Chris Segun Onayinka

The Online Church Chris Segun Onayinka

"In recent times, the whole world has witnessed a very strange occurrence; a pandemic that practically shut down the whole world. Churches at this instance were either forced, compelled or made to hold their services in ways other than physical gatherings. Somewhat, it appears that there seems to be a theology that has evolved from this occurrence. Many have started advocating for what is known as the virtual gathering of saints, with good intentions I believe. But oftentimes things that lead to error could be paved with good intentions. The road to such perfidy if at all, or such abnormality could equally have been paved with good intentions. "Is there an online, virtual church inscribed on the pages of the scriptures?"Some will readily say that there was no online technology so we can't say but definitely no one will say that there was no technology at all. We can ask, what role did the technology of their day play in the constitution of the local church and the churches in those Bible times? Those are the issues we seek to explore in this material. Theology must not be made to be subservient to the whims and caprices of the present times or become expedient such that incidences, occurrences and events begin to shape our view of scriptures. This is the heart-cry of this short and incisive material but we trust God to answer the questions. When Jesus founded a church both in Matthew 16 and instructions in Matthew 18, did it give allowances and permission for an online, non-physical gathering of saints that equally should be called church. This we trust will be our study together with every reader as we go through Old Testament books; scriptures of the prophets, the 4 gospels, the Book of Acts and the epistles. We have also added historical and statistical facts to help us see the possibility and scriptural validity of what is today called 'The Online Church."Once again, arm yourselves with your regular study materials and let us study through the scriptures as we find out whether there is truly an online church.