The Hybrid Congregation: A Practical Theology of Worship for an Online Era
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Leader’s Edge: Missions & Ministry
The Hybrid Congregation: A Practical Theology of Worship for an Online Era
By: Michael Huerter
IVP Academic, 2025
187 pages
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Summary
The book focuses on the intersection of church music and online communication, by asking the central question: “what does the church need to understand about digitally mediated interactions… in order for individual communities and ministers to make well-informed, effective, and contextually appropriate decisions in their ministry?” (page 2). The book reframes the common misunderstandings on participation (activity and passivity), embodiment (embodied and disembodied), mediation (mediated and unmediated), and virtuality (real and virtual). Using insights from various disciplines (digital ethnography; musicology; theology; and technology studies), the author proposes a practical theology of hybrid worship through the intermingling of online and offline realities in a “world that has increasingly internalized the internet and digital technologies” (page 19).
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