Will The Church Morph from It's Physical Presence in the World?

[Angelina]

Technology has been advancing so dramatically over the last hundred years, it's just incredible. We had television sets, radiograms with the old fashioned record players to devices that we can now carry in our pockets or plug into our ear if we want to listen to any kind of music we want.

Today, we can buy sell or exchange, listen to on-line sermons and talk to other Christians around the world through social media and basically, we do not need to leave home. I'm wondering how things are going to advance in the future as a Church that gathers in a building. I have been looking for a Christian family for some time now and am still struggling to find a body of believers that I would want to be a part of and I think it's important to be a part of what has been traditionally called and known as a Church body, whether they gather together in a building or home. Hebrews 10 tells us ~ 24 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.

My questions ~
1. How do you see the Church advancing in the future ie: will it still have a physical presence [Church building]?
2. Do you think that meeting together on-line is the same as meeting together in person?

 

[Born_Again]

Technology has been advancing so dramatically over the last hundred years, it's just incredible. We had television sets, radiograms with the old fashioned record players to devices that we can now carry in our pockets or plug into our ear if we want to listen to any kind of music we want.

Today, we can buy sell or exchange, listen to on-line sermons and talk to other Christians around the world through social media and basically, we do not need to leave home. I'm wondering how things are going to advance in the future as a Church that gathers in a building. I have been looking for a Christian family for some time now and am still struggling to find a body of believers that I would want to be a part of and I think it's important to be a part of what has been traditionally called and known as a Church body, whether they gather together in a building or home. Hebrews 10 tells us ~ 24 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.

My questions ~
1. How do you see the Church advancing in the future ie: will it still have a physical presence [Church building]?
2. Do you think that meeting together on-line is the same as meeting together in person?

1. The church certainly seems to be heading in the way of an on-line gathering more than a physical gathering.
2. No, I do not. Because part of the community of "church" is doing life together. I think it is virtually impossible to be the embodiment of the church over the cyber world in its completeness. You cant build homes, volunteer at shelters, or sit with someone and see the hurt in their eyes while you tell them about Jesus over the internet.

 

[Stranger]

Angelina

The on-line participation will never replace the local gathering of believers. On-line participation is just believers talking to one another. It's in the local gathering, or meeting, where the Holy Spirit ministers to each believer through the gifts He has given to every believer there present. Where evangelistic plans are made and carried out. It is a miraculous ministry done through the Holy Spirit through the individual believers there.

If you participate on-line, but don't have a local body that you attend, then you are not accountable. And you know it. The local body provides a covering over you for your protection and accountability. Cyber-world does not. The ordinance of the Lord's Supper brings us into accountability before God and the local church we attend.

You don't have to agree in everything to be part of a certain local church. But it is important that you go. Go and worship God and Christ with the people of God on a given day. The inter-net cannot replace that.

Stranger

 

[mjrhealth]

then you are not accountable. And you know it.

That is a lie, we are al lacountable to God, every single one of us, in chruch or not. We are part of teh body of Christ because we are in Him, not because we attend chruch.

 

[Born_Again]

I was once of the mind set that I didnt need church or fellowship. I am here to tell you, you do need it. Just hanging out and flexing spiritual muscle on forums does not do it. And we are certainly called to do more than that.

 

[tom55]

Technology has been advancing so dramatically over the last hundred years, it's just incredible. We had television sets, radiograms with the old fashioned record players to devices that we can now carry in our pockets or plug into our ear if we want to listen to any kind of music we want.

Today, we can buy sell or exchange, listen to on-line sermons and talk to other Christians around the world through social media and basically, we do not need to leave home. I'm wondering how things are going to advance in the future as a Church that gathers in a building. I have been looking for a Christian family for some time now and am still struggling to find a body of believers that I would want to be a part of and I think it's important to be a part of what has been traditionally called and known as a Church body, whether they gather together in a building or home. Hebrews 10 tells us ~ 24 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.

My questions ~
1. How do you see the Church advancing in the future ie: will it still have a physical presence [Church building]?
2. Do you think that meeting together on-line is the same as meeting together in person?

I think that the Church will always have a physical presence due to the nature of man HOWEVER I can also see technology advancing to the point that more prosperous people will have a 3D room in their house and they can "attend" church services as the church is live streaming.

