“I think people worshipping online is a diminishment if they could be in person,” Warren told Religion News Service.
Warren’s column led to pushback from Caudill and others for whom online worship has been a vital part of their spiritual life — in particular, older worshippers, those with health concerns or those who attended churches where COVID-19 safety protocols have been stopped.
Others argued that streaming services is part of a long tradition of churches turning to technology to expand the reach of their ministries.
Jenna DeWitt, a queer Christian and copy editor for a software company, said her home church has been broadcasting services on the radio for three decades and added streaming during the pandemic to increase its reach. Doing so caused some headaches — her dad helped set up the streaming and it was hard work, she said — but was worth it because it meant more people could access the church’s teachings about God.
DeWitt, who attends an open and affirming United Methodist church in Southern California, said some queer Christians don’t live near such churches, and having services online lets them connect with affirming congregations. Online services have also allowed queer Christians to observe what happens in a church before they show up and find they aren’t welcome, she added.
Church leaders talk about Christianity being an “embodied religion” as a way of stressing the importance of in-person services, said DeWitt, who curates a Queer Christian Twitter feed. But not everyone’s body is accepted in every church, she emphasized.
“A lot of queer people have really damaging messages, really unloving messages from Christian churches,” she said. “To find one that claims to be welcoming or inclusive or affirming is very important and sometimes impossible to do in your physical location.”
In an interview with RNS, Warren said she supported the decision by churches to offer online worship during the pandemic, saying it was important for public health and the spiritual well-being of congregations when meeting in person was not possible. But she argues that emergency pastoral response should not become a regular part of the life of the church. With vaccines and the return of in-person worship, she said, churches should rethink the practice of offering online worship as a regular option for everyone.
A cellphone is used on March 28, 2020, to livestream Mass by Archbishop Paul D. Etienne at St. James Cathedral, the cathedral for the Catholic Archdiocese of Seattle. Open Masses had been suspended at the time because of the coronavirus outbreak. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson)
Instead, she said, pastors and churches could use streaming as an extension of their ministries to shut-ins and others who cannot attend services in person. Churches have long had a practice of pastors or volunteers bringing Communion to the elderly and those who are ill — and of distributing recordings of services as part of that ministry. That option could still be offered with streaming, she said, with a link given to those who need it as part of a conversation with a pastor.
Her concern comes when Christians see online worship as a replacement for in-person services — which she sees as part of a larger trend of people interacting with one another online rather than face to face. Gathering in person to worship and partake of sacraments is an essential Christian practice that can’t be replicated online, she said.
Some recent data from the Hartford Institute for Religion Research suggests churches might want to keep streaming services even after returning to in-person worship. According to a study of pandemic responses by 2,700 congregations from 38 denominations, churches with a hybrid approach — with both in-person and online services — saw reported worship attendance growing by 4.5%. Churches that only met in person saw attendance decline by 15.7%, while those that only met online declined by 7.3%.
Still, the streaming of services has come with a cost.
