Over at the Out of Ur blog, a continuing conversation has been going on about the book I reviewed in my last post, SimChurch. The author of the book posted a response to critics on October 22nd and then today a response to that response was posted by Bob Hyatt.  Both are interesting and continue the debate…

• In Defense of Virtual Church
• Virtual Church is STILL a Bad Idea

If you have read this blog before, you know that I have been a critic of online church. However, as a lover of technology and the Internet, I am always open to thinking in new ways about things and want to see how technology can be used to share the message of Christ.  But I am also a realist: I know that just because we can do church online does not mean that we should. So I read this book with an open mind and heart – looking for new ways of thinking about online church.

Some highlights of SimChurch for me included:

• a definition of virtual church as “a virtually localized assembly of the people of God dwelling in meaningful community with the task of building the kingdom.”
• the author taking on those who would use the church as described in Acts 2 as a way to discredit the virtual church.  The early church existed at a special time in history and we will never fully be able to recapture it.  Churches today cannot expect to do everything that the Acts 2 church did.
• the discussion of how our Western worldview clouds our understanding of “presence”.  Defining presence as the location of our bodies is not a God-given or Biblical idea.
• a challenge to Christians to be ever vigilant on how we conduct ourselves. Since everything we do virtually is recorded in some way, we should be completely transparent about our online lives. Identity and authenticity will be key issues in the virtual church.
• to be seen as real churches, virtual churches must begin to offer communion. The exact methods as to how to do it must be worked out by each individual church within their traditions and understanding.  Baptisms should also be offered.
• The online church will need to leverage their strengths to do things that physical-world church cannot do (or at least cannot do well).

Douglas Estes is a supporter of online church and in this book he makes a very good case that it is important that these churches continue to move forward and meet the challenges they will face head on. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book and was encouraged to think deeper about online church.

Unfortunately, I am still not convinced that the participation in a church service accessed over the Internet and mediated via a computer is the same as actually attending a church physically.  In my experience, the types of worship, fellowship, and community experienced online is anemic compared to what one can get by fully participating in a physical-world church (not to mention the issues with communion and baptism). Now this would not be a big issue to me if it were not for the fact that these online churches never encourage those participating online to find to a physical-world church. I was hoping that SimChurch would address this question, but it did not.

Now let me reiterate, I believe it is imperative that Christians take to the Internet as a mission field and learn to understand it well. I wouldn’t spend so much of time helping churches do this if I did not feel it was important. Using the Internet should be an integral part of a church’s ministry. And being there to meet with and minister to those in the virtual world should be part of what they do. And yes, even providing the ability for someone to experience a church service online can be part of the ministry – but it should be made clear that every believer needs to find a physical community to be a part of as well.

Overall I think that SimChurch does a great job of exploring online church and its implications. If you are looking for a deeper understanding of this phenomenon, then I recommend this book.  And if you never have participated in an online church service, I encourage you to do so at the now over forty different Internet campuses available.  Just remember to also attend church in “real life” as well.