There are over fifty weekend worship experiences at thirteen different locations throughout the United States – all watching the same thing via satellite.  And, if there’s not a campus near you, then you’re invited to join them at their “Internet Campus.”

“We were blown away at how people could actually worship along [online],” says Groeschel. “The whole family will gather around the computer, and they’ll sing and they’ll worship together. Instead of trying to get people to come to a church, we feel like we can take a church to them.” (cnn.com, 11/15/09)

The concept of worshiping online and joining a “virtual” church is starting to catch on…but should it?

LifeChurch.tv has a large Internet following, but it’s not the only church that invites people to have their church experience over the Internet.  The Internet campus of the Flamingo Road Church in Cooper City, Florida, pulls in more than 2,000 congregants from around the world during its Sunday services.  And some online churches go so far as to offer traditional sacraments like communion “virtually,” asking viewers to grab grape juice and a cracker from the fridge and take communion in front of their computer screen with other internet followers.

I’m not that old (not even 40…yet), but this is a hard concept for me to embrace.  I’m all for making church as culturally relevant and appealing as possible (to a point obviously), but the idea of calling an online experience “church” and telling people that physically gathering together for worship is not necessary seems a bit over the top for me.

What are your thoughts?  How do you think the Internet should be utilized when it comes to the church?  Am I showing my age and lack of cultural relevance by struggling with the concept of online church, or is my struggle valid?  What say you?