The boom in online church attendance is good. But it’s not enough

The day after the lockdown began, ITV News reported that churches were seeing double their usual attendance. This was being achieved by some creative online methods, that even the Archbishop of Canterbury has adopted. Churches of all sizes and denominations have taken their services online, and many thousands of people, who wouldn’t normally attend physical services, are logging on.

As someone who wants heaven to be ‘standing room only’, my heart was filled with praise at this news.

But imagine you are one of those tens of thousands who has found the church online. Will you feel a part of a community or will you just be an observer?

Recently, I’ve been watched a huge amount of the BBC show, Great British Menu, where top chefs from the UK’s regions compete to serve dishes at a banquet. I have grown to love the show and confess to even to becoming emotionally invested in some of the chefs and the food. I’m a fan of the show, and watch every episode. But that is where my love affair with baking stops.

I can’t go to the restaurants; they’re all closed due to the virus. I can’t find many of the ingredients in my local Aldi, which I have to queue to enter. So while Great British Menu is inspiring me and counts me among it’s viewers, the show hasn’t really changed my approach to food.

Instead what has changed my life, is my wife! She adores cooking and I’m learning from her.

The difference between the TV programme and my wife is that I’m in community with my wife. We live together, talk things through, argue occasionally, forgive, explore what things mean. We read books and then talk them through with each other. When she enters the kitchen I follow, and I get stuck into the cooking and baking. This week I made my own flatbreads, that I learnt from watching her. Not fromwatching Great British Menu.

My fear is this sudden uptake in online church attendance could translate into a generation of armchair, consumerist Christians.

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