Churchdemic : A digital ethnographic study of religious online practices in Hillsong church Sweden during Covid-19

Abstract: This thesis analyses the negative and positive effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the religious practices of the pentecostal Hillsong church in Malmö, Sweden. To do so it draws on theoretical concepts of affordance, mediatization of religion, and media effects, in order to explore what emerged through digital ethnographic research that included church event observations, interviews, and qualitative surveys. It is argued that the digital form of communication among believers during the pandemic constrained religious practices in terms of service, congregational worship and connection with fellow worshippers. However, this kind of communication has also made it possible to maintain church fellowship in a creative and simultaneously safe and feasible way. The virtual space created through video streams, Zoom meetings and other online activity impacted the way people worship and engage with the preaching and the congregation as a whole. Thus the purpose of this study is to explore the influence of the COVID-19 pandemic requirement for online worship on religious practices in a Nordic location of the Hillsong church, examining ways in which online and offline religious practices were isolated from, integrated into and influenced by one another to accomplish individual and corporate needs and goals.