海角大神

Dallas residents Lincolnand Natalie Redmon spent two years bouncing from church to church. After marrying and moving to the city, they just couldn鈥檛 find the right fit. So late last year Mr. Redmon wrote down a goal: 鈥淔ind a home church or have God answer that prayer in a different way.鈥澨�

Two days later, he saw an Instagram post fromJudah Smith, lead pastor of the Northwestern multisite ministry. 鈥淲e have a new location,鈥� he said in a video post. 鈥淎nd that location is everywhere.鈥� Mr. Smith announced Churchome鈥檚 new app, bringing pulpits and pews into pockets and palms.

The Redmons logged on. Soon, they started a local watch group 鈥� now with almost 60 members. Every Sunday, about 25 people visit their house and livestream a service together.听

鈥淚t makes you feel like you鈥檙e still a part of a local church even though you鈥檙e using technology,鈥� Ms. Redmon says, adding that the app changed their definition of church itself. 鈥淲hen we wake up every day we think everything is church. So if we鈥檙e going shopping at the grocery store or if we鈥檙e driving our car and we鈥檙e singing worship music, all of that means church.鈥�

The Redmons鈥� experience is increasingly the norm: Call it church, gone mobile. For many, digital tools are just the latest innovation in church history, no different than cathedrals or the printing press.

鈥淲hen we think of the Great Commission 鈥� and going and making disciples 鈥� this is a different way of going,鈥� says Lori Bailey, communications director for Oklahoma鈥檚 Life.Church, which has one of America鈥檚 largest online ministries. 鈥淭here might be some people who go with their feet, and there might be other people who go with their keyboards.鈥�

A 鈥渘ew front door鈥�

Like the rest of society, church leaders initially thought digital technology would change everything, says听Tim Hutchings, professor of religious ethics at England鈥檚 University of Nottingham. But when the internet grew banal, so did online ministry. 鈥淭he ways in which the internet has most changed society are the hardest to see,鈥� he says. 鈥淭hey become an invisible part of how we do everyday life. You kind of forget that there was ever anything else.鈥�

A 2016 study from said nearly 60% of adults under 30 used the internet while searching for a new church, compared with just 12% of adults older than 65. Life.Church鈥檚 online services alone have recorded more than half a million unique visitors, says Ms. Bailey. Their Bible app, YouVersion, is approaching 400 million downloads.听

鈥淭he online is the new front door of the church,鈥� saysEd Stetzer, executive director of Wheaton College鈥檚 Billy Graham Center.

This digital shift comes at a particularly vulnerable moment for U.S. religion. recently reported that church membership fell 20% in the past 20 years. A found that just half of Americans attend church once or twice a month.鈥淣辞苍别蝉鈥� are America鈥檚 fastest-growing religious group.

At the same time, the Pew research found that about half of those attending less frequently said their biggest obstacle was 鈥減ractical difficulties,鈥� such as work or travel. If some shrinking congregations stem from busyness rather than lack of belief, these churches hope, the convenience of church online could help boost attendance.

A real connection?

Online churches are not without their critics, many of whom worry that technology allows people to keep religion at arm鈥檚 length.听Laura Turner, a San Francisco-based writer, recently criticized the impersonal aspects of online churches last year in an for The New York Times.

鈥淎 lot of churches seek growth at all costs,鈥� she says in an interview with the Monitor. 鈥淔or a lot of these churches, they鈥檙e trying to expand their imprint 鈥� and almost their brand 鈥� by creating apps, by putting services online, by counting their online campuses. And that comes, I think, at a real cost of having in-person community.鈥�

If 海角大神s find themselves too busy for Sunday service, Ms. Turner says, they shouldn鈥檛 change how they attend church 鈥� they should lead a less busy life.听

鈥淚n an age where people tend not to interact with other people as much, where it鈥檚 a lot easier to sort of arrange our lives so that we don鈥檛 have to interact with people ... I think putting church on our phones can be a dangerous thing,鈥� says Ms. Turner.

