90 :: The Online Church

Charlotte was hit by an ice storm, resulting in the closure of just about everything - including area churches. We didn't have a chance to do a church visit, so we decided to take a completely different approach. We visited eight churches online, to participate in their online worship. 

We started in Singapore and ended up in Honolulu. We will count this as a single church visit, as we are calling this a visit to The Online Church.

All of the churches that we visited were evangelical in theology and format. Many had some form of charismatic worship. These churches all showed significant investment in their technology and production. All were contemporary in musical style. There wasn't an organ or a hymnal in sight.

The only other time on this spiritual pivot that we "attended" an online church was when we had Covid in early 2021. Otherwise, we have made in-person worship our priority. But online is here to stay and it made sense to explore it in this way today.

As a phenomenon, watching worship on a screen is not new. People have been doing it via television for decades, although most TV services are pre-recorded. With the advent of the internet, the ability to watch worship has proliferated hugely. 

You could call the two of us traditionalists in the sense that we would never do online church on an ongoing basis. While it may be an option that we can avail ourselves of when we need it, we will always seek the actual company of other humans for corporate worship.

But it is important that such options are available, as some people may not have another way to worship.

Some people watch worship online because they are in the hospital and cannot attend in person.

There are people who may be in a family where no one shares their convictions and no one is willing to take them to a church.

There may be converts who follow Jesus from places where it is illegal to do so publicly. In Saudi Arabia and Iran, for example, there is the death penalty for converting out of Islam.

There may be women caught in abusive relationships whose only chance to experience worship is a quick moment on their phone behind a locked door.

There are almost certainly families who have emigrated to another country who would like one more Sunday with their church in their homeland.

And on and on, we can assume there are many reasons why online church is essential for some people.

***

What could technology bring next to corporate worship? 

It's an intriguing question and I have an anecdote related to it.

In late 2020, I went to my friend Bill's house to check out his Oculus VR set. It was a fascinating experience. 

At one point my avatar was walking around a room filled with other avatars, which led to me speaking French with a group of people. We were face-to-face (although we weren't really) and in a common room (which didn't exist) speaking a language we all knew. In the real world, there was a group of people in Canada, France and the US wearing Oculus headsets who were "meeting" each other in a very new way.

The experience left me very amused and slightly in awe.

Afterwards, Bill and I sat in his basement and talked about this new technology. We conjectured on how it would change things in years to come. He mentioned that people were starting to hold Virtual Reality church services. 

I had an immediate reaction to this idea - I was appalled.

But could there be reasons why VR church would be useful? I think there may be. 

More than anything else, I am convinced that it is important for the gospel to be in any place that humanity chooses to go. In the spirit of evangelism that has allowed individual lives and whole societies to move from darkness into light, the church will need to be in the VR space.

With all of that as background, we started watching church Saturday night, starting at the tip of the Malay Peninsula.

***

Singapore :: City Harvest Church (https://www.chc.org.sg/)

This church was in the midst of their start-of-the year fast. Pastor Kung Ho was emphasizing the importance of spending the year as he had spent other years - "Praying. Reading. Helping." He was speaking in the form of English unique to Singapore, colloquially known as "Singlish."

Singapore is made up mostly of Malays, Tamil Indians and Chinese. The church was almost entirely Chinese. 

The service we watched:

Pretoria, South Africa :: Christian Revival Church (https://crcchurch.com/)

Pretoria has a bit of a reputation for being the heart of the Afrikaner people, a conservative hotbed in this country. A great deal has changed. This multi-racial church has multiple campuses all over South Africa, each of them filled with people from every community in the country. This would have been inconceivable only a couple of decades ago. Pastor At Boshoff gave a strong sermon on new life.

The service we watched:

Kumasi, Ghana :: Pillar of Zion International Church 

This was an amazing church visit, it was in the city of Kumasi in Ghana, West Africa. The music was incredible and people were dancing with a level of enthusiasm that is uncommon. It was hard not to smile.

The language of the service was Kwi, which we don't speak. We did hear a thickly accented "Praise the Lord" often, though.

A great deal of fun watching this.

Palm Beach :: Christ Fellowship Church (https://www.christfellowship.church/)

Christ Fellowship Church has multiple campuses around South Florida. Pastor Todd Mullins was talking the congregation through the three-week fasting and prayer time that they were in. He reiterated time and again how transformative one's  life would become as and when they took up the habit of reading the Bible daily. He was advocating that the congregation make a commitment to read Scripture every day for three months.

The service we watched:

Charlotte :: Freedom House Church (https://www.freedomhouse.cc/)

Freedom House had an Encounter Night worship on Saturday evening, about six hundred people were in attendance, we were among the attendees. It was an amazing time with a huge amount of enthusiasm. The replay acted as our #FHSnowday on Sunday. 

