Has COVID-19 Proved Corporate Worship Irrelevant?

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There are Christians who hold a hostile position to Corporate Worship. You can be a Christian and not attend a church service. They argue. I have one such friend. He is categorical corporate worship is not a necessity for Christians. Can one truly be a Christian and at the same time affirm such a position? 

The present Coronavirus pandemic has made it impossible for churches to meet physically for worship due to government’s ban on public gatherings. Churches have resorted to streaming their services online. While this is not new because before the ban, many churches were online with their congregation in attendance, the present situation is unique. Pastors’ presence online now is without a congregation. They preach to empty seats so to speak. My friend has been vindicated, so he thinks. “Now, the church is online and at home…so does God really inhabit the temple or us? He asked in a conversation.

Church—The Building or The People?

“…does God really inhabit the temple or us?” is a question which forms the basis for rejection of the necessity of corporate gathering of God’s people. The claim is that they are the church and need not attend a service to be in church. Scripture indeed teaches God doesn’t “live in temples made by man.” (Acts 17:24) but rather indwells believers by his Holy Spirit; either individually or corporately (1 Corinthians 3:16-17;6:15-20; 2Corinthians 6:14-18; Ephesians 2:19-22; 1 Peter 2:5). When Christ spoke of the indomitability of his church against the onslaught of hell, he wasn’t speaking of buildings but people (Matthew 16:18).

The New Testament usage of the word church in its original koine Greek is predominantly a description of a people and not a building. There are two words under consideration here. Kyriakon and Ekklesia. Of the two words, ekklesia points us to God’s people as those referenced as Church in the New Testament. Ekklesia simply refers to “called out ones”, that is all of God’s people who have been “ delivered… from the domain of darkness and transferred…to the kingdom of his beloved son” (Colossians 1:13). “In all 114 instances that the New Testament uses this word[ekklesia], it designates a people or an assembly of people …[and] never the place where they meet.” ¹ 

Why Are Buildings Then Called Churches?

Though it has been established that church refers strictly to the people of God, it isn’t wrong to call buildings where corporate worship occurs as a church. It is okay for someone to say “I am going to church” and in this statement, a destination of a particular place is in mind. Obviously, it is always a building or these days, some churches hold meetings in tents specially made for the purpose. Of course, when people meet for worship, it is expected they meet under a roof. And if that meeting is going to be permanent and recurring, we expect a permanent structure. Such buildings housing God’s people have come to be called churches.

Here the use of the second Greek word for church kyriakon will be examined. The word means “belonging to the Lord” and its usage in the whole of the New Testament is at only two places; 1 Corinthians 11:20 where it refers to the Lord’s Supper and Revelation 1:10 referencing the Lord’s Day.² In the course of its usage, the word kyriakon “came to be used to refer to other things such as the place or people or denomination or country related to the group that belong to the Lord.”³ So though the word church is in its strictest sense for the people of God, its present usage to describe both God’s people and the building where they meet is “OK, so long as we understand that every time we encounter “church” in the New Testament, it designates the people (ekklesia).⁴

The Necessity of Corporate Worship

Throughout the Bible, God’s people are charged to meet for worship. Once a person identifies as a Christian, they must as a matter of necessity identify with a local Christian assembly. Why? Because, because Scripture commands it and also because it is in a local assembly believers are nurtured, fed and nourished with the word of God. In 1 Corinthians 12:12-27, Paul draws an analogy from the human body and concludes in verse 27 saying “Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it.” What Paul does here is that he identifies the body of Christ as a corporate group and identifies individual Christians as making up this body. This teaches we cannot be members of Christ’s body and detach from it at the same time. Every individual member of Christ’s body must therefore belong to a community of believers and to meet regularly in corporate worship.

The Hebrew writer in Hebrew 10:24-25 writes to his audience about the importance of corporate worship. He charges fellowship and mutual encouragement among brethren. This fellowship, though it can happen over various communication channels without physically being present, the nature of the church as a community of believers demands a physical meeting. It is clear there were believers among the Hebrew congregation who were in the habit of “neglecting to meet together.” This is dangerous for the moment we start neglecting meeting together with brethren, we become prey for the enemy.

Covid-19 Restrictions Is Only Temporal

If one is indeed a Christian, they will be by now longing for fellowship with their brothers and sisters in the Lord. There are in my opinion at least two things that will make a person believe corporate worship is irrelevant. Either they  are not truly a Christian or may be but don’t understand the necessity of corporate worship.

Covid-19 hasn’t proven corporate worship irrelevant. These are only temporal times with temporal measures restricting God’s people from meeting physically.

Livestreaming, sermon podcasts, videos, and FaceTime—at their best, these can enhance what goes on in real community, but they are not a substitute for the real thing, no matter how much we rely on them. Churches can go online without becoming online churches.⁵

Notes

1. Matthew Miller, “Is the Church a People or a Place?”, https://tabletalkmagazine.com/posts/is-the-church-a-people-or-a-place-2020-04/, accessed 19th April, 2020.

2. Charles C. Ryrie, Basic Theology: A Systematic Guide To Understanding Biblical Truth (Chicago, Moody Publishers, 1999), 455.

3. Ryrie, Basic Theology: A Systematic Guide To Understanding Biblical Truth, 455

4. Miller, “Is the Church a People or a Place?”, https://tabletalkmagazine.com/posts/is-the-church-a-people-or-a-place-2020-04/, accessed 19th April, 2020.

5. Trevi Wax, “Will the Church’s Digital Wave Continue after the Coronavirus?”, https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/trevin-wax/will-the-churchs-digital-wave-continue-after-the-coronavirus/, accessed 19th April, 2020