Virtual Worship

Religious events are now being organized virtually due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Worshippers attend sermons virtually as churches close.

Passion City Church, Special

Manasa Premanand, Staff Writer

With the Covid-19 pandemic forcing many Americans to stay at home, daily activities such as going to work, taking extracurricular classes, or going to the gym have taken on virtual substitutes. Worship, an activity that is considered a necessity to many Christians, is being conducted online as well. One of the most prominent days in which virtual worship had been conducted was Sunday, April 12- Easter. 

Traditionally, Easter services are held at churches where the community gathers as a whole to worship and celebrate. People often meet with their friends at services and sing together as a community. However, since the churches have had to hold worship services online, Easter was celebrated at the homes of many Christians on live streams. Reed Moore, the youth pastor at Passion City Church in Atlanta, mentions that his church resorted to having an online Easter service as well. 

“We live-streamed worship and a message for our Easter service from our main auditorium. This was done one YouTube, Facebook Live, and local television stations.” Moore said. 

Ever since the quarantine was put in place, Passion City Church has offered digital worship services to its members- many of them being frequent zoom meetings and live streams to help the church come together as a community. Although the church is not able to recreate the same feeling individuals have when they come together to pray, Moore strongly believes that virtual worship will create a unique feeling of togetherness. 

“Shared experiences unite communities,” Moore said, “Even when people can’t be in the same room, they can still have a shared experience much like watching a sporting event on TV live.”

Northview students Jayne Siebold and Sarah Cato share Moore’s positive view on virtual worship, believing that there is a silver lining towards it. Both Siebold and Cato have remarked on the convenience that worshipping at home brings, as they are able to sit together with their family and friends and talk through services and connect with God together. 

“My family and I are able to pause [the virtual sermon] and talk through it if one of us gets lost in what the message is saying. I think it has brought my family closer together in terms of faith.” Siebold said. 

Siebold and Cato have both also noticed that, while they are not able to attend in-person services, they are still able to feel connected to God in the same manner. Not only are they able to further analyze and understand services better, but they can also pray in private in their own rooms, making the prayer all the more personal. 

“I’m reconnecting with God even though I’m not in a physical church,” Cato said, “It’s one of the best feelings to feel the presence of God even though I’m at home.”

However, while virtual worship has made worship experiences much more personal and family-oriented, it has its downsides as well. One of the main struggles Passion City Church has had in regards to virtual worship was making it feel personal. While Siebold and Cato may have felt that they were still connected to God during virtual service, there are many other Christians who struggle with this.   

“Making digital feel personal is something we continue to wrestle with,” Moore said, “But this might just be a tension we will have to manage.”

Moreover, due to the abruptness of the sudden quarantine, the church was not able to prepare itself for converting to a digital platform. Many church coordinators have had to take on different roles than what they were hired for, and the church has been forced to find more creative methods in which they can personalize digital worship. 

“We’ve had to step up our level of intentionality and consistency in reaching out to the people we lead and serve,” Moore said. 

However, despite all of these setbacks, the church still finds ways to support the community and provide individuals with assistance and counseling. Passion City Church has partnered up with organizations that are providing support locally to individuals during quarantine and has set up a text/email where individuals can seek assistance. On Sundays, people can access online chat rooms where the church will address their prayers and other needs. 

With the Covid-19 situation being as unprecedented and unpredictable as it is, churches and Christians have adjusted well to the new, digital changes it brought upon them. While one cannot deny that digital worship services have its setbacks, it has also brought together the community on all sorts of online platforms to undergo the uncertainty and fear Covid-19 brings together. 

“It’s hard to recreate the feeling of what happens when we are all gathered together. It’s impossible to totally replicate that,” Moore said, “What we’re doing is trying to provide what we can, then assess what’s working, what people are connecting with, tuning into and sharing with their friends and we try to do more of that.”