Community Church meets World Wide Web

This morning Fall River Baptist Church streamed its first service via the internet. This is not a large congregation and it doesn't have a big tech budget. It does have a few skilled people, access to basic web technology and the vision to do something different. I was in the sound booth watching as this internet experiment unfolded. Gradually, people started picking up the feed until by service end there were 9 remote observers. Pretty good for first time out! This included former members moved away and friends of the church. There was a chat feature to allow some limited two way communication. This raises interesting questions about the power of technology to help religious communities keep in touch with those who can't always be there. Research has shown that a number of religious groups have explored this technology on larger scales allowing visitors to login to participate in worship by webcam (e.g. The Temple Wall in Jerusalem for Jewish worshipers.) It is no longer mega churches or major religious groups who have this capacity; now little churches with big vision can potentially reach the world!