15 Reasons Your Soul Needs Gathered Worship, Not Just a Livestream
By Dane Ortlund, 9 Marks:
The pandemic continues. Physical attendance in many churches remains sparse—or at least sparser than before. For various reasons, some may need to continue staying home. But other low-risk or fully vaccinated congregants seem to prefer the livestream far longer than we expected.
Amid these various circumstances and uncertainties, we need to lead our people well. Part of that means we need to remind our people of what we lose when we don’t physically gather in worship. Below, I’ve written 15 reflections on all that is lost when we choose to worship from the couch instead of the pew.
1. As Bonhoeffer said in Life Together, “The physical presence of other believers is a source of incomparable joy and strength to the believer.” The mere presence of other Christians has a fortifying effect on our souls, beneath what we’re even able to consciously recognize. That’s one reason the Bible exhorts us to meet together. We are Christ’s very body, organically connected to each other, the life and strength of Christ himself flowing into us through one another.
2. A virtual worship gathering is one-way participation, not two-way. You’re receiving, but you can’t give. You are seeing those leading worship, preaching, praying—but they can’t see you. They don’t see your eyes, your body, your solidarity. At best you’re a number, piping in on a livestream.
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