7 Tips For Attending Church Online
I think we can all agree that church is different right now. We are not waking up rushing around, getting our kids ready, and frantically heading out the door to head to church. I will be the first one to admit, I miss it. Yes, it has only been two Sundays so far (depending on when you are reading this). So, as things are different we need to think about what it means to attend church online and what does that exactly look like…
- Get up and get ready early.
No, I am not necessarily saying get up and get dressed just like you would if you were going to church. In fact, don’t tell anyone but I am pretty sure my kids attended church in the pajamas last Sunday. However, you do need to get up and get around, pull up your Newsfeed and be ready to start. Don’t wait until church starts to start pulling up the live service and sitting down. Start fifteen minutes early and get settled with your family with the link pulled up, and have a conversation with them while you wait.
2. Actually watch it live.
Yes, I know one of the advantages to online church is that it will be there when you get around to it, but there are advantages to actually watching it live. It is when your church is meeting. Even though you are in your home watching you are still meeting with your church family. Let’s keep going to church together. There are other benefits as well, such as, Facebook says, “hey these people are all watching and commenting this video must be important so it shows it to more people.” So watching it live helps spread the message of Jesus.
3. Greet one another online.
If someone visited your church a month ago before Covid-19 would you have greeted them? I sure hope so! Most churches go to great lengths to do their best to have greeters stationed throughout their building. Well let me ask you since church has been moved online for the time being have you had people attend your church and no one greeted them? Unfortunately, for most churches I would say the answer is yes. So, how about this Sunday let’s get to commenting in the comments. Which brings me to my next tip…
4. Comment while church is going
I know if you grew up in church your parents taught you not to talk during the service. In fact, they probably picked up and took you out of the service at some point because you were talking. Not that I would know from experience. 😉 But online church is different. Engage in the comments even during the sermon. We talk, greet each other, hug, shake hands, and hang out together at church. So, think of it this way. That is what the comments section of Facebook is for.
5. Watch on YouTube but comment on Facebook
At The Bridge we have found this one very helpful for families. Use your smart TV and pull up your church’s YouTube channel and watch it there. Then pull out your phone and comment on the Facebook feed. We have found that watching it together on one device as a family makes it more like we are going to church as a family instead of doing our own thing. Try it this week and let me know what you think!
6. Temporarily acknowledge this is church.
Ok, so whether we agree that the church should be moved online or not, let’s just acknowledge this is church right now. This is what we need and have to do. So let’s get up and go to church. Let’s praise God that we still can gather together as a church and worship our God! So keep making it a habit and let’s spread the name of Jesus together one share button at a time!
7. Put all your links in one place.
I realized real fast there are a lot of links to everything we are doing as a church. If you don’t attend The Bridge this is probably the case at your church as well. We have a YouTube link, a Facebook link, a Google Meet Link, a worship playlist link, and the list keeps going. I don’t know about you but I can’t keep up with all the links! In fact, Sunday we were trying to have our Community Group online and I think we may have been using different links. Needless to say it can be confusing. So take the links your church is sending out and copy and paste them into the notes app of your phone. Our church chose to make this as simple as possible and put them all in one place. If you attend The Bridge here is ours. Check them out!