 

[mjrhealth]

. I am here to tell you, you do need it.

Just need Jesus, church wont help you when trouble comes, and it is coming. Our walk with Him is one we do alone, no one can help you with it. Nothing wrong in gathering in His name. As long as there are people on this planet His church "all of us who are in Him" will have a "physical" presence on this earth.

 

[Stranger]

What holds value? The tweeter millions of miles away, whom you don't really know; or the local Christian who says in public what he stands for and is willing to be martyred by the locals for what he stands for?

The tweeter doesn't have to risk his life. The local believer does. How discouraging that the Christians faith is so small that they want to hide behind the internet because it is safer for them.

Oh yeah, technology has provided a safe haven for the cowards. For those who refuse to confess Christ before men knowing they will be rejected and scorned.

Get a life, be part of the local gathering of believers, be willing to die for your faith if need be, and if ;you're not willing then leave. We don't need you. Don't be someone who lives in the safe zone of internet protection.

Stranger

 

[mjrhealth]

The tweeter doesn't have to risk his life. The local believer does. How discouraging that the Christians faith is so small that they want to hide behind the internet because it is safer for them.

many have died for Jesus and never being to church. Just take a look at job and what He went through.

 

[Angelina]

I think that the Church will always have a physical presence due to the nature of man HOWEVER I can also see technology advancing to the point that more prosperous people will have a 3D room in their house and they can "attend" church services as the church is live streaming.

I can imagine that happening in the not too distant future....

 

[bbyrd009]

1. How do you see the Church advancing in the future ie: will it still have a physical presence [Church building]?

i think that is a false image of "Church," and always has been. The Church is made of Living Stones.

2. Do you think that meeting together on-line is the same as meeting together in person?

imo congregating with like minded people for purposes of learning and socializing is not the same concept as "where two or three are gathered, there I am also" anyway, even if it claims to be this.

 

[Dcopymope]

Technology has been advancing so dramatically over the last hundred years, it's just incredible. We had television sets, radiograms with the old fashioned record players to devices that we can now carry in our pockets or plug into our ear if we want to listen to any kind of music we want.

Today, we can buy sell or exchange, listen to on-line sermons and talk to other Christians around the world through social media and basically, we do not need to leave home. I'm wondering how things are going to advance in the future as a Church that gathers in a building. I have been looking for a Christian family for some time now and am still struggling to find a body of believers that I would want to be a part of and I think it's important to be a part of what has been traditionally called and known as a Church body, whether they gather together in a building or home. Hebrews 10 tells us ~ 24 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.

My questions ~
1. How do you see the Church advancing in the future ie: will it still have a physical presence [Church building]?
2. Do you think that meeting together on-line is the same as meeting together in person?

NO, meeting someone in cyber space or through a phone will never be like meeting in person, because as the saying goes, there ain't nothing like the real thing. People seem to think that technology has brought us together like never before, but that's not entirely true. We've never been so alone before in history, because of the lack of direct physical contact like it used to be. People don't even know their neighbors like they used to because they all have their eyes glued to the TV 24/7. If I was Satan or even some tyrant for that matter, this fixation and dependence on technology is exactly what I would want, because it makes it easier for me to control you. I would be salivating at the prospects of the kind of technological advancements coming if I was a control freak. Technology should be seen as a supplement to physical contact, not a replacement for it.

 

[Josho]

1. The church certainly seems to be heading in the way of an on-line gathering more than a physical gathering.
2. No, I do not. Because part of the community of "church" is doing life together. I think it is virtually impossible to be the embodiment of the church over the cyber world in its completeness. You cant build homes, volunteer at shelters, or sit with someone and see the hurt in their eyes while you tell them about Jesus over the internet.

I do agree with you, there is the importance of fellowship with other believers in real life, it's better to see and talk to people face to face, but building homes from online? I don't doubt the possibilities of it, you may not know, and many others probably don't but i have only just found this out recently, they have already started building houses by the use of a 3D printer at full scale, and they are livable. With the speedy advancement of futuristic modern day technology, it may be one day possible to build a house from your lounge. While it may be laughable now, as ridiculous as it sounds, if the technology of wireless internet, 3d printers and drones were combined, it may be possible one day to land a 3D printer into a remote village, without you being there, from the comfort of your lounge, all would be required is a design of a house, a click of a location on google maps, and technology could possibly do the rest. And we may not be as far from that day as we think, someone might be on the edge of putting the idea into practice.

