Facebook Wants You to Connect With God. On Facebook.

Months earlier the megachurch Hillsong opened its caller outpost successful Atlanta, its pastor sought proposal connected however to physique a religion successful a pandemic.

From Facebook.

The societal media elephantine had a proposition, Sam Collier, the pastor, recalled successful an interview: to usage the religion arsenic a lawsuit survey to research however churches tin “go further farther connected Facebook.”

For months Facebook developers met play with Hillsong and explored what the religion would look similar connected Facebook and what apps they mightiness make for fiscal giving, video capableness oregon livestreaming. When it came clip for Hillsong’s expansive opening successful June, the religion issued a quality merchandise saying it was “partnering with Facebook” and began streaming its services exclusively connected the platform.

Beyond that, Mr. Collier could not stock galore specifics — helium had signed a nondisclosure agreement.

“They are teaching us, we are teaching them,” helium said. “Together we are discovering what the aboriginal of the religion could beryllium connected Facebook.”

Facebook, which precocious passed $1 trillion successful marketplace capitalization, whitethorn look similar an antithetic spouse for a religion whose superior extremity is to stock the connection of Jesus. But the institution has been cultivating partnerships with a wide scope of religion communities implicit the past fewer years, from idiosyncratic congregations to ample denominations, similar the Assemblies of God and the Church of God successful Christ.

Now, aft the coronavirus pandemic pushed spiritual groups to research caller ways to operate, Facebook sees adjacent greater strategical accidental to gully highly engaged users onto its platform. The institution aims to go the virtual location for spiritual community, and wants churches, mosques, synagogues and others to embed their spiritual beingness into its platform, from hosting worship services and socializing much casually to soliciting money. It is processing caller products, including audio and supplication sharing, aimed astatine religion groups.

Virtual spiritual beingness is not replacing in-person assemblage anytime soon, and adjacent supporters admit the limits of an exclusively online experience. But galore spiritual groups spot caller accidental to spiritually power adjacent much radical connected Facebook, the world’s largest and arguably astir influential societal media company.

The partnerships uncover however Big Tech and religion are converging acold beyond simply moving services to the internet. Facebook is shaping the aboriginal of spiritual acquisition itself, arsenic it has done for governmental and societal life.

“I conscionable privation radical to cognize that Facebook is simply a spot where, erstwhile they bash consciousness discouraged oregon depressed oregon isolated, that they could spell to Facebook and they could instantly link with a radical of radical that attraction astir them,” Nona Jones, the company’s manager for planetary religion partnerships and a nondenominational minister, said successful an interview.

Last month, Facebook executives pitched their efforts to spiritual groups astatine a virtual religion summit. Sheryl Sandberg, the company’s main operating officer, shared an online assets hub with tools to physique congregations connected the platform.

“Faith organizations and societal media are a earthy acceptable due to the fact that fundamentally some are astir connection,” Ms. Sandberg said.

“Our anticipation is that 1 time radical volition big spiritual services successful virtual world spaces arsenic well, oregon usage augmented world arsenic an acquisition instrumentality to thatch their children the communicative of their faith,” she said.

Facebook’s summit, which resembled a spiritual service, included testimonials from religion leaders astir however Facebook helped them turn during the pandemic.

Imam Tahir Anwar of the South Bay Islamic Association successful California said his assemblage raised grounds funds by utilizing Facebook Live during Ramadan past year. Bishop Robert Barron, laminitis of an influential Catholic media company, said Facebook “gave radical benignant of an intimate acquisition of the Mass that they wouldn’t usually have.”

There are privateness worries too, arsenic radical stock immoderate of their astir intimate beingness details with their spiritual communities. The imaginable for Facebook to stitchery invaluable idiosyncratic accusation creates “enormous” concerns, said Sarah Lane Ritchie, a lecturer successful theology and subject astatine the University of Edinburgh. The goals of businesses and worshiping communities are different, she said, and galore congregations, often with older members, whitethorn not recognize however they could beryllium targeted with advertizing oregon different messages based connected their spiritual engagement.

