Overview:

Ministers believe eliminating livestreams of worship services will boost attendance and fill offering plates. But advocates say the change will not only reduce membership and walk past the power of livestreams to grow membership, but also leave some chronically-ill or mobility challenged parishioners behind.

Like other churches during the COVID-19 lockdown, Dunamis International Gospel Center began livestreaming its services in 2020. Now that the pandemic has subsided — and noticing the pews aren’t as filled as before — Rev. Dr. Paul Enenche, the senior pastor, delivered a message to congregants who’d rather watch DIGC services from a video screen.

Virtual worship, he said, is ending. It’s time for parishioners to log off and come in.

“The assembly is very important,” Enenche declared in a May sermon from church headquarters in Abjua, Nigeria, invoking Hebrews 10:25, which calls the faithful to continue meeting together. “Those of you who are used to watching from home, today may be the last day you do that.” 

Since then, Enenche has kept his word, ending DIGC’s livestream; video is only available after the fact, primarily for the disabled and parisioners overseas. The move puts DIGC among a growing number of churches hoping to reverse declining attendance and fill pews by cutting the streaming cord. 

Many churches ending livestreaming cite poll numbers showing that a majority of congregants prefer in-person worship. They say they feel more engaged and more connected to their faith and their congregation. 

But proponents say the end of virtual worship is a mistake. Besides assuming that in-person attendance will rebound, they say, the move ignores the membership gains some churches have seen during virtual worship and is insensitive to members with mobility issues, those who live far away without transportation, or who may be too ill to attend in person. And it dismisses a powerful tool that can spread the gospel across the universe. 

Virtual Church Brings in New People

Bishop Aaron Hannah, senior pastor of South Church in Cherry Hill, Maryland, told Word in Black that he’d witnessed a surge in new faces, with as many as 200 people joining a single virtual worship service.

”I’d never seen that many at one time in my entire life,” he said. Besides joining, virtual worshippers “continue to come and be regular givers just like the in-person members.”

Nevertheless, the trend of eliminating virtual worship is growing, a stark reversal from early in the pandemic, when livestreaming was the only option for houses of worship. Overnight, pastors scrambled to bring cameras, internet routers, and other streaming technology into the sanctuary. The digital future had arrived. 

Why Is Online Worship Losing Momentum?

Four years later, “the enthusiasm has waned,” according to an October op-ed published in The Christian Post. “Online worship remains a tool, but it no longer carries the same momentum.”

Data from the Pew Research Center tells part of the story. 

  • Among people who attend in person and watch services virtually, about 76% prefer in-person worship, while only around 11% prefer virtual services, and roughly 14% have no preference.
  • About 65% of in-person attenders say they feel a “great deal” or “quite a bit” of connection to other worshippers, versus only 28% for virtual viewers watching a congregation in person and 22% for those watching on screens with others online.
  • Only about 25% of virtual viewers feel like active participants, while around 39% say they “all or most of the time” do things they would if attending in person; the rest say they either do so only occasionally or observe passively. 

But some pastors and worshippers are pushing back against the drive to end virtual worship, with the discussion dominating certain corners of social media.

Churches Need to Adjust to Technology

Justin R. Lester, whose online handle is @thattechpastor, pointed out in a Facebook video that, practically since its creation, the church has adjusted to different forms of technology, enabling it to spread the gospel to more people. Livestreaming, he said, should be no different.

“Printing press? Church. Radio. Church. Letters from Paul? Tech for his time,” Lester said. “But now, in the middle of an AI wave, we wanna…cut the livestream? Nah. This is the moment to grow not hide.” Lester also suggested following him, “If you’re ready for the conversation your church is scared to have.”

DK Hammonds, a man of faith who helps churches integrate technology into their operations, acknowledged in a Facebook video that “something does take place powerfully” whenever two or more are gathered in worship. “But also when we commune individually. God can use any location to operate the room. Give you a revelation, a rhema, and love where you are.”

If virtual worship goes dark, “we will also cause a reactionary effect that would make people want to come back to our sanctuaries. That does not work,” he said. “What makes people want to come to your sanctuary is sound preaching. If God tells us to take the gospel to the highways and byways, isn’t streaming one of the highways?”

Meanwhile, Dionne Bostic suggested a pastor’s decision to end virtual worship might have more to do with offerings than ministry. 

“Many times, people are more inclined to tithe when they are in person and other people see them do it. It’s basically peer pressure rather than being a cheerful giver,” she said in a Facebook video. But I will say you need money to keep the doors of the church open, so I can’t blame him for thinking about finances. I just hope that every time a soul is saved, the soul is celebrated rather than the dollar amount attached to it.”