The concept of community has changed a little in these COVID times. It has become much more broadly defined. A community is no longer just a group of people dwelling in close physical proximity to one another. Nor is a community only a collection of human beings meeting together in-person on a regular basis. A community can be a gathering of strangers and friends talking to one another on a Zoom call on their computers from various locations in the country. A community can be people sitting in their own homes watching the same event at the same time on screen. Community now means any way in which people are united through a shared experience.
We in the church must adjust to this new definition of community and come to accept that not all members are as drawn to the common community of worship in the church building. Many are more comfortable for whatever reason in exclusively participating in online Christian communities, even as restrictions may have eased for in-person church. The ways of “going to church” are much more varied and fluid than they once were. That is why so many church are continuing to offer a hybrid mixture of in-person and online offerings. That combination approach to community is not going away anytime soon, it seems.
But that does not mean that we stop cultivating community. On the contrary, we as a Church need to do all we can to offer programs and events and worship experiences that are conducive to community. Are there ways that the online community can reach out to the in-person community through on-screen messages that can be projected to those in the pews? Are there ways that the worship leader can include the online community in church worship with encouraging greetings specifically to them?
No group or gathering of Christian believers should be left out in the cold. Open the door to every group that seeks to enter into the ministry of faith happening around you. That can only lead to growth.