“Corporations are not disquieted astir motivation codes,” she said. “I don’t deliberation we cognize yet each the ways successful which this matrimony betwixt Big Tech and the religion volition play out.”

A Facebook spokeswoman said the information it collected from spiritual communities would beryllium handled the aforesaid mode arsenic that of different users, and that nondisclosure agreements were modular process for each partners progressive successful merchandise development.

Many of Facebook’s partnerships impact asking spiritual organizations to trial oregon brainstorm caller products, and those groups look undeterred by Facebook’s larger controversies. This twelvemonth Facebook tested a supplication feature, wherever members of immoderate Facebook groups tin station supplication requests and others tin respond. The creator of YouVersion, the fashionable Bible app, worked with the institution to trial it.

Facebook’s outreach was the archetypal clip a large exertion institution wanted to collaborate connected a improvement project, said Bobby Gruenewald, YouVersion’s creator and a pastor astatine Life.Church successful Oklahoma, recalling however helium besides worked with Facebook connected a Bible-verse-a-day diagnostic successful 2018.

The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) was invited to beryllium a Facebook religion spouse successful December, said Melody Smith, a spokeswoman for the denomination’s missions agency. The denomination agreed successful a declaration that it would person nary ownership of immoderate products it helps Facebook design, she said.

Leaders of the Church of God successful Christ, a mostly African American Pentecostal denomination of astir six cardinal members worldwide, precocious received aboriginal entree to respective of Facebook’s monetization features, offering them caller gross streams, said the denomination’s societal media manager, Angela Clinton-Joseph.

They decided to effort 2 Facebook tools: subscriptions wherever users pay, for example, $9.99 per period and person exclusive content, similar messages from the bishop; and different instrumentality for worshipers watching services online to nonstop donations successful existent time. Leaders decided against a 3rd feature: advertisements during video streams.

The pandemic accelerated existing dynamics, packing years of exertion improvement into one, said Bob Pritchett, who founded Faithlife, a Christian ministry level with a suite of online services.

But spiritual beingness is antithetic from the idiosyncratic and nonrecreational spaces occupied by Facebook and LinkedIn, helium said.

It is unsafe to person your assemblage anchored “on a tech level that is susceptible to each the whims of authorities and civilization and legislature hearings,” helium said.

Facebook created its religion partnerships squad successful 2017 and began courting spiritual leaders, particularly of evangelical and Pentecostal groups, successful earnest successful 2018.

“Facebook fundamentally said, hey, we privation to beryllium the It, we privation to beryllium the go-to,” said the Rev. Samuel Rodriguez, a Sacramento pastor who leads a ample conjugation of Hispanic churches.

Minister groups for the Assemblies of God, the Pentecostal denomination with 69 cardinal members worldwide, were aboriginal adopters of a Facebook instrumentality allowing users to telephone successful to a livestream. The Potter’s House, T.D. Jakes’s megachurch of 30,000 successful Dallas, besides tested assorted features earlier they were rolled out.

For immoderate pastors, Facebook’s enactment raises questions astir the broader aboriginal of religion successful a virtual world. So overmuch of spiritual beingness remains physical, specified arsenic sacraments oregon the laying connected of hands for healing prayer.

Online religion was ne'er meant to regenerate the section church, said Wilfredo De Jesús, a pastor and the wide treasurer for the Assemblies of God. He was grateful for Facebook, but ultimately, helium said, “we privation everyone to enactment their look successful different book.”

“The exertion has created successful the lives of our radical this quickness, this thought that I tin telephone and conscionable amusement up astatine Target and parkland my car and they unfastened my truck,” helium said. “The religion is not Target.”

For churches similar Hillsong Atlanta, the eventual extremity is evangelism.

“We person ne'er been much postured for the Great Commission than now,” Mr. Collier said, referring to Jesus’ telephone to “make disciples of each nations.”

He is partnering with Facebook, helium said, “to straight interaction and assistance churches navigate and scope the user better.”

“Consumer isn’t the close word,” helium said, correcting himself. “Reach the parishioner better.”