Elizabeth Vaughn, 7, and her mother, Deb, returned home from the hospital to find e-mail prayers and sympathy.
(Reginald A. Pearman Jr. — washingtonpost.com)
By John P. Martin
Washingtonpost.com Staff Writer
April 10, 1999
When 7-year-old Elizabeth Vaughn fell and sliced open her lips in a playground accident, her mother, Deb, rushed to the emergency room. Her father, Ken, turned to his computer and typed a message: Pray for Elizabeth.
In seconds, the words went out on the Washington Community Fellowship Church e-mail prayer chain. When Elizabeth and Deb Vaughn returned to their Gaithersburg home, they found nearly a dozen notes of sympathy, prayer and encouragement.
"It helped a lot," Deb Vaughn said of the effect the e-mails had on Elizabeth, whose cut required 18 stitches and is now healed. "She knew that people had been praying for her."
Around the region and the world, the faithful are increasingly using the Internet. Churches and synagogues are launching Web sites to lure new members and strengthen their bonds with existing ones. Ministers, rabbis and priests are posting their sermons online and using e-mail for counseling.
In a recent study of religion and the Internet, nearly 80 percent of the respondents said the medium played a role in their spiritual lives, with some turning to it three times a week. The survey, conducted by sociologist Ken Bedell for the United Methodist Church, also indicated that 53 percent of the nearly 600 people surveyed said they solicit prayers through e-mail.
"It's a high-tech, high-touch way of saying: You matter," said Vaughn, who serves as "Web minister" for her 250-member Northeast Washington Church.
Some congregations also promote online discussions, hoping to reinforce and build on the Sunday morning message that some otherwise might forget by Sunday afternoon.
Across denominations, supporters of the Internet stress that nothing can or should replace personal interaction and communal worship. Still, many believe technology holds immeasurable potential. It offers an audience of millions the chance to explore, rediscover or express their faith, together with others or privately and at their own pace.
"A lot of people are very uncomfortable opening the door to a church and walking in alone," said Susan Gibbs, spokeswoman for the Catholic Archdiocese of Washington, which has asked each of its 139 parishes to have e-mail and a Web site by the middle of next year. "The Web lets them open that door."
