Two or Three Gathered Online: Asian and European Responses to COVID-19 and the Digital Church

Abstract

In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been a rapid increase in the use of digital technology by Christian communities worldwide. This paper offers a cross-continental analysis of how churches in Asia (Hong Kong and Singapore) and Europe (the United Kingdom and Sweden) understand and choose to implement (or resist) online services or Mass. Undoubtedly, there are practical reasons behind differences which can be observed, such as the technological readiness found amongst church leadership and laity, and past experiences of public health crises, such as the 2002–2004 SARS outbreak. However, accompanying these developments are debates around the theological implications of digitising church ministries, and the general concern that the digital church is somehow not ‘church’ or, even, not ‘Christian’. Different contextual perspectives help us to understand that the digital church offers a new dimension of the church embodied and, therefore, one that has the potential to live out the missio Dei within and beyond the COVID-19 pandemic.

Religion and Faith in the Context of Covid-19 in India

“…Religious leaders are integrated into their communities through service and compassionate networks and are often able to reach the most vulnerable with assistance and health information and identify those most in need [25]. Religious leaders are a critical link in the safety net for vulnerable people within their faith community and wider communities [26,27].…”

What Has Jerusalem to Do with the Internet? World Christianity and Digital Culture

“…For these novices in digital church, this garnered an awareness that a digital shift creates new possibilities for mission and evangelism beyond the limits of space. 16 Contrast this with Christians who have much more experience and conscious engagement with digital technologies, especially as found in more evangelistically oriented or Pentecostal-charismatic churches. In his study of African Pentecostalism, Kwabena Asamoah-Gyadu explains that "for the contemporary [African] Pentecostal movement, [digital] media offer something much more than just serving as an instrument for evangelization or mission.…”

Experts in Self-Isolation? Monastic Outreach during Lockdown

“…The monks provided advice (including links to web resources) on how to keep active in prayer, how to follow the readings of the services, and to participate remotely by watching Mass live-streamed from churchesalthough the monastery did not itself have the capacity to livestream the community Mass or other liturgical services from within the Abbey Church itself due to the lack of wifi there. Nevertheless, given the nature of Catholic sacramental life as embodied experience, there was a recognition that something would be missed in the immateriality of online involvement (notwithstanding the point, as made by Chow and Kurlberg (2020) that the digital is itself inherently material); the online could only ever be a limited, if important, substitute.…”

“…a somewhat terrifying thought". Digital media provide the opportunity for religious groups to build communities that expand beyond specific localities (Hutchings 2017), and in the context of the pandemic there has been a clear missional role for such digital outreach (Chow and Kurlberg 2020). The monks at Downside responded to this challenge in a particular way by arguing that monks have something particular to offer that a wider public could find valuable.…”

“…The global COVID-19 pandemic has had a major impact on religious institutions and religious practice (Baker et al 2020), with restrictions on gatherings changing the context and experience of participation in religious groups across the world (see e.g., Alyanak (2020) on Islam in Turkey; Kuipers et al (forthcoming) on Islam in Indonesia; Cavaliere (2021) on Buddhism and Shinto in Japan; Ben-Lulu (forthcoming) on Reform Judaism in Israel; Chow and Kurlberg (2020) on Christian churches in Hong Kong, Singapore, the UK, and Sweden). Digital media has been a source of continuity of practice-enabling communities to continue meeting together and allowing continued participation from home-as well as ritual innovation (O'Brien 2020).…”