Is There Real Community in a Cyber Community?

I grew up at the time when the Internet was at its infancy. The sounds of the dial-up modem connecting still ring clear in my memory. Communication over the Internet was also booming from infancy. Chatting on the Internet Relay Chat (IRC) at home was a daily activity, and I would log on for hours on end. I would be chatting in at least 4 different chatrooms simultaneously, on top of individual messages. I even met face to face with some of them in organized outings as opportunities arose, and today I am privileged that I can still call some of these individuals my friends. Instant messaging also became increasingly popular, and I had accounts on all the popular services, from ICQ to MSN Messenger and Yahoo! Messenger, so that my friends and I could communicate in real-time with one another. All this, before I was even given my first mobile phone.

Real Community

What is a community? The Cambridge Dictionary defines community as “a people who are considered a unit because of their common interests, social group, or nationality; a group of people who have similar interests or who want to achieve something together”[1]. It is a group of individuals who have shared interests, experiences, or values. The church constitutes a community, as do cell groups, interest groups and so on.

So, is there community in a cyber community? Just by my experience alone, the simple answer for me personally is yes. I experienced community in the groups that I interacted with. We bonded over common school experiences, common interests, and a common desire to build new online relationships with people we would never otherwise have had the opportunity to meet.

But is it a REAL community? Because of the anonymous nature of the cyber community, the reality is that there is no certain way to determine the authenticity and moral intention of any form of interaction in cyberspace. Identities can be fabricated and spoofed – a male can pose as a female, the old can pose as the young, the unbeliever can pose as a believer. However, the pandemic has forced many church communities to plunge quickly into establishing cyber communities in an attempt to translate what believers would experience in the physical to the virtual. How then can we establish REAL community in a cyber community?

Real Community in the Cyber-community

From my experiences both growing up and now amid the pandemic, I believe there are two facts we must be aware of in seeking to establish a REAL community in a cyber community.

1. The Cyber Community Must be AN EXTENSION of Real Community.

Real community in the virtual platforms can only take place when real community has been established. Those whom I have met online that I call friends today are those that I have met personally and have gotten to know face to face. Similarly, for churches that have moved to online services and virtual cell groups, these communities are only authentic because they have been built over real physical interaction in physical services and cell groups. In our church, we have seen our members participating in our online services via our online chats or by leaving comments on our social media.

We have also seen members actively participating in our weekly prayer meetings, praying for one another in breakout rooms and actively sharing their testimonies. In our virtual cell groups, we have seen a greater degree of interaction and pastoral care, where cell members support and care for other members who are in need especially during the economic downturn. We have even seen previous members who have since migrated overseas join us in our services and prayer meetings. All these were possible because real community had already been established.

2. The Cyber Community Must LEAD TO Real Community.

The goal of establishing an online presence for the church should not simply be to establish on online presence, but to draw those who are just watching the services into being a part of the church community. Recently, someone who is not from our church contacted us via our online channels, and I managed to chat with him for a while. He was facing struggles with work and health issues and requested for prayer.

Our pastoral team followed up, put his name on our prayer list, and we continued to maintain connection with him over the phone. He shared with one of my colleagues that despite never having physically met any of the pastors, never having stepped into our church premises before, having only online chats with us and hearing our voices on the phone, he felt so welcomed and accepted, and he is excited to make the first visit to our church when we reopen. This must be the reason for us to establish cyber communities – to make those out in the cyber community feel welcome, accepted, and spark a desire to be a part of the real community of the church.

Is there real community in a cyber community? An emphatic YES, but we must ensure that the cyber communities we establish are extensions of real communities in the church, and that these cyber communities ultimately draw people towards building real relationships within the church.

He oversees all IT-related matters in Elim and was pivotal in the church’s response in moving services online during the pandemic.

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[1] “Community | meaning in the Cambridge English Dictionary”, Cambridge University Press, accessed December 30, 2020, https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/community