By Wendy Choy-Chan

When the phrase “the medium is the message” was coined in the 1960’s, the “medium” was a little black box with an antenna in every living room. Today, the “medium” has exploded to mean computers in every room and cell phones in every hand. As long as there is an internet connection, there is the medium.

This proliferation of medium has been a blessing for many churches this past year during the pandemic. While the doors to church buildings were closed, the church has moved into the homes of believers via their TVs, computers, and cell phones. Believers were still able to worship, pray, and study the Bible together with other brothers and sisters. 

Lots of time, money, and human resources were invested into making the in-home church experience as close as possible to the on-site church worship, resulting in the worship becoming more of a production than a service. For other church events, whether it be online prayer meeting or small group fellowship, people could just “listen in” by turning off their video, and conversation became “one-way” and “one-at-a-time,” with everyone on mute except the one speaker. People also sign in at the exact time and sign off right as the meeting ends, because there is no space to “hang out.”

The medium is the message. The medium of today’s media is content and entertainment-focused. Interaction, if any, is asynchronous and superficial (a “like” or an emoji or a short comment). “On-demand” describes the message of this medium aptly — offering of content at the demand of each individual. When the church relies heavily on this medium (especially during the pandemic), its message also takes over as the message of the church. Offering of content (a praise experience that is more like watching a concert; a sermon that is worth listening to; a Bible study that adds to my knowledge) at the demand of each individual (I don’t have to attend a particular worship service, or listen to a particular pastor’s preaching, or join a particular Bible study). There are always plenty of options in the “catholic” church all around the world for me to pick from, suiting my needs and desires. And I participate as much or as little as I like, when I like it, and how I like it.

The message is that Christianity is an individual and individualized experience with targeted goals. What is missing is the spontaneous, unscripted interactions of the church community. What is missing is authenticity and vulnerability. What is missing is life together, genuine fellowship, and community. If Christianity is a heart-to-heart relationship between God and his people, and if God incarnated to be physically walking in and with his community, touching lives and bodies, then what kind of a medium do we need?

Imagine:

• Jesus calls Andrew and Peter to follow him. They reply, “Yes, sure, let us know your ministry schedule. If it is in Galilee, we will come. If it is too far, we will zoom in. We have internet access on our boat, so we won’t miss a thing.” ~ But missing is the traveling together, where life-to-life communion happens. Missing is truly knowing Jesus the person, and not just knowing his teaching and ministry.
• At the sermon on the mount, since there is not enough space to hold so many people, the disciples decide to record and upload the sermon to youtube. People can participate at home in their own time. ~ But what they cannot participate in is with their total bodily senses, the whole body and soul experience of meeting Jesus, other ways of participation, and the mountain surroundings. 

It would not have worked then, and it will not work now. The medium is the message. Sometimes, it is arriving 5 minutes early, or the touch on the arm during a casual “how are you doing?”, or the eye contact during a discussion that fosters a genuine church community, where hearts and minds and bodies are in communion with each other. Christianity is a whole person (heart, mind, soul, and might) experience and relationship with God and others, and the medium needs to reflect and foster that.  In the past year during the pandemic, the medium of media has been a blessing, but if we are not careful going forward, would it become a curse to the church?

Wendy Choy-Chan came to North America from Hong Kong when she was 15. After graduating with a MScE, she worked as a telecommunications engineer for a few years before becoming a full-time mom. She earned her MA in Theology at Fuller Theological Seminary in 2016, and is now pursuing a D.Min in Affective Spirituality and Christian Formation at Multonmah Biblical Seminary. Wendy lives in Seattle, WA with her husband and two daughters.