And let's not stop congregating...

Adjustments to the practice of congregating of three evangelical Christian churches during the COVID-19 pandemic in Mexicali, México

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted traditional forms of social interaction; it motivated the reconsideration of some practices and opened new opportunities within digital contexts. The churches did not escape the consequences of the confinement dictated by the authorities. This involved adapting their socio-religious rituals and practices, as well as reconsidering the forms of interaction with and between their congregants in a new context. The purpose of this text is to show the adaptations of the sociocultural practices of three evangelical Christian churches in this context. The results of a comparative conjunctural analysis of digital ethnographies are presented in the social networks used by each one during the Jornada Nacional de Sana Distancia (National Policies for Social Distancing), in the city of Mexicali, Mexico. The main findings show that congregants give new meaning to the interaction with their churches online through social media and to the reconfiguration of their socio-religious practices.