Electronic Church Crisis

Our reaction to the Covid 19 virus is creating within our young people “an electronic church crisis”. Unlike the older people in our congregations, our younger members are accustomed to and very comfortable using electronic media to communicate with others and gather information “On Line”. This is causing a mindset within this group that is allowing them to be just as happy to stay at home and miss church as to attend at the building. And to make this situation worse and to allow this mindset to prevail, we have announced to the congregations that “staying at home and watching on line” is perfectly fine and acceptable. Now in the beginning of this pandemic many people felt like we had a Bible mandate to assemble together due to the Scripture in Hebrews 10:25.

And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.

Because of the strong feelings about this Bible command, many people were unsure and uncomfortable with having church on line. And because there seemed to be no alternative at the time, church leaders set out to try to relieve people’s minds by announcing publicly that it was perfectly acceptable to God that we have our services by electronic media.

But now, looking back and looking ahead, we can see where this “lack of assembly” is leading the church. Some congregations are having some forms of assembly again but none seem to be back to normal. In fact, with blocking pews and face masks and social distancing, most congregations are having very abbreviated services at best. This has the “look” of some kind of “new normal” with the church of Christ. For years many denominational churches have had one assembly on a Sunday morning only, with very little attention paid to Bible classes and Bible studies. But this has not been so with the church of Christ. We have always had several assemblies each week. A typical week could include AM and PM services on Sunday that include a Sunday morning Bible class and a mid-week Wednesday assembly for Bible study. Most congregations also have other weekly assemblies for Bible classes and women’s classes as well as teen and young people’s assemblies. And now this lack of assembly is taking its toll on many of us. I think most of our members are feeling this change in their motivation for assembling together as we once did.

In reviewing this Scripture in Hebrews 10:25, I have a new understanding of what God knew about the importance of assembling together as a church. Frankly, to stop this assembly takes its toll on all of us. Some will not recover and their salvation will be in jeopardy because they are losing their enthusiasm for Jesus and the church. It is time that we stop giving a green light to electronic assemblies and missing church as though it was OK and acceptable to God as a “new type of assembly”.

            We need to use every means we can to make it perfectly clear to every member of the church that it is not OK to forsake the assembling of ourselves together and substitute a “stay at home electronic assembly” as a “new normal” for the church of Christ. This is not what the Bible is referring to when it tells us not to forsake the assembling of ourselves together.

Now here is the hard part and the loop hole for some.

Yes, there are some who will need to stay at home and not assemble together. We don’t expect the sick to attend the assembly. This could infect many other people. And there are some whose health and mobility just won’t permit them to come. No one is telling these people that it is sinful for them to stay at home and watch the services on line, which is the best that they can do. For these people the electronic assembly is better than no assembly at all.  But even with these groups it should never be portrayed as a proper alternative to a personal assembly but only as a temporary substitute until they can do better. It should never be said or even hinted at that skipping the assembling of ourselves together and substituting the electronic media is a proper replacement to a regular assembly of the church.

We are not in normal times, no one disputes that. But you can rest assured that a prolonged flight from our assemblies will take its toll on the church. You can already see it having the effect of reducing the numbers when the congregation is cleared for an assembly. You can also see very short services and a lack of meeting more than once per week. If this does not change soon our membership will suffer great loses.

What can we do about this?

            Well, first off we must get the word out that skipping these assemblies is just not acceptable. People must be told that skipping assemblies will weaken the church and is not an acceptable situation. If we are forced to cancel some assemblies because of Government mandates or the Covid pandemic it is not an acceptable alternative to convert to electronic media as a new normal but is only a poor substitute as a very temporary alternative. We must not give the implication that the electronic live stream honors the command in Hebrews 10: 25 to assemble ourselves together properly.

If we give the impression that assembling ourselves can be done acceptably with the computer while we shelter at home by ourselves or with our families then it will not be very long until this will be the choice of many people who find this convenient for them as normal. This will lead to a weakening of their faith and commitment to Jesus and the church.

We must not let Satan find his way into the church through the Covid 19 pandemic. God knew what He was doing when He instructed us in Hebrews 10: 25; And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, 25 not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.

Carl O. Cooper