It was as good the second time!

The service we watched:

Dallas :: The Potter's House (https://www.thepottershouse.org/)

TD Jakes is one of the best-known Pastors in the United States. He serves a mostly black church in Dallas named The Potter's House. 

At one point during the sermon, he spoke in glowing terms about how the American Revolution was a seminal event in human history, where a group of people rose up against colonialism and said that they didn't want their country to be an outpost of another country. 

Then he said, "At that point, they go their independence. We didn't have ours yet." 

The audience reacted. 

He smiled and said, "I'm just tellin' it like it is."

The service we watched:

Los Angeles :: Bayside Church (https://www.baysideonline.com/)

We could not find any West Coast churches on YouTube, which is not to say that there weren't any open. But it was hard to find any. So we did some quick research and went to the website of Bayside Church, a huge church in Southern California that has seven campuses. We watched the service from Orange County.

Pastor Ray Johnston was preaching on how to raise children with a high degree of innocence in a culture that is quickly moving against children. He spoke about the key characteristic of adolescence, that of testing boundaries. It's normal and is intended to help a young person understand healthy and boundaries. 

He also had everyone in the audience raise their hand if they had ever "screwed up" when they were young. Everyone raised their hand.

Be a positive parent was the impactful point that he made. 

Honolulu :: Word of Life (https://wolhawaii.com/)

Word of Life is a church that has been in Honolulu for a couple decades now. Pastors Art and Kuna Sepulveda put on an incredible service, with music that appears to be composed just for them. We had not heard of any of these praise songs before.

During the sermon, Pastor Art sporadically spoke in tongues and would look backstage and say, "Have some interpret that." 

We've not seen anything quite like that before.

The service we watched:

***

What can we say about watching churches online? 

It is an option, but for us, not even a close analog for in-person worship. While it was interesting to do this, we found that we were in more of a "watching" mode than worshipping. We were viewers, not participants. 

With that said, we got a chance to see our brothers and sisters around the globe, having a proper worship. That was really neat.

Ten churches to go! None will be online. Excited for this last stretch!

89 :: Saint Paul's Episcopal Church

 

This evening, we observed Christmas Eve at Saint Paul's Episcopal Church in Key West, Florida. This is our second time worshipping in Florida and also the second Episcopal Church that we have included in this journey.

The Episcopal Church is often called "Catholic Light," which references the high degree of Mass-like formality in Episcopal worship. Despite the similarity of format, the theology of the Episcopal Church and the Catholic Church have very little in common. The most meaningful area of overlap is in the area of social justice. If you take the Catholic social justice tradition that is manifest in the Society of Jesus (more commonly known as the Jesuits), you will certainly see overlap with the Episcopal Church... but you will never see the Catholic Church add in the ordination of women, affirmation of gay people, or a willingness to share communion with anyone who attends the Mass.

Alike but very different.

What is the Episcopal Church?

The Episcopal Church is the American branch of the Anglican Church, also known as The Church of England. In the taxonomy of American Protestantism, the Episcopal Church has always had a reputation of being the denomination of America's wealthy and powerful ruling class. As an example, the Bush family has been part of the Episcopal Church for many generations, until George W Bush got saved after a long walk on the beach with Billy Graham. After that encounter, W started attending a Methodist church. 

As the demographics of America have changed and the theology of the Episcopal Church has also changed, this reputation is mostly an artifact of history now.

Here is a link to a NY Times article that goes deeper into the elite roots of the Episcopal Church, including how the group goes back to the Jamestown Colony [link]. It is a good read, have a look.

There are only about two million Episcopalians in the US now. Most do not attend church very often. The average Episcopal Church on a given Sunday has about fifty people in it. The chart below shows the Episcopal Church with the green line. It seems to suggest that all Episcopal Churches will be empty by 2040 [source].

Interestingly, last week I drove past the other Episcopal Church that I have attended as part of this spiritual pivot, Saint Peter's Episcopal Church in uptown Charlotte. They had a sign out front entitled People of Faith for Climate Justice. This would be an example of how modern Episcopalians are different.

***

We entered the property of Saint Paul's by stepping off the crowded and bustling Duval Street that runs through the center of downtown Key West. When we stepped onto the grounds of the church, it felt like stepping into a different world. The structure of the church was striking. The property had luminaries along its walkways. There was also a beautiful manse on the property. There was a labyrinth, as well. You can see David and MC walking the labyrinth in the video below.

Saint Paul's Priest is The Reverend Donna S. Mote [link]. She was raised in the Southeast and has a long history of serving in the US Military. She not only gave the sermon, but she also sang many of the pieces of music that required a soloist. Her voice was beautiful.

