Religion
Online Courses Offer New Venue for Churches to Teach Religion
[Detroit Free Press]
Sitting next to his laptop, while holding up a smartphone inside his church office in Southfield, the Rev. Chris Yaw asks: “When you look at the plethora of screens out there, where is the Christian voice?”
It’s an issue that many congregations are wrestling with as they struggle to engage people looking for spiritual answers online.
To that end, Yaw — the pastor of St. David’s Episcopal Church in Southfield — has created an online Christian learning program through which people and congregations can take classes on their computer or mobile devices.
Called Church Next, the effort launched in August and has already grown to include 200 churches across the U.S. It currently offers about 50 classes on topics like church history and the Bible, as well as those focused on specific challenges, such as dealing with anger, sex addiction or forgiveness.
