I have been thinking, for some time, about the pros and cons of having audio recordings of sermons available online. There are a number of churches that do so; certainly, there are a number of my younger colleagues who put their sermons online on a weekly basis. I really wrestle with the ecclesiology behind it.
Here are some pros that I've thought of: For people who are out of town or unable to attend worship (for a variety of reasons), they can listen to the sermon. They have an opportunity to learn (as those did who participated in worship), and also have a chance to experience some connection to their faith community, whether or not they have direct interaction with the body of Christ. For practical purposes, it provides an archive of the pastor's sermons. For those visiting a church's website, it gives them a chance to preview what worship may be like before they attend the first time. All of these are positives.
At the same time, I think that there are some negatives. How actively can you be engaged in the body of Christ if you stay home and listen online? What spiritual, emotional, or physical affect does it have on you? Does it encourage people to be passive listeners instead of active participants? Does it encourage people to practice an individualistic faith, rather than a corporate faith? For practical purposes, congregations like mine would have to invest in more recording equipment, and invest time in putting the files on the church website.
What's best? I honestly don't know. With the pros and cons to the issue, I haven't come to a decision - but I do lean more toward not putting sermons online. Can we truly be the body of Christ if we're not gathered as the body? If we exist to introduce persons to Jesus, build one another up in love and accountability, and to praise God, can we do this on our own?
As usual, I offer more questions than answers, but perhaps we should wrestle with the overarching questions. After all, online sound bytes isn't the core issue - what it means to be the church is....
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment