Online church

Over the last few year I have been talking to more and more people who are not physically or mentally able to attend church in person.

During these conversations I find out that they love God, read their Bible and pray every day, have attended church in the past, but are just not able to at the moment.

When talking to them I usually talk about how many churches are now online after covid. Of all the negatives of the shutdowns, this is one is a positive. More churches are now online.

During covid my wife and I watched a weekly service from a church in Perth. We chatted with the live chat and made connections with people. When the lockdown finished, we went to visit to say thanks. We found the online connections were there in person.

Now I encourage the people who go online and look on YouTube. You can usually find an online church service pretty quickly. Although you might have to watch a few services until you find the right one for you.

For me personally I really like online church. I like that I can worship God, pray with others, hear the Bible preached and be a part of an online community. One church that does it really well is Life.Church, the creators of the Bible app.

Each week they do an online church service especially for those who cannot attend. They do all the usual things that happen in church like prayer, worship and have a sermon. They also have ways of connecting in small groups online.

If you are interested you can check out their link here. Or you can try the church we attended online while in covid shutdown. If you are Catholic you can check out Mass for you at home. All three are on my links page too.

Churchonlineplatform.com

I was just looking online for some information about the YouVersion Bible app and I found this great resource on their website. It is called churchonlineplatform.com.

This great free resource allows churches or ministries to go live online and stream their church services. I just watched the introduction video and it looks really easy to set up and use.

Here is some information from their website…

“Through Church Online Platform, your church can reach right into living rooms, offices, communities, and hearts of people no matter where they are in the world … and no matter where they are with God.

Church Online Platform has the unique features you need to interact with attenders, build community, and help hurting people find Jesus. And they’re all included completely free of charge.

You’ll get the Platform, every feature, ongoing support, and upgrades for the life of the tool—because eternities are at stake.”

A million dollars to give away?

If you had a million dollars to give away, who would you give it to?

This is another good question. After some consideration I would donate it to my local church. This might seem strange to some people, but let me explain why.

Local churches in small country towns like mine do not have much income. They generally have enough to get by, but not much to do many of the things they want to do.

Most cannot afford to pay a Pastor, so the church members do their best to lead, preach and serve. It works well, but many are tired and need to be ministered to at church.

I would love to give a million dollars to my local church so they can employ a full time teaching Pastor, a pastoral care worker and someone to do community outreach. They could also do some much needed maintenance on the church.

Doing this would allow the members to receive ministry for a time and the church would be able to reach out to the community more and hopefully reach more people for Christ.

My heart in doing this would help the church members to be equipped to do the works of service like it says in Ephesians 4…

Ephesians 4:11-12 NLT
[11] Now these are the gifts Christ gave to the church: the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the pastors and teachers. [12] Their responsibility is to equip God’s people to do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ.

So who would I give a million dollars to? My local country church.

Weekly worship of first Christians

I am currently reading through the practices of the early church. In my reading I came across a letter by Justin Martyr in 150AD. The section below is taken from his First Apology Chapter 67.

He was writing to explain what Christians did when they met together. In his letter to Roman Emperor Titus Aelius Hadrianus Antoninus Pius, he explains some of the weekly things Christians did.

It is interesting that they did many of the things we still do today. Things like meeting on Sunday, bless the Maker, prayer, reading the writings of the Apostles and Prophets, a teaching exhortation, celebrated Communion, and a collection and distribution to the widows and orphans.

Weekly Worship of the Christians.

And we afterwards continually remind each other of these things. And the wealthy among us help the needy; and we always keep together; and for all things wherewith we are supplied, we bless the Maker of all through His Son Jesus Christ, and through the Holy Ghost. And on the day called Sunday,76 all who live in cities or in the country gather together to one place, and the memoirs of the apostles or the writings of the prophets are read, as long as time permits; then, when the reader has ceased, the president verbally instructs, and exhorts to the imitation of these good things. Then we all rise together and pray, and, as we before said, when our prayer is ended, bread and wine and water are brought, and the president in like manner offers prayers and thanksgivings, according to his ability,77 and the people assent, saying Amen; and there is a distribution to each, and a participation of that over which thanks have been given,78 and to those who are absent a portion is sent by the deacons. And they who are well to do, and willing, give what each thinks fit; and what is collected is deposited with the president, who succours the orphans and widows and those who, through sickness or any other cause, are in want, and those who are in bonds and the strangers sojourning among us, and in a word takes care of all who are in need. But Sunday is the day on which we all hold our common assembly, because it is the first day on which God, having wrought a change in the darkness and matter, made the world; and Jesus Christ our Saviour on the same day rose from the dead. For He was crucified on the day before that of Saturn (Saturday); and on the day after that of Saturn, which is the day of the Sun, having appeared to His apostles and disciples, He taught them these things, which we have submitted to you also for your consideration.

My passions?

What are you passionate about?

This is an easy one to answer. The things I am passionate about are always not far from the surface and easy to see. I have many passions, but one stands above it all.

My faith in Jesus is my number one passion. Since I came to Jesus in July of 1989, my life has never been the same. He changed everything for the better. My heart is to walk with Him all the days of my life.

Walking closely with the Lord drives everything else I do in my life. He is the reason I get up early to pray and read my Bible. He is why I want to be the best husband and father I can be. He is why I am a Chaplain. He is why I have my PASSION websites to reach out with His love.

If it was not for Jesus I do not know where I would be. Jesus has given my life meaning, purpose, strength, hope and a future. He loved me and died on the cross for me. My response is to give my life back to Him each day and to take up my cross as it says in Matthew 16:24.

What am I passionate about? Jesus!