Let’s stop playing pretend.
If your version of Christianity looks like rolling out of bed at 10:37 AM, microwaving your coffee, and tuning in to a livestream sermon while scrolling Instagram and yelling at your kids in the background—you’re not attending church. You’re watching Christian Netflix.
And don’t get me wrong—livestreams have their place. For the sick. The elderly. The homebound. The stranded. The soldier deployed overseas. The young mom with a fevered toddler. Grace covers that. But for the able-bodied Christian with a working vehicle and a Wi-Fi password? You don’t need another screen. You need a pew, a handshake, and someone to sing off-key next to.
Because church isn’t a product you consume—it’s a body you belong to.
Church Is Not a Convenience—It’s a Command
Let’s get theological for a second. Hebrews 10:25 says, “Do not neglect to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.” It’s not a suggestion. It’s not an optional enrichment activity for extra credit Christians. It’s a command to gather.
Why? Because something sacred happens when God’s people gather.
Not when they “watch church.” Not when they passively observe from the periphery. Not when they treat preaching like a podcast and worship like a Spotify playlist. But when they gather—with bodies, voices, burdens, and real-life presence.
God’s design is incarnational. Flesh and blood. Voice and breath. Tears and laughter. Proximity and presence. The digital age has deceived us into thinking disembodied faith is enough—but the Word became flesh, not pixels.
Jesus didn’t stream the Sermon on the Mount. Paul didn’t plant livestream campuses. The early church didn’t mail out scrolls of encouragement while everyone stayed home. They met. They broke bread. They prayed together.
The Problem with Pajama Christianity
Let’s talk about what we’ve traded in.
We’ve traded spiritual formation for convenience. We’ve exchanged fellowship for flexibility. We’ve replaced accountability with anonymity.
And we wonder why people feel disconnected, apathetic, and spiritually dry.
If your entire church experience fits neatly between brunch plans and football kickoff, I’ve got bad news: you’re not building your life around the gospel—you’re fitting the gospel around your life.
Church doesn’t exist to coddle your schedule. It exists to shape your soul.
Pajama Christianity is safe. Comfortable. Controlled. But it lacks the very things that make church church:
- Interruption
- Inconvenience
- Involvement
You can’t grow without tension. You can’t love people without proximity. You can’t be the body if you’re never in the room.
The Church Is a Body—Not a Broadcast
Paul calls the church a body (1 Corinthians 12). Not a brand. Not a broadcast. A body. Which means you are not a spectator—you are a member.
Try telling your leg it can participate in the family meal from the other room. Try convincing your hand that livestreaming your next hug will be just as good. That’s how ridiculous it is to think we can be fully connected to the body without being present.
And before someone quotes, “The church isn’t a building,” let me stop you. Yes, the church isn’t a building. But it’s also not your couch. It’s a gathering of believers. You don’t have to meet in a cathedral. But you do have to meet.
The church is where you:
- Are seen
- Are known
- Are corrected
- Are comforted
- Are exhorted
- Are sent
And none of that happens in isolation.
Digital Discipleship Isn’t Real Discipleship
Discipleship requires life-on-life contact. You can’t be discipled by pixels. You can be informed by content, but you’re not being shaped by it. Information without transformation is just noise.
We’ve confused content consumption with spiritual growth. But the fruit of the Spirit isn’t a lecture—it’s a lifestyle. It’s something formed over time, in community, under shepherds, through hardship, joy, rebuke, and grace.
You don’t need more Christian content. You need more Christian community.
That brother who annoys you? He’s part of your sanctification. That awkward greeter at the door? He’s a reminder that the church is for everyone—not just the cool and the camera-ready. That crying baby? That’s the sound of the next generation being raised in the gospel.
Stop Consuming. Start Contributing.
Streaming church turns worship into a show, preaching into a performance, and community into a concept. It’s a fast-food version of the feast God called us to.
But the church is not something you watch. It’s something you participate in.
- You bring food.
- You serve someone.
- You receive prayer.
- You help stack chairs.
- You give financially.
- You sing your lungs out even when you don’t feel like it.
Because you’re not just there to receive. You’re there to belong.
Church is a messy, glorious, inconvenient, awkward, holy, and sacred thing. It is both hospital and army. It’s where the broken get healed and the healed get deployed.
And none of that happens through a screen.
The Danger of Making Church Optional
When church becomes optional, so does obedience. So does fellowship. So does discipleship. So does correction.
And soon enough, so does Jesus.
You might still “believe in God.” You might still “have a relationship with Jesus.” But it’s a one-sided relationship. You’re dating Jesus but refusing to meet His family.
Which makes me question—do you love the Head if you hate the body?
You can’t say “I love Jesus” and treat His bride like an accessory. You can’t say “I follow Christ” and ignore the very means He gave you to grow.
The local church is not an add-on. It’s essential to your walk with God.
Grace for the Weak. Correction for the Willful.
Again—hear me clearly.
This isn’t about shaming the sick, the injured, the isolated, the immunocompromised, or the homebound. God sees them. The church must serve them. There is grace upon grace for those who can’t gather.
But if you won’t gather? If your absence is driven by laziness, preference, or spiritual apathy? Then this isn’t about access. It’s about obedience.
And the remedy isn’t better livestream quality. It’s repentance.
Get in the Room.
Church isn’t perfect. It never was. It’s full of sinners and strugglers and saints in process. You’re going to get annoyed. Offended. Challenged. Corrected. Embraced.
But that’s the point.
You’re not called to a sanitized, safe experience. You’re called to a sanctifying, Spirit-filled people.
So get in the room.
- Smell the coffee.
- Hear the crying babies.
- Shake the awkward hand.
- Take the real bread.
- Drink the real cup.
- Sit under the real Word.
- Stand next to real people and worship a real God.
Because livestreams can’t lay hands on you. Screens don’t disciple you. Pixels don’t pray over your marriage.
The church is not a show. It’s a body.
So no, church isn’t optional. Not if Jesus is your Lord. Not if Scripture is your authority. Not if the cross actually means something to you.
Log off. Get dressed. Go to church.
And stop calling livestream a substitute. It’s not. It never was.
Jesus died to make you part of a body, not a broadcast.
Thanks for reading.