We sat through a full ninety-minute service at Saint Paul's. It was among the most traditional formats that we have encountered during this journey, akin to anything we have seen at an Orthodox Liturgy or at a Catholic Mass. 

We said The Nicene Creed. 

We had a responsive reading section with the terms Kyrie Eleison at the end. 

Because filming in church tends to draw attention, and due to the fact that the church this evening was very full, I recorded some of the singing without lifting my phone up. Here are two of those videos:

As you can hear, it was very beautiful and it followed a very ancient style of singing and chanting.

Reverend Donna's sermon started with a monologue about the favorite Christmas films of her youth. She seems close to my age, so the films that she mentioned were well-known to anyone raised during the 1970s. She gave special focus to The Grinch, describing the details of the story, with special focus on the redemption of The Grinch through the enlarging of his heart due to his encounter with Cindy Lou Who. 

After this, she moved on to more substantial themes about the Incarnation. She described it as the mysterious act of love that changes the way that a person sees life itself. She said that the Communion Table was for anyone who wanted to partake. That is always a beautiful sentiment, as some churches will only offer the Communion elements to adherents of their particular denomination. I have encountered such exclusion multiple times while on this journey and it always gives me pause. The Communion table and the communion elements on it are not the domain of a particular denomination. Instead, it is God's table and needs to be open to anyone who wants to make that connection with the Body and Blood. That Reverend Donna made a point of mentioning the openness of the Episcopal Church's Communion Table felt great. 

Here is the Nicene Creed, take a look at its beautiful prose:

I believe in one God,

the Father almighty,

maker of heaven and earth,

 of all things visible and invisible.

I believe in one Lord Jesus Christ,

 the Only Begotten Son of God,

 born of the Father before all ages.

 God from God, Light from Light,

 true God from true God,

 begotten, not made, consubstantial with the Father;

 through him all things were made.

 For us men and for our salvation

 he came down from heaven,

 and by the Holy Spirit was incarnate of the Virgin Mary,

 and became man.

 For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate,

 he suffered death and was buried,

 and rose again on the third day

 in accordance with the Scriptures.

 He ascended into heaven

 and is seated at the right hand of the Father.

 He will come again in glory

 to judge the living and the dead

 and his kingdom will have no end.

I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life,

 who proceeds from the Father and the Son,

 who with the Father and the Son is adored and glorified,

 who has spoken through the prophets.

I believe in one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church.

 I confess one Baptism for the forgiveness of sins

 and I look forward to the resurrection of the dead

 and the life of the world to come. Amen.

Below are the pictures of the service. These include our entrance into Saint Paul's, elements of the service, the Communion, as well as the lighting of candles at the end. You can see how majestic the place is, as well as how many people were present.

Here is a glimpse of the theology in the liturgy that would be described as progressive or liberal. We prayed for the unemployed, the underemployed, the oppressed, prisoners, as well as for our wise use of the Earth's resources. 

I really liked seeing these areas of focus. It is the strength of such denominations like the Episcopal Church that perpetuate the tradition of Christians moving forward social change. 

Abolition of slavery was a battle moved forward by Christians. 

Ending child labor was a battle moved forward by Christians. 

Ending racial segregation and Jim Crow was a battle moved forward by Christians. 

And so much more.

And that got me thinking...

Some churches have a solid emphasis on the transcendent aspects of the journey to God that is the Christian walk... but one might rightly argue that those same churches may not have enough of a focus on how we live together.

Other churches have a solid emphasis on the worldly considerations of how to live together... but one might rightly argue that those same churches may not have enough focus on the spiritual and transcendent aspect of the journey to the Cross.

Then I considered how the Holy Spirit is described in Episcopal theology. Reverend Donna said that the belief in the Episcopal Church is that the Holy Spirit is encountered when He descends onto the Communion elements of bread and wine. Then the elements are consumed, providing the congregants with an opportunity to encounter the Holy Spirit.

Many of my recent experiences have led me to believe very different (and for me, new) things about the Holy Spirit. 

I believe that the Holy Spirit is the aspect of the Godhead that is on the Earth right now, left in the stead of the ascended Yeshua (John 14:26). 

I believe that the Holy Spirit can settle on a person in an event best described as a Baptism of the Holy Spirit (Matthew 3:11, Acts 1:5, 1 Corinthians 12:13). 

I believe that the Holy Spirit can leave you utterly different, day in and day out and be involved in both the large and small details of your life (2 Corinthians 3:18). 

To diminish the work of the Holy Spirit to the simple role of settling upon wafers and grape juice on a weekly basis seems to be missing the mark in a very profound way. 

That was a significant line of thinking for me as I sat in Saint Paul's.

***

Overall, the beauty, pageantry, majesty and formality of the Episcopal Church was very welcome on this Christmas Eve. It was a glimpse of a denomination that is rapidly dwindling and will likely all but disappear in coming decades. 