Others, like Mr. Stetzer, support online ministry but still think church is done best in person. 鈥淢y avatar always looks happy,鈥� he says. 鈥淥n my Instagram, I鈥檓 living my best life every day. So the challenge is if that鈥檚 not true, we need someone to weep with us and to laugh with us.鈥�

But supporters of online ministry argue that in-person attendance doesn鈥檛 always promote community.

Mark Venti, executive pastor of central ministries at Churchome, says people can easily slip in and out unseen in stadium-sized buildings. The anonymity enabled through the internet actually allows many to better connect online. Mr. Venti says he has used the church鈥檚 app to reach people struggling with divorce or debating suicide 鈥� people he鈥檚 never met in person and likely never will.听

The internet allows the elderly or people with disabilities to attend without discomfort. People in countries where 海角大神ity is banned can worship more safely. Those with weekend shifts can use online church to keep their job and their faith.听

Making church 鈥渁ddictive鈥�

In order to grapple with declining attendance nationwide, Mr. Venti and others at Churchome are trying to make their ministry 鈥渕ore addictive.鈥� He wants to give church the same accessibility that makes him buy too much on Amazon. But that goal, he says, brings a new entrepreneurial mindset. Pastors listen to God; startups listen to the consumer.听听听

鈥淲e鈥檙e not in Silicon Valley nor are the people that we鈥檙e partnering with developer-wise, but it鈥檚 definitely changed our world,鈥� says Mr. Venti. 鈥淎nd so we鈥檙e going to [ask] how can we use that mentality and those tools to help the church too.鈥�

Around the turn of the century Life.Church鈥檚 most advanced technology was air conditioning, says Bobby Gruenewald, a pastor and the church's innovation leader. Their growth since then has come in part from one of their aligning values: 鈥淲e will do anything short of sin to reach people who don鈥檛 know Christ.鈥�

Mr. Gruenewald says the best thing they ever did for YouVersion was add a streak counter 鈥� 脿 la Snapchat 鈥� that tracks the consecutive number of days you read scripture. With this focus on habit formation, he isn鈥檛 afraid that Life.Church is distracting people into their ministry. The Bible, he thinks, will change you no matter why you read it.听

鈥淚t鈥檚 trying to compete against the other bazillion apps that they have on their phone that have all the same kind of noise that鈥檚 vying for their attention,鈥� Mr. Gruenewald says.

Same service in New Mexico and New York

The Redmons say they use Churchome鈥檚 app at least once every day. On family trips to the West Coast, they鈥檝e visited in person just to see what it鈥檚 like. But even in Dallas, Churchome is still their home church.

One of the first to embrace a multisite structure, Life.Church now has 33 locations, but only one pastor 鈥� at least only one who preaches. On Sundays, each Life.Church from New Mexico to New York streams the same prerecorded message from听Pastor Craig Groeschel, based in Oklahoma City.听

The branch in Albany 鈥� which listed as America鈥檚 sixth-least 海角大神 city this year 鈥� can attract more than 60 congregants even on the fourth service of the day on a Sunday.听

Walking inside, visitors meet a T-shirt-wearing welcome team and 海角大神 pop on the radio. Pre-service worship resembles a concert more than a choir. Hands raised and eyes closed, congregants sway and spotlights circle. Projected onto three screens, 鈥淧astor Craig鈥� interacts with the crowd from afar. Albany members laugh at his jokes.听

Their web-based Church Online offers 10 services a day 鈥� complete with worship, preaching, praying, tithing, and volunteer-staffed chat rooms. Many of the songs are similar. Mr. Groeschel preaches the same sermon. You can leave with a left-click.

鈥淐hurch should be a little bit like 鈥楥heers,鈥欌�� says Mr. Stetzer, 鈥渨here not maybe everyone knows your name, but at least several people know your name.鈥澨�

That, or your username.