(NYTIMES) - Months before the megachurch Hillsong opened its new outpost in Atlanta, its pastor sought advice on how to build a church in a pandemic. From Facebook.

The social media giant had a proposition, pastor Sam Collier said in an interview: to use the church as a case study to explore how churches can "go further farther on Facebook".

For months, Facebook developers met Hillsong weekly and explored what the church would look like on the platform, what apps they might create for financial giving, video capability or live streaming. When Hillsong opened in June, it issued a news release saying it was "partnering with Facebook" and began streaming its services exclusively on the platform. Mr Collier did not share many specifics; he had signed a non-disclosure agreement.

"They are teaching us; we are teaching them," he said. "Together we are discovering what the future of the church could be on Facebook."

Facebook, which recently passed US$1 trillion (S$1.35 trillion) in market capitalisation, may seem like an unusual partner for a church whose primary goal is to share the message of Jesus. But the company has been cultivating partnerships with a wide range of faith communities over the past few years, from individual congregations to large denominations, like the Assemblies of God and the Church of God in Christ.

Now, after the coronavirus pandemic pushed religious groups to explore new ways to operate, Facebook sees even greater strategic opportunity to draw highly engaged users onto its platform.

It wants churches, mosques, synagogues and others to embed their religious life in its platform - from hosting services and socialising more casually to soliciting money. It is developing new products, including audio and prayer sharing, aimed at faith groups.

Virtual religious life is not replacing in-person community anytime soon, and even supporters acknowledge the limits of an exclusively online experience.

But many religious groups see a chance to spiritually influence even more people on Facebook, the world's largest and arguably most influential social media company. The partnerships reveal how Big Tech and religion are converging far beyond simply moving services to the Internet. Facebook is shaping the future of religious experience itself, as it has done for political and social life.

Its effort to court faith groups comes as it is trying to repair its image among Americans who have lost confidence in the platform, especially on privacy issues.

Facebook has faced scrutiny for its role in the growing disinformation crisis and breakdown of societal trust in the US, especially around politics, and regulators have grown concerned about its outsize power.

President Joe Biden recently criticised the company for its role in the spread of false information about Covid-19 vaccines.

"I just want people to know that Facebook is a place where, when they do feel discouraged or depressed or isolated, that they could go to Facebook and they could immediately connect with a group of people that care about them," Ms Nona Jones, the firm's director for global faith partnerships and a non-denominational minister, said in an interview.

Facebook executives recently pitched their efforts to religious groups at a virtual faith summit. Chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg shared an online resource hub with tools to build congregations on the platform.

"Faith organisations and social media are a natural fit because fundamentally both are about connection," Ms Sandberg said.

"Our hope is that one day people will host religious services in virtual reality spaces as well or use augmented reality as an educational tool to teach their children the story of their faith," she said.

During Facebook's summit, which resembled a religious service, faith leaders spoke about how the platform helped them grow during the pandemic.

Imam Tahir Anwar of the South Bay Islamic Association in California said his community raised record funds by using Facebook Live during Ramadan last year.

Bishop Robert Barron, founder of an influential Catholic media company, said Facebook "gave people kind of an intimate experience of the mass that they wouldn't normally have".

The collaborations raise not only practical questions but also philosophical and moral ones. Religion has long been a fundamental way for humans to form community, and now social media firms are stepping into that role.

Facebook has nearly three billion active monthly users; world Christianity has about 2.3 billion adherents, and Islam has 1.8 billion.

There are privacy worries too, as people share some of their most intimate life details with their spiritual communities.

The potential for Facebook to gather valuable user information creates "enormous" concerns, said Ms Sarah Lane Ritchie, a lecturer in theology and science at the University of Edinburgh.

The goals of businesses and worshipping communities are different, she said, and many congregations, often with older members, may not understand how they could be targeted with advertising or other messages based on their religious engagement.

"Corporations are not worried about moral codes," she said. "I don't think we know yet all the ways in which this marriage between Big Tech and the church will play out."

A Facebook spokesman said the data it collected from religious groups would be handled the same way as that of other users, and that non-disclosure agreements were standard process for all its partners.

Many of Facebook's partnerships involve asking religious organisations to test or brainstorm new products, and those groups seem undeterred by Facebook's larger controversies. This year the social media giant tested a prayer feature, where members of some Facebook groups can post prayer requests and others can respond. The creator of YouVersion, the popular Bible app, worked with the company to test it.

Facebook's outreach was the first time a big tech firm wanted to collaborate on a development project, said YouVersion's creator Bobby Gruenewald, a pastor at Life.Church in Oklahoma. He also worked with Facebook on a Bible-verse-a-day feature in 2018.

"Obviously there are different ways they ultimately, I am sure, will serve their shareholders," he said. "From our vantage point, Facebook is a platform that allows us to build community and connect with our community and accomplish our mission. So it serves, I think, everybody well."

For some pastors, Facebook's work raises questions about the broader future of church in a virtual world. So much of religious life remains physical, such as sacraments or the laying on of hands for healing prayer.

Online church was never meant to replace the local church, said pastor Wilfredo De Jesus from the Assemblies of God.

"The technology has created in the lives of our people... this idea that I can call and just show up at Target and park my car and they open my truck," he said. "The church is not Target."

For churches like Hillsong Atlanta, the ultimate goal is evangelism. "We have never been more postured for the Great Commission than now," Mr Collier said, referring to Jesus' call to "make disciples of all nations".

He is partnering with Facebook, he said, "to directly impact and help churches navigate and reach the consumer better".

"Consumer isn't the right word," he said, correcting himself. "Reach the parishioner better." - NYTIMