Page 15 - Digital Church in a Lonely World

In his book Irresistible, Adam Alter reports, “In late 2010, [Steve] Jobs told New York Times journalist
Nick Bilton that his children had never used the iPad 2: ‘We limit how much technology our kids use
in the home.’ This is unsettling. Why are the world’s greatest public technocrats also its greatest private
technophobes?” 9

It may be easy to think: We are getting views, engagement and interaction online, so isn’t that church?
However, we must dig a little deeper in the online numbers. For example, how many of the 500 views
your online church received this week were actually from worshippers watching the live feed as a sacred,
exclusive experience? Could they have been live streaming church while they made breakfast waffles
instead? Is it too cute to say, “Views ain’t the same as pews?”

ACTS 2:42,46 (NKJV)

42
And they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread,
and in prayers.
46
So continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they
ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart.

The early Church was connected in a community, and the word they used for it was koinonia.
Something beautiful bursts out of this word. It is more than just socializing: It refers to sharing of life,
resources and practical needs. It also expresses a sense of mutual responsibility for each other.

There was content (doctrine) and community (koinonia). Together, they form the two most
indispensable foundations of the local church.

This was not a casual undertaking. The first Christians devoted themselves to it as part of the practice of
following Jesus. In fact, their devotion to doctrine and fellowship were spoken in the same breath. They
didn’t see doctrine as the truest form of faith, or sharing their lives with others as an optional extra. They
saw doctrine and real-life community as intimately connected. They shared life, not just a church.

For the first church, community was something sacred and hands-on. The gospel reconciled God to
humanity, and it also reconciled us to each other. We become the family of God, seated around his table
in fellowship.

The social community of the Church was not a casual undertaking.
The first Christians devoted themselves to it as part of the practice of
following Jesus. In fact, their devotion to doctrine and fellowship were
spoken in the same breath.

DIGITAL CHURCH IN A LONELY WORLD 15