It may be hard to believe, but eventually things will return to normal. When that occurs is difficult to say, and I’m sure I speak for everyone when I say we all hope it will be sooner rather than later. No one actually enjoys masks, social distancing, and college football without fans.

*Though I must say: if no fans means NC State can actually pull out wins like they did against Wake Forest last Saturday…then I’m all for empty stadiums! Why mess with a good thing?

*I must also say that I fully expect that theory to be put to rest this weekend. Sigh.

My point is this: we all want life to go back to some sort of normal. We want it sooner rather than later.

And when we get there, many of us are going to face a choice that has nothing to do with health concerns: Am I going back to church?

“We’re playing it safe” becomes “It’s easier this way”

Right now, playing it safe is a logical position. For many, coming back to a gathering just feels a little risky right now. There’s nothing wrong with that, and I fully appreciate those who are inclined that way.

However, I believe, even now, that “We’re playing it safe” will morph into or is morphing into “It’s just easier for us to not go”, whether we realize that or not.

And that position is completely understandable…because it’s true. 

Watching a message online involved a less than 60-minute commitment. In our case, it’s about a 35-45 minute commitment. That’s it.

Compare that to the process of attending a Sunday morning gathering: waking up, getting ready, getting the kids ready, getting breakfast, getting out the door, arriving to church, being there for about 60-75 minutes, and coming home.

Even the most optimistic scenario is a 2-3 hour commitment on an off day. It’s likely closer to 4 hours, and if you’re serving in one gathering and attending another, it’s closer to a 5-6 hour commitment when you include the process of getting ready, drive time, and so on.

There’s no sense in trying to deny the obvious: It is way easier to just attend online. 

But “easy” is almost never “best.” Especially in this case.

You can’t get THIS online

I’m a big Skillet fan, and one of my favorite things to do is attend one of their concerts. It’s always an amazing experience, and one of the things I look forward to when things are back to normal is going to a concert- in person.

Now- can I pull up a full-length concert of their’s on YouTube, put it on my TV, and crank the volume up? Sure.

But- for those of us who are music lovers- I don’t think any of us would try to say that is remotely close to the experience of attending a concert in person.

The comparison isn’t perfect, but the principle is the same: Yes, you can attend church online, and from a functional standpoint, you can get the same thing you get in person in the sense that you can get the same content.

But online church where we watch with our family on the couch will never be able to recreate what happens when we gather together corporately as the body of Christ. Particularly, online church cannot create two major things that make gathering together such a unique and powerful experience. I’ll outline those below, but before I do so, I feel compelled to say this:

I’ll admit that, as a pastor, I like a full room. Every pastor does. Frankly, it’s just easier to preach to a full room than an empty room.

However: this post has absolutely nothing to do with getting our room full of people. I don’t want anything FROM you- what I do want is something FOR you. 

And it just so happens that what I want for you involves gathering in person- and the reason I want these things for you is because I have experienced them myself, and I can tell you that my life and walk with Jesus is so much better with them.

With that said…here are the two things online church simply cannot provide that can only be found when we gather in person:

#1- You cannot experience the same community online that you experience in person. 

I disagree that online relationships and connections are not real. They are. In fact, in many cases online relationships can be more transparent than in person ones, as many people will share things online, for better or worse, they would never have the courage to share in person.

However…while you can achieve a degree of transparency online and a great level of connection, no one would dare to argue that online connections compare to a real, authentic, in-person connection.

That’s precisely the type of connection all of us were created for.

We were not made to be distant and we were not made to be separate. We were not made to do life alone. We were made to do life in connection with other people. We were made to hug, to high-five, to fist-bump, to shake hands. We were made for personal, face-to-face conversations.

There’s something in us that comes alive when we are together and in relationship with other people- something that even the best online platform simply cannot duplicate. That can only be achieved when we gather together in person.

We’re missing that to our own detriment if we choose the easy way when things are safe.

#2- Online church cannot create the worship environment an in-person gathering does. 

It’s hard to quantify or put a finger on, but there is something deeply supernatural that happens when we gather together as the body of Christ to sing to Jesus. It’s similar to the feeling of being in a crowd at a concert as opposed to watching a concert online- there’s just something different- and better- about being together in a room singing to Jesus.

Maybe that’s because it’s a picture of what heaven is going to be like. Perhaps the reason gathering together corporately and singing feels so special and powerful is because, as believers, it’s perhaps the one thing we do together on this earth that provides an echo of our true home. Perhaps it’s much like the feeling of entering your own house after a long trip away, and saying to yourself “There really is no place like home”; maybe, just maybe, corporate worship is the breath of fresh air our soul needs each week that reminds us “There’s no place like home” and points us to our future with Christ for all eternity.

Even the best online experience cannot provide that.

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Online church is not going anywhere. There are a number of reasons we will continue to provide our messages online, not the least of which is that it allows us to get in front of people who would never come through the doors of a physical location.

But even in those instances, it’s our desire that eventually those who find us online will join us in person. Because, while online church is great and can accomplish some great things, there are simply things it can never accomplish that we can only experience by being together in person.

As long as we must play it safe- it’s OK to play it safe. But when it’s time to come back- and for some of you, the time is now- let’s come back with joy, let’s connect in community, and let’s worship together as a body of believers united under King Jesus.

Yes- that will require a longer Sunday morning. It’ll require us to inconvenience ourselves. It’ll require going through what feels like a hassle, especially if you’re trying to get kids ready!

But our lives will be so much richer for it. And I believe embracing the inconvenience will move us towards a greater level of surrender to Jesus, a greater posture of worship towards Jesus, and when Jesus has our hearts, He’ll have our hands doing His work in the world for the good of others.