Rise of Couch Christianity

Key Takeaway

Social media is for first impressions, but having an excellent authentic worship gathering with an abundance of fellowship time is what sets church apart.

Life is becoming increasingly convenient, to the point where you likely never have to actually leave your home.

Amazon delivers any good you could possibly need to your doorstep, usually within 48 hours of purchase.

Groceries can often be delivered in most urban and suburban areas.

Work is increasingly happening from behind a computer screen in the comfort of your home.

Many people prefer to text or FaceTime call their friends than actually get together with them.

Over 80% of leisure is happening in the confines of people’s residence.

I’m one of the nearly 50% of people who experience education in some form online. Most schools give out laptops to their students because, even in traditional public school settings, education and internet are inseparable.

With all of life becoming centered around the home, what would you assume the fastest growing in-home activity might be?

Religion and spirituality.

This leads to an uncomfortable tension for churches and church leaders: should churches adopt or resist?

Churches should adopt… some things

Churches absolutely need to get with the times.

Having an ugly website is a turnoff.

No social media presence? No way some one is coming for a visit.

It used to be the case that relationships were largely based off of in-person gatherings. Today, the most trafficked place is social media. The starting place for evangelism is no longer dominated by in-person events, but online conversations. This is especially true since most people no longer prefer in-person activities but ones that happen at home.

Churches should vocally resist… some things

While it is true that starting the conversation with people about faith/religion/spirituality should happen in creative ways to meet people in their homes, it is also true that church remains one of the most powerful ways to create deep and meaningful relationships.

Church holds a lot of power in two specific areas.

First, church holds a monopoly on a deep and meaningful experience with God. Our worship times should not be cheapened to entertaining attendees. People get entertainment in a thousand other places with higher production quality than the local church can produce.

But the local church can help guide the attendee into a real experience with God. There is nothing cheap or common about this, and something the church should strive to provide.

Secondly, the church has the ability to facilitate deep and meaningful relationships with other real people, face to face.

Although people are at home more, data tells us that this is not always a welcome reality and that people are looking for ways to make friendships more than ever.

Just take a look at Google search trends for friendships, hitting higher search marks than any time in recent history!

Key Takeaway

Social media is for first impressions, but having an excellent authentic worship gathering with an abundance of fellowship time is what sets church apart.

If you liked this post, or you feel like it would start a good conversation, please share this with your friends and ask them to subscribe.

It would help me a lot. Thanks for reading! 

More from the Spark Newsletter universe

New videos coming out weekly: https://youtube.com/@thejacobhayward?si=JHgwOjGP_-FwY3l0

Follow me on X for newest updates: https://x.com/thejacobhayward?s=21