half of churchgoers say they haven't watched any online service in past 4 weeks
Nearly half of churchgoers haven't watched an online service in the last four weeks, and among those who have, only 40% say they've been watching services from their regular home church, according to recent polling data.
The new data from the Barna Group was highlighted in a blog post by Carey Nieuwhof, a former lawyer and founding pastor of Connexus Church in Ontario, Canada.
In the post, Nieuwhof noted that 48% of churchgoers reported that they had not watched any church online in the last four weeks. Less than half of the remaining 52% who did watch church online said they watched the service of their own church, with a “surprising 23%” reporting that they streamed a different church online, Nieuwhof said....
i guess you could say the glass is less than half-full! interesting results, it makes you wonder how many people sitting in pews each Sunday are really there because they want to be, and then maybe they can't get into the online church experience. i heard a news story on Christian radio that 15 % of Catholics never attend their own church, and 30% of JEws never go to a synagogue. on the other hand...Barna is the guy who wrote a book, Revolution, about how the old fashioned church model is going out of style. many small churches are closing, and it is not because there is some big mega church in their area. i've seen a dallas church replace a local baptist church with their programming online. the bldg is there, i guess they hold sunday school classes, fellowship time, etc, but no pastor is there to preach. not sure how that works. a church on TBN talks about their local campuses, as if they were a college.
Carol wrote: Being in an area that has no sound Biblical churches, we know we are blessed to have found SermonAudio and are able to listen to a few God called preachers. One Pastor who is from Georgia that we listen to, understands that there are many sheep scattered abroad without a shepherd and encourages us with his teaching and to contact him for any questions, concerns, or needs that we may have.He has a true shepherds heart for God’s people and we have benefited from this online service Providentially provided by our Heavenly Father.
Being in an area that has no sound Biblical churches, we know we are blessed to have found Sermon Audio and are able to listen to a few God called preachers. One Pastor who is from Georgia that we listen to, understands that there are many sheep scattered abroad without a shepherd and encourages us with his teaching and to contact him for any questions, concerns, or needs that we may have.He has a true shepherds heart for God’s people and we have benefited from this online service Providentially provided by our Heavenly Father.
Many of the older generation haven't got computers yet.
I'm 70 years old and my son was the one who convinced me a few years ago to get a computer. Even though I've been playing with computers at work since 1981. (Navy)
The modern generation doesn't "know" God (Judges 2:10) - so no surprise that many of them will not look for God on their computers.
This could be a good time for people to be checking out expositional preaching if the church they were going to wasn't doing it, John MacArthur had a couple of sermons on it in printed formâť—
https://tinyurl.com/mpzp9j9 (Why I Am Committed to Expository Preaching, Part 1)
And...
https://tinyurl.com/ldhffc2 (Why I Am Committed to Expository Preaching, Part 2)
So high I could list to John's online Services we have some pastors who follow this technique closely so I can listen two local pastors.
I am having some trouble getting them over the regular internet, and the one that uses live YouTube works out better. This may be true in your area as well for trying to get online services.
After witnessing the unwelcome descent of my current church into laser lights and smoke machines, the covid19 lockdown was a welcome opportunity to find more solid worship/preaching. We’ve been enjoying John MacArthur live streaming from Grace Church. This experience has more solidified my desire to get back to a more solid, traditional church with hymns and strong consecutive expository preaching.
Worship is an activity requiring personal involvement, not just watching and listening like some sort of entertainment. I don't think that explains the 40% who didn't even watch. But the personal connectiveness is very important as well.
If one is going to watch a service, it may as well be meaningful. My wife's cousins watch a distant church where their college friend is the senior pastor, for instance, We too have virtually peered in on worship in Greenville, SC, and Philadelphia, PA. These churches have always done worship well, and when push comes to shove, quality wins out over personal connections when the personal connections are removed.
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