Pastor Matthew Best
1 min readOct 23, 2024

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I guess it just depends on how you do it. If church is a passive video in which you watch and don't have any interaction, then yeah, it's more entertainment than church. But church can be done with video in meaningful ways. In my previous call, we used Zoom. But it was thought through with intentionality. People would gather online before worship and check in with each other. We had people in other countries who were participating (not just passively watching). We knew about the person's cancer treatment and how they were doing. We checked in often with them. We made opportunities for the people in person to interaction with the people online throughout the service. It's about intentionality. You can connect with people online without being in person. But it takes far more than just setting up a camera and hitting the live button. That's not community. That's entertainment. But technology can be used in innovative ways to draw people together, to do life together (even if they are distant geographically). It can work, but it takes work. Most churches though don't do it that way. They are wasting their money, mission, and energy.

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Pastor Matthew Best
Pastor Matthew Best

Written by Pastor Matthew Best

My name is Matthew Best. I’m an ELCA (Lutheran) pastor who attempts to translate church and churchy stuff into everyday language.

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