The Church of Facebook: How Online Churches Affect Worship

In an age dominated by technology, having church online seems like the natural progression of things. Liberty University recently threw its hat into the virtual ring with a church service held via Facebook.

Johnnie Moore, vice president for Executive Projects at Liberty, said it was the first time students on campus had the chance to join Liberty’s online students in a worship service where they could all participate.

Usually the university, located in Lynchburg, Va., holds a Wednesday night service in the basketball arena or in a nearby Baptist church. But last week, both venues had conflicts. So, instead of leaving the almost 5,000 people who attend the worship service hanging, school officials held a service on the social networking site.

In a recent post for CNN’s religion blog, Moore explained the reasoning behind the virtual service. He compared Facebook to church asking, “What is Facebook, after all? It’s a community. What is church, after all? It’s a community. For us, doing church on Facebook isn’t innovative. It’s intuitive. Church and Facebook are places where we share in life together, learn about one another, encourage each other, laugh together and live our lives in some kind of ramshackle harmony with one another.”

About 200 people physically gathered for the service on location, and then broadcast it via Facebook to other students on campus and locations around the world. Moore says he is convinced that if the Apostle Paul were alive today he would find a way to bring the Gospel to Facebook.

Liberty’s online broadcast is part of a growing trend cropping up across the nation. An online church is usually defined by not having a physical building where worshippers attend, though many churches, including LifeChurch.tv, offer online church in addition to services held at physical locations. To read more, click here.