\nBut being an audience member at a megachurch for the last year and 3\/4 has reinforced in me the notion that Christianity can never be a two-dimensional, individualistic faith.\u00a0There are times in our lives when we must be on our own, and God\u2019s grace connects us to himself and his body in profoundly mystical ways. But when we have the freedom to choose to be a part of a church community, and select the buffet line instead, we go hungry.<\/p>\nWhat do you think? Has your faith been sustained by the buffet line and drained by the church? Are you experiencing community in your local congregation?\u00a0<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-sa\/3.0\/deed.en\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">License<\/span><\/a>:\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/upload.wikimedia.org\/wikipedia\/commons\/1\/14\/Living_in_a_black_hole..JPG\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">Image source<\/a>\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In a world where many large Protestant churches livestream their services online, where both Catholic and Evangelicals\/Charismatics have their own basic cable networks, why show up in person at a local church when you can watch a much slicker version of church on your computer or TV? Why show up at a local church when […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1449,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19,4,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4547","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-church-and-ministry","category-ecclesiology","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n<title>Can Two-Dimensional Non-Community Be Church? - Pilgrim's Road Trip<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"In a world where many large Protestant churches livestream their services online, where both Catholic and Evangelicals\/Charismatics have their own basic\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/pilgrimsroadtrip\/2016\/01\/can-two-dimensional-non-community-be-church\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Can Two-Dimensional Non-Community Be Church? 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