As we wandered out into the dark and tropical evening, we shook hands with Reverend Donna. She smiled warmly. Then we again found ourselves in a mass of people out on Duval Street.

We were thankful to have had this experience. We won't have another Christmas Eve service related to this spiritual pivot and this blog. As such, this was a wonderful way to observe the arrival of Immanuel at the end of this most interesting year.

Thanks to Saint Paul's for a fantastic Christmas Eve.

88 :: Newsong Church

 

This morning we visited Newsong Church in Cornelius, a town in the north of the Charlotte metro. This church came recommended by friends of ours. That couple had a power outage at their house last night and did not make it to church this morning as a result. We really enjoyed Newsong! The high recommendation that we had received about Newsong were all validated - this is a solid and growing church with a great future.

We don't know exactly how old Newsong is, but we believe it has been around for multiple years, perhaps as many as ten. 

When we walked in, we were greeted in a friendly manner by multiple people. Such greetings always apply toward the impression that a church gives visitors. Definitely a friendly church.

The feel of Newsong was definitively modern, across all categories. This includes the structure of the building, the format of the worship, as well as the message. For example, Newsong has the whole dark auditorium thing going on, as well as modern praise music with the ubiquitous purple backlighting that so many churches have.

Despite being a typical modern church at first pass, this is definitely a place that has a uniqueness to it.

The sermon was given by Jeff Watson, the Lead Pastor of Newsong [link]. He has been involved with ministry in multiple capacities over his career. Jeff also has some historical tie to Freedom House that stems back to the early 2000s. While we don't have any background on that, he mentioned Troy and Penny by name with a big smile on his face. 

As part of being greeted at Newsong, we also met Julie Watson, Jeff's wife. She figured directly into our experience at Newsong.

The worship leader was Mikala Hooper. The worship leader role often sets the tone for a church experience, and Mikala and the band delivered very solid on that. They played a mixture of Christmas music, as well as the more popular praise songs of today.

Here are some pictures/videos from our entry into Newsong, and through the worship.

We quickly noticed that Newsong is a church that would qualify as evangelical, but also a church that would fall into the category of charismatic. We definitely saw this toward the end of the service. That was the moment where Pastor Jeff invited people to come forward to break disbelief, or renew their first commitment to Yeshua, or simply come forward to bring something specific to God. During that moment, Pastor Jeff told people that if they had a prayer language that they were invited to worship up front with that particular spiritual manifestation.

Charismatic, for sure.

Some people did come forward for special prayer at that time. While that was happening, Julie Watson walked over to us and gave us a word, as well as prayed with and for us. It was quite moving. Julie said that she wanted God to bless our ongoing visitation to one hundred churches. She also prayed for our family. Additionally, she prayed that what we are supposed to do together as a couple would be revealed to us in the fullness of time. She brought all of that praying to us with a weightiness of deep emotion. It was candidly very powerful and very touching when Julie prayed.

What about the message? 

As is to be expected in any church service, the message was the main focal point of what happened at Newsong this morning. The title of the message was "Rooted." Pastor Jeff gave it.

The message reminded those in attendance of the importance of being rooted in both the Word, as well as the Body. One point that Jeff made was to be rooted in the Word, which means spending time in the Word. He emphasized that if a believer is spending the majority of his or her time watching theology videos and/or reading Christian blogs online ("even the good ones!" Jeff emphasized), that we were not living in alignment with the obligation to be rooted in the Word itself - reading of the Bible. In addition to being rooted in Scripture, we need to be rooted in one another. The Body of Christ is a community that needs to be founded on unity with one another.

Jeff's message style was mature, forceful and convincing. His voice boomed. Much of what he said appeared to be in-the-moment, which is to say off the top of his head. And his tone was pastoral in the best sense of the word. He was guiding the flock this morning.

At one point, Jeff gave us the guidance to be patient with each other. He referred to a hashtag that people are increasingly using - #PBPGINFWMY. It stands for Please Be Patient, God Is Not Finished With Me Yet. It's a fine principle to portray out into the world, as well as an excellent premise to hear from others - even if they didn't explicitly say it.

So good.

Another thing that happened during the service was that Newsong prayed for another local church. Cornelius Baptist is looking for a new pastor at this time and Newsong prayed for that search. We have never seen anything like that, it was truly a first. It spoke volumes about this church and its commitment to being connected to the rest of the Body. Simply a spectacular thing to see!

We enjoyed Newsong to a high degree. It will surely continue to grow and flourish. As the larger church evolves into an entirely new format in the 21st century while maintaining its theological integrity toward the historical roots of the fifth, Newsong will grow and meet the needs of the people north of Charlotte. 

For that, we can be grateful.