Page 36 - Digital Church in a Lonely World

The proliferation of online options, combined with staggering rates
of loneliness, provides local churches with a unique opportunity to
provide a desperately needed solution: in-person community

In-person church attendance should not be the boundary of our Christian practice for the week. Rather,
it should serve as a spiritual keystone habit: By this one action, we fuel the many other expressions of
our faith. Church attendance should have a multiplier effect.

My life has greatly benefited from physical institutions providing online offerings. For example, I’ve
been afforded the opportunity to study at world-class universities like Stanford because of their online
programs. I have learned from some of the best business leaders in the world through free podcasts.
My own content has been able to reach a global audience because of online platforms. In fact, content
delivery is perhaps more effective online than in person. I’m an advocate of all that online platforms
bring. Even if I were not, I would say it is an unavoidable tsunami that is, literally, changing almost
every part of the fabric of society.

But the proliferation of online options, combined with staggering rates of loneliness, provides local
churches with a unique opportunity to provide a desperately needed solution: in-person community. We
must create online onramps, especially to reach digital natives, but we don’t need to replace or demote
the importance of physical community in doing so.

Personally, I have discovered that I grow best spiritually when I am in community. God seems to use
other people to play a crucial role in our spiritual formation. Let’s dispel the myth that we grow through
consuming content alone. What we need is content plus community.

36