( CNN ) -- Hjalti á Lava was searching his iPhone for a Bible app when he stumbled across Church Online , a service of Web site LifeChurch.tv . Soon he was regularly logging into the Oklahoma-based cyber-church -- some 4,100 miles away from á Lava 's home in the Faroe Islands , west of Norway . `` It allows me to connect with others and have conversations about the message , '' says á Lava , who shares his faith with other believers in the site 's live chat room . `` Technology allows us today to have fellowship across borders and cultures . '' In doing so , á Lava joined growing numbers of Christians worldwide who are migrating from the chapel to the computer . A map on the Church Online site showed users from 22 countries logged into a recent service . Online religious services offer convenience to those who are too isolated or infirm to attend a real-world church . But can worshipping via a computer offer true spiritual fulfillment ? Internet pastors and parishioners cite their 24-hour access to interactive tools and social-networking platforms to show their online experiences are as meaningful as those that take place with face-to-face congregations . `` We were blown away at how people could actually worship along [ online ] , '' says Craig Groeschel , senior pastor at LifeChurch.tv . `` The whole family will gather around the computer , and they 'll sing and they 'll worship together . Instead of trying to get people to come to a church , we feel like we can take a church to them . '' But critics believe virtual worship separates followers from a trinity of spiritual essentials found in brick-and-mortar Christian churches : community , Communion and connection with Christ . `` Online church is close enough to the real thing to be dangerous , '' says Bob Hyatt , a pastor who leads the brick-and-mortar Evergreen Community Church in Portland , Oregon . In a blog post for ChristianityToday.com , he writes that calling it virtual church `` gives people the idea that everything they need is available here . '' The debate is an extension of a wider argument over social interaction in virtual environments versus the physical world . But because practices of faith are involved , both sides are deeply invested in the outcome , seeing it as a statement on the nature of the Christian person 's relationship with God . Supporters of online churches have a common response to their skeptics : Try before you criticize . The virtual experience goes far beyond using live chat rooms to exchange emoticons instead of hugs and handshakes , they say . Links allow congregants to `` raise their hand '' and publicly commit to Christ , while prayer requests and one-on-one guidance are a click way . Sermon notes can be shared and discussed . And many online churches are aided by volunteers , allowing them to hold services several times each day . The Internet campus of the Flamingo Road Church in Cooper City , Florida , pulls in more than 2,000 congregants from around the world during its Sunday services . Pastor Doug Gramling said his three children are part of the Internet generation that will eventually decide the future of worship . They use Web tools to stay in constant connection with friends over vast distances , which Gramling says `` gives me confidence that it can happen in online church . '' But the disconnect from physical closeness is what Hyatt said he 's `` fighting hardest against . '' His own church offers online extensions such as podcasts and forums . But he believes `` the computer screen is a supplement , not a replacement . '' Hyatt and other critics are particularly distressed by the online offering of traditional sacraments , such as Communion and baptism . He believes it is `` ridiculous '' that someone can grab grape juice and a cracker from the fridge and watch a computer screen , thinking they are truly participating in a gathering of the faithful . `` Something about the physical presence , breaking the same bread , is what Communion is meant to be , '' he says . But Church Online participant Donna Cole disagrees . `` Knowing that others are also celebrating Communion , regardless of location , makes it an especially wonderful time , '' says Cole , who believes real-world Communion can ring hollow . `` When I 've taken Communion in live surroundings , I often got the sense that it was ritualistic and without meaning . '' Matthew Bailey , a parishioner in the Franktown United Methodist Church in Virginia , believes that the meaning of the ritual is what matters . `` If people are willing to go to the trouble of giving their own Communion , then it is quite probably 'real ' for them , '' he says . While Bailey chooses to remain at his face-to-face church , he believes any person `` faithfully attending an online church service , is being more proactive , and thus probably more attentive , than many longtime churchgoers . '' Douglas Estes , lead pastor of Berryessa Valley Church in San Jose , California , and author of `` SimChurch , '' a book about Internet church services , would like to see this debate go away . `` The Bible sees church not as a man-made building but as a people gathered to glorify God with their lives , '' he says . Estes believes the quality of a community should be judged by the spiritual fellowship it offers . `` There is only one substantive difference between an online church and a brick-and-mortar church : The place where they meet . ''
A growing number of Christians worldwide are moving from the chapel to the Internet . Online religious services offer convenience to those who would n't attend a real - world service . Critics believe virtual worship lacks spiritual essentials , such as community . Critics also are upset by the online offering of services such as Communion .