 

[Josho]

I do agree with you, there is the importance of fellowship with other believers in real life, it's better to see and talk to people face to face, but building homes from online? I don't doubt the possibilities of it, you may not know, and many others probably don't but i have only just found this out recently, they have already started building houses by the use of a 3D printer at full scale, and they are livable. With the speedy advancement of futuristic modern day technology, it may be one day possible to build a house from your lounge. While it may be laughable now, as ridiculous as it sounds, if the technology of wireless internet, 3d printers and drones were combined, it may be possible one day to land a 3D printer into a remote village, without you being there, from the comfort of your lounge, all would be required is a design of a house, a click of a location on google maps, and technology could possibly do the rest. And we may not be as far from that day as we think, someone might be on the edge of putting the idea into practice.

But I do also believe the physical gathering will still remain, we will continue to see people leave the mainstream Church buildings, some go online, but there's also the spread micro-church movement at the moment, where many are holding Church gatherings in there very own homes, restaurants, cafes, libraries, and I see this as a good thing, I see it as an opportunity for the gospel to spread more than it ever has, an opportunity for the Church to run more freely, it's leaving the structure, and schedules behind, and this is great because the Holy Spirit's timing is his own, and it should be left up to the Holy Spirit that lives within us, to lead us to do what he wants us to do, instead of what the Pastor in the flesh wants you to do.

And why i say it's a wonderful thing this micro-church movement? Because it's the people on the streets, it's the unbelievers, it's the sick unable to attend, it's the elderly too frail to go, if we were to move Church outside of a Church, it has the potential to have a massive impact on many people outside the 4 walls of the Church, who need salvation, who need prayer, who need a friend, who need healing, who need a home, who need to get out of debt, we gotta bring this Jesus stuff out of the 4 walls of the Church, there needs to be a greater display of God's power outside the 4 walls of the Church, there is a need for God's love to be spread outside the 4 walls of the Church. And this is why i see it as such a wonderful movement, it will reach those who are not reached in the Church.


Angelina have you heard of "Kingdom on the Streets"? If you haven't, it's worth looking them up, they have a fb page. They are in NZ and wherever they go they get people saved, people healed and demons cast out, they are crazy but they have an effect, they even lead new agers to Jesus at New Age festivals and get them out of witchcraft. They are linked to a Church called "Liberty Christian Church" based in Auckland, I think my sister may have went there during her few years living in NZ.

 

[BreadOfLife]

Technology has been advancing so dramatically over the last hundred years, it's just incredible. We had television sets, radiograms with the old fashioned record players to devices that we can now carry in our pockets or plug into our ear if we want to listen to any kind of music we want.

Today, we can buy sell or exchange, listen to on-line sermons and talk to other Christians around the world through social media and basically, we do not need to leave home. I'm wondering how things are going to advance in the future as a Church that gathers in a building. I have been looking for a Christian family for some time now and am still struggling to find a body of believers that I would want to be a part of and I think it's important to be a part of what has been traditionally called and known as a Church body, whether they gather together in a building or home. Hebrews 10 tells us ~ 24 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.

My questions ~
1. How do you see the Church advancing in the future ie: will it still have a physical presence [Church building]?
2. Do you think that meeting together on-line is the same as meeting together in person?

I know that for the Catholic Church - not only will the internet never take the place f the Mass - it can't.
Because the Eucharist is the central to the sacrifice of the Mass - meeting online can never be a substitute.


PS - This is NOT a challenge to start debating the differences between the Catholic Church and all of the Protestant churches.
It is simply an observation..

 

[Born_Again]

PS - This is NOT a challenge to start debating the differences between the Catholic Church and all of the Protestant churches.
It is simply an observation..

Oh, you know it will do exactly that! LOL There are a few that cant help themselves.

On that note, This is Angelinas thread. If it turns into a protestant vs Catholic thread it will get closed and warning points awarded!

BA