Should Churches End Livestreaming?

Now, it seems to me that we’re coming to the end of the Covid. The mask mandate has ended, travels have resumed, things are pretty much back to normal.

But what probably is a cause for concern is whether believers are coming back to physical worship. And for many churches, this is a big problem. We’ve had believers gotten so used to livestreaming, zoom meetings, zoom cell groups, or even receiving holy communion through zoom. So much so that churchgoers are beginning to see going online for meetings a new legitimate norm. It seems to satisfy the requirement for church meetings. But is that biblical after all?

I like to turn you to a passage where Holy Communion was observed. (1 Cor 11:20-21):

Here the Apostle says : “W hen you come together, it is not the Lord’s Supper you eat, for as you eat, each of you go ahead without waiting for anybody else. One remains hungry and another gets drunk”.

Now, over here the Apostle Paul was rebuking the Corinthians believers for not waiting for each other in their observation of the Holy Communion. Now, during those times, Church was at the believer’s home. So believers celebrated the Lord’s Supper on the Lord’s Day in each other’s home. It was an actual meal centered around one cup and one loaf, but it was a sacred, covenant feast.  This holy meal was the main reason for the holy gathering of the church and was a wonderful time of fellowship and edification. But some of them treated the Holy Communion with contempt and get on with their eating and drinking without waiting for one another. And that defies the communion and defeats the purpose of union.

Now, I want to say that the physical presence was emphasized here. In verse 20 it says: “When they come together…”. So yes, even when we have our technologies, our smart phones, our virtual presence can be felt anywhere, but the scripture makes it very plain: “When they come together”… So I would like to say that the Holy sacrament was not meant to be observed over zoom. There should be no zoom communion. No zoom baptism. No zoom worship service whatsoever. It should be done through coming together. Yea, we had a covid crisis, but it’s no longer a crisis now. And it hasn’t been a crisis for a long time already. Yet the livestreaming practices didn’t cease. Instead and sadly, it has been adopted as a norm.

Now, the Bible tells us that we are created with a mind and a body. We are a living soul and a physical body. One part of us connects to the spiritual realms, another part of us connect itself to the earthly realms. There is no way to separate the two. Whatever we come into contact with physically, our minds begin to be influenced by it. And whenever our mind is being informed, we show it by living it out. So (Ro 12:2) tells us that when we are transformed by the renewing of our mind, we will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will. And God’s will is meant to be lived out.  That is how we proceed with our Christian living.

So that is the reason why God ordained the communion of the Saints.

Now, when we lack physical connection with our brethren, we cannot get a real sense of their beliefs, values and even their faith. We’re not even able to sense their needs and conviction. So how are we going to spur one another on towards love and good deeds? How are we going to intercede for one another? How are we going to rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn? In fact, all the instruction in the Bible to love one another just make  no sense if we do not hold physical gathering in high esteem.

My brethren, we are not just created to receive information. We are also created to make sense of the world around us.

And that is exactly the reason why it is unhealthy for couples to live apart, we know that. We cannot be just seeing each other over the virtual screen. We cannot be just sending messages over Whatsapp. We need to be involved with each other physically. So similarly in Church, we pat each other’s shoulders. We carry each other’s child. We sit down and confide our problems with each other. And even during worship, we are moved by each other’s God-loving countenance and voices of praise.  

Now, let me say this. If we find physical meeting a chore, we are definitely not keeping in step with the Holy Spirit. We are in fact learning God’s word in vain. Because the practicalization of God’s word, and the powerful leading of the Holy Spirit, have everything to do with how you involved yourself with the faith community.

Yea, there are of course times we should be in solitude, away from the crowd, reading the Bible and praying. That’s what our Lord Jesus did. But bear in mind He always returned to his disciples. He always made his physical presence strong among them in his earthly ministry. It was during those moments when powerful messages were conjured and spoken. It was during those moments where lessons of love were being taught, even if there are strife and conflict among his disciples.

Now, I just came back from ministering to a group of blessed believers in Malaysia. And I was so blessed in the spirit to share in the fellowship of the saints. Now, I always believe that the word of God has to be taught faithfully in the church, for the church is a house of truth. If we are not preaching truth, we shouldn’t do church at all. However, other than the intense studying of the word of God which is the truth of God, one has to be brought to the people whom the truth serves, i.e. the Church, the Saints. As it is, being together with the saints enlightened me to a deeper sense of the truth. It compels me to seek God in a clearer way. It moves me to see clearer what God meant in His word lest it only remains as a head knowledge in me. Without the fellowship of the saints, how are we going to make good sense and clarity out of the word? Can our intellect do the work? Can commentary alone do the work? Can our academic training do the work? Yea, we need to study the word incessantly and rigorously, but don’t forget the word is written for the Saints. Without equal effort in brethren living, our understanding of the word can be lacking in spirit, and sometimes it runs the danger of only serving the academic mind and not the spiritual mind. And so let us heed the word that says: Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching (Heb 10:25).

So it could probably be implied that if one begins to see less of his brethren, the likelihood is he may not be too eager to embrace the Day of the Lord’s second coming. So with this understanding, the Church needs to think carefully with regards to continuing livestreaming. Well, we may be worried for people who falls through the cracks. But we can made individual visitation or arrangement to fetch them to church, but for livestreaming to go on, it might do more harm than good in the long run.

For our church, we have decided to stop our Church worship livestreaming starting next year. Probably for some, this could be a disputable matter as indicated in (Ro 14) and people think we shouldn’t place judgement on people who does that. But looking forward when the pandemic is ending and travel has largely resumed, livestreaming may not be qualified to be a disputable matter anymore. I pray that the Lord help His Church to think more holistically about this matter.