What Is Church?

On Good Friday I had the opportunity to partake in a service at Mars Hill Church in Seattle via their website.

The following night I watched an Easter service from LifeChurch.tv; Sunday I could have watched that service again or I could have “gone to church” at over a dozen other churches via the internet. When this technology became available several years ago, many churches advertised it as “services on demand”; a supplement to normal church attendance. Nowadays most churches have followed LifeChurch.tv’s lead and are referring to it as church online or an online campus.

This begs the question, what is church? Not the universal church, but the thing that the author of Hebrews was referring to when he told us not to neglect coming together (Hebrews 10:24-25). Over the last few hundred years Christians have come to define that scripture as meeting on Sunday morning (or more often) in a specific building (coincidentally called “church”) and following a specific service format that, despite the differences between denominations, is pretty similar regardless of where you go.

Does the church have to meet in a “church building”?

Do we have to meet on Sunday?

Do we have to follow a specific (traditional) format? (e.g. welcome, 2 fast songs, 1 slow song, offering, message)

Can you attend church online and still honor the scriptures by assembling with other Christians in small groups, Bible study, etc.?