By Douglas Estes

The first known online church was founded 35 years ago, in a time before live streaming and Instagram. In a sense, though, online church is really not new. 

From the persecution of the early Church to the outbreak of the Black Death to the battlefields of World War I to the modern political climate in Iran, the dispersed people of God have faced countless situations requiring them to meet at a distance, by extension, or online. These situations are not our typical experience in the West, where we often perceive the Church as an institution rather than a gathering.  (more…)