Comments on: Attend Easter Services from Home http://tonymorganlive.com/2009/04/10/attend-easter-services-from-home/ Trying to be strategic. Wed, 23 May 2012 19:05:27 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.2 By: Kevin http://tonymorganlive.com/2009/04/10/attend-easter-services-from-home/#comment-12955 Kevin Tue, 14 Apr 2009 21:03:02 +0000 http://tonymorganlive.com/?p=3580#comment-12955 Scrolling down later, I hadn't yet read the "chicken v. liver" post. My last post could be simplified to this: online can't and shouldn't be church's chicken (and I apologize for that very, very bad pun). Kevin Scrolling down later, I hadn’t yet read the “chicken v. liver” post. My last post could be simplified to this: online can’t and shouldn’t be church’s chicken (and I apologize for that very, very bad pun).

Kevin

]]> By: Kevin http://tonymorganlive.com/2009/04/10/attend-easter-services-from-home/#comment-12946 Kevin Tue, 14 Apr 2009 19:27:28 +0000 http://tonymorganlive.com/?p=3580#comment-12946 Tony, I appreciate web resources as much or more than the average person, and think that having sermons available online is a very good resource. However, I would submit that the chief purpose of online resources should be first auxilary - that is, in addition to church service. The second purpose would be "if-necessary substitutionary" - that is, if someone is in a place not serviced by a church that particular Sunday. The tertiary purpose (and I am not sure of it) would be introductory - to someone who wants to "check out" what's going on without coming. I strongly believe that the church is not about the sermon, but the totality of the Body of Christ. To experience a service from the comfort of home should be a temporary experience, as all three purposes show - additional, substitutionary, or introductory. To spend 30 minutes on a couch or treadmill listening to a person, rather than experiencing the "happy chaos" of the time before and after the service, to have a person come up and ask about you, is to deny a vital part of church. As much as the words of sermons were good news to me before I became a Christian, I was much more impacted by how Christians interacted and showed true love and community. The three purposes I mentioned may be your church's reasons for having online services. If so, however, I would say that the way it is described in this post is that online services *can* take the place of live services in a person's life, and I do not believe this can not be the case. There is a difference between hearing a sermon and "going to church". Community is not an option - it is a vital part of the good news. I will be interested in your response. In Him, Kevin Tony,

I appreciate web resources as much or more than the average person, and think that having sermons available online is a very good resource. However, I would submit that the chief purpose of online resources should be first auxilary – that is, in addition to church service. The second purpose would be “if-necessary substitutionary” – that is, if someone is in a place not serviced by a church that particular Sunday. The tertiary purpose (and I am not sure of it) would be introductory – to someone who wants to “check out” what’s going on without coming.

I strongly believe that the church is not about the sermon, but the totality of the Body of Christ. To experience a service from the comfort of home should be a temporary experience, as all three purposes show – additional, substitutionary, or introductory. To spend 30 minutes on a couch or treadmill listening to a person, rather than experiencing the “happy chaos” of the time before and after the service, to have a person come up and ask about you, is to deny a vital part of church. As much as the words of sermons were good news to me before I became a Christian, I was much more impacted by how Christians interacted and showed true love and community.

The three purposes I mentioned may be your church’s reasons for having online services. If so, however, I would say that the way it is described in this post is that online services *can* take the place of live services in a person’s life, and I do not believe this can not be the case. There is a difference between hearing a sermon and “going to church”. Community is not an option – it is a vital part of the good news.

I will be interested in your response.

In Him,

Kevin

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