ESTABLISHING AND RUNNING VIRTUAL CHURCHES LESSONS FROM COVID-19 PANDEMIC: A TEMPORARY NORM OR A NEW FRONTIER?

Abstract

Most spiritual formation processes are housed within a certain religion. And every religion has

over the years gained momentum and maintained their purpose through the physical

communion of believers or adherents. This is until the COVID-19 pandemic happened. The

pandemic created restrictions that included the closure of the brick and mortar churches and

forced members to engage in Domus ecclesiae that was dependent on virtual church services.

This has undoubtedly raised a number of questions especially among congregants and

adherents who still value physical contact in their religious practice. The key questions are: Do

we need virtual churches? How will a virtual church operate? And what does it take to begin

and run a virtual church? A systematic review of literature operating concurrently with

qualitative case study employed to critically and intensely examine online church streaming

and virtual projects from the researcher’s participation in the following three online churches;

Truth Online SDA Church, Otsego Online SDA church and KBC Services of Nairobi Central

SDA formed the methodological approach of this study. From the findings, it is clear that that

judging by the world’s emergencies that rope in the church; the SDA Church should embrace

virtual churches and develop policies that will guide their establishment and running.