Being Church at a Distance

In the area where I live there are no English language church services. Of course, I enjoy Christian fellowship with my friends and colleagues and it has always been a pleasure to drop in to my home church from time to time but for me ‘Church at a distance’ has been the norm for the past decade. Now, when many people are experiencing ‘virtual Church’ for the first time, the following observations might be of help.

  1. Stick with it. If your home church has an online programme then try to maintain a routine of joining in or watching the replays at a certain time. Whilst it is possible to listen to a sermon whilst doing other things your attention will be distracted and you may miss what God wants to say to you. In a month of sundays you need to keep Sunday special.
  2. Stay smart. You may not be going to church but you are Church. Put on a clean shirt, sit up straight. Jesus is coming to your house; behave accordingly. This will help to create the right frame of mind for worshipping and listening to God’s word.
  3. Pray for each other. Start with those who used to sit near you, then those with whom you used to chat after the services. Remember to pray for those preparing the broadcast materials; they are isolated too. If you want to support them be positive and encouraging; observations that might be well-received when accompanied by a smile and friendly tone of voice can lose that positivity when conveyed only as written words.
  4. Give thanks. Major on the positives, count your blessings, see what God has already provided for you. If you can’t keep up with this year’s fashions then stick with last year’s – they are probably more comfortable anyway.
  5. Read the readings. Physically open your Bible or boot up your Bible app and read along. In Jewish and Islamic traditions it is common to read aloud – try it, nobody will hear you stumble over those difficult names but you will gain much more from the passage.
  6. Be involved. Has a particular Bible passage, song or sermon struck a chord with you? Offer to share it. Can you be a channel of blessing to others in your household or neighbourhood? Pray for those maintaining front line services, is there some way you can encourage them? They may not be able to ‘do Church’ in the same way but they too need the support of their Church family.
  7. Don’t give up on giving. The church still has bills to meet, salaries to pay and missionaries to support. Some people may, of necessity, have to reduce their giving but others may well find that this is an opportunity to make up the shortfall.
  8. Diversify your diet. If you don’t like modern songs accompanied by a guitar then now is your opportunity. Christian music of all genres is readily available on the internet. Perhaps you prefer deeper Bible studies rather than the children’s story then that too is available. Have you ever wondered how other people do Church? Go and see. These options do not replace our regular worship but they certainly can add an extra dimension to our spiritual lives. Explore some suggestions below.
  9. Be Berean. The internet is flooded with people claiming to speak on behalf of God. Undoubtedly some of them are indeed true to His message but there are others who have a different agenda. How do we tell the difference? In Acts chapter 17 the Bereans were commended for searching the scriptures in order to verify what they had heard – a principle that still holds good today.
  10. Where there’s a will. The taboo about talking about death has been overtaken by circumstances. We know that everybody is going to die, sometime, somehow. What sort of memories will you leave behind? For those of us who have placed our faith in Jesus Christ it will be just a short step to heaven. When the Lord calls you Home it will be at His perfect timing but will you be ready?

 
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Here are some links as a follow-up to paragraph 8 above:

 

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Contributed by Steve Humphreys; © the Author
Published, 22/Apr/2020: Page updated, 05/Jul/2021