Evolving Liturgy and Enduring Hybridity

Abstract The shift to online and hybrid forms of Christian worship brought about by the covid -19 pandemic has persisted in many worshiping communities. This ethnographic panel study traces how Holy Week and Easter Sunday worship practices evolved between 2020 and 2023 in ten Roman Catholic, Anglican, mainstream Protestant, and Free Church congregations located in Toronto, Canada. Participant observation of forty-four online liturgies anchors a framework for analyzing hybrid worship practices as a tension between prioritizing online and in-person participants and using technology in ways that integrate online and in-person worshipers or serve these communities separately. Interviews with congregational leaders reveal four factors that shape decisions about online worship across Christian traditions: theological principles, pastoral concerns, practicalities, and polity. This framework and these factors invite Christians across traditions into conversation with one another in the face of a hybrid liturgical future.