One of the many government over-reaches of the COVID epidemic was forcing churches to shut down for worship. As a result, congregations put services online.
Now that the COVID nightmare has passed, many congregations are still broadcasting their regular services online, which is proving helpful for members who are sick, shut in, or traveling. There are accounts too that online services are having an outreach and evangelistic effect, helping to bring in new members and convert the lost.
But reportedly, church attendance has not completely picked up post-COVID. According to Ronald Beaty, “one in three practicing Christians stopped attending during the pandemic’s peak, and while some trickled back, weekly in-person attendance among evangelicals — once exceeding 50% — now hovers near 35–40%.”
But quite a few of these delinquent members are still attending, but virtually. He says, “Online worship persists, with 15–20% of believers logging in rather than showing up.” He cites another study: “Pew Research noted in 2022 that 30% of regular attendees shifted online, and many stayed.”
There are many issues here. We need to heed and obey Hebrews 10:24–25: “And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.” Some might say, though, “but are we not ‘meeting together’ online?”
We go to church to receive God’s gifts of Word and Sacraments, which build us up in our faith. We can’t receive Holy Communion online–though some online viewers have been told to hold up a little piece of bread and a glass of wine up the screen for it to be consecrated. The Lutheran Church Missouri Synod has emphatically said, “NO! YOU CAN’T DO THAT.” But churches that think the sacrament is nothing more than a symbol do not have such a problem with that, though even some of the non-sacramental churches oppose virtual communion on principle. (See this post.)
Some churches exist entirely online. Some hold services in the “metaverse,” with members existing as “avatars” and practicing virtual baptisms without water.
Of course, online services don’t have to go to such extremes. One could argue that of course in-person services are far and away better. But at least the Word is being proclaimed and heard when someone watches a service online. No, that person can’t receive the sacrament, but isn’t the Word better than nothing, especially for a member who would attend in person but can’t?
The reason I bring all of this up is that I’ve been scrutinizing all of these statistics from the Religious Landscape Survey. In considering church attendance figures, do online viewers count as attending? Should they? If so, church attendance figures may be higher than researchers realize.
In digging into the question, I learn that many churches are counting online viewers or are trying to, with various suggestions as to how that might be done. Read this.
The main issue I’d like your opinion on is this: Should online viewers “count” as having attended church, for the purpose of either formal reporting or in tracking and exercising church discipline on inactive members?
Please weigh in on that, but if you want to say something about these other issues, feel free. If your church has a particular way of handling such things, I’d like to hear about it.
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