Showing up for each other

Oct. 30, 2025

By Rev. Rick King

One of the people who sees me for spiritual companionship is a pastor to the online community of a large church in another state.

Recently she told me about the impact of meeting members of her 200+ online “flock” in this 1800-member church, people from different states in the U.S. and in various countries around the world.

“This one person I met treated me almost the way a fan of a celebrity would, and I realized it’s because all her previous contact with me has been watching me onscreen, either in a retreat setting or on our livestream Sunday morning. I worried that the ‘real’ me would someday disappoint her.”

And yet she also mentioned how profound and moving it is to meet, in the flesh, people with whom you’ve previously had only an online relationship.

Five and a half years ago, COVID lockdowns forced many churches that didn’t have an online presence to get one quickly. Since then, many of us have experienced the pros and cons of having a livestream Sunday morning and being conscious of our online presence in ways we never expected.

In many ways, we simply take our church’s online presence for granted. In our merger process, that was one of the first things we figured out how to do: connect our livestreams to each other, so no matter where we were worshipping, both of our sets of online viewers could see the service and feel connected to the church.

But because human relationship requires presence to express itself fully, with a few exceptions, online church will be a supplement to the in-person, gathered church that exists in a real rather than virtual location. Online relationships are REAL relationships, as my friend the online pastor notes. But something significant is added when we show up for each other in body as well as spirit.

What’s YOUR favorite way to experience church, and why?