It is Saturday night and I am waiting for a church service to begin. People are already gathering in the lobby to chat, but with one big difference. The worshippers are spread all over the world - from Oklahoma to Korea - and are ready to attend a service broadcast over the internet via www.LifeChurch.tv.

"I love the online campus. I can attend an experience with friends from everywhere," says one worshipper, Elizabeth C, a 48-year-old mother from Oklahoma City.

Many churches webcast their services, but Life Church, also based in Oklahoma City, is the first to set up an online community. "We have tried to create the same kind of experience that they would have if they were physically there," says Bobby Gruenewald, a Life Church pastor who used to work as a technology entrepreneur.

The service is part of a growing trend for Protestant and Catholic ...