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Florida (USA): It is righty called, ‘Northland,
A Church Distributed.’ A mega church in central Florida
is all about helping people worship where they are.
Their latest iPhone Web app is helping thousands do
exactly that.
Northland is one of the first churches to stream worship
services live over the iPhone. Already 2,000 people are
worshipping with North-land online every week.
“For us, the distinctive is, wherever we are, whether
were gathered in ones or tens, hundreds or thousands,
that we are gathering to worship our God together. That
is key for us and that is what drove us to build the
online worship environment that we built,” said Nathan
Clark, Northland’s director of digital innovation.
The 12,000-member church has taken innovative approaches
to growth since 2001 when it launched multiple sites, or
“distributed sites” throughout Metro Orlando. It began
webcasting its services in 2006 and later launched an
interactive version of its web-stream that includes an
online pastor and a chat-room.
Its very name – Northland, A Church Distributed –
reflects how they see church.
“It’s not a place you leave your community to go, it’s
the gathering of community for worship, service and
equipping,” Clark explained.
Northland’s $42 million facilities in Longwood were
built with the vision that it would serve as a
“distribution point” rather than a “destination.” “The
intent was never to see how many people could fit under
one roof; it was to facilitate ministry worldwide with
other believers,” according to the church website.
The way Northland sees it, their church provides
unlimited seating “virtually.”
Launched in July, the newest iPhone Web app offers
videos of past church services as well as live
streaming. It works both on 3G networks and Wi-Fi on the
iPhone, and via Wi-Fi on the iPod Touch. The megachurch
recently released instructions on its website to also
help other churches stream their own live services to
the iPhone.
Considering the ability to connect the iPhone to an
external display, Northland hopes the new technology
will not only draw individual worshippers but also serve
as a means to start home churches, especially in
countries where advanced cell networks are far outpacing
broadband connectivity.
“We continually hear stories of people who start to
worship online and eventually find a community to
worship with others, or start one of their own,” Clark
highlighted. “People are coming to church, and they are
also watching the services online. We just don’t see
this as a zero-sum game.”
What’s next for the innovative church is finding ways to
serve and equip those who join the weekend worship
services. People can easily access worship services now
but where they go from there is the issue.
“The last thing we want to do is call people for worship
and then leave them unequipped,” Clark said.
Nevertheless, Clark is convinced that people are
experiencing God through technology.
“To me it’s very clear that this is a tool God is using
to do great things for His kingdom,” he said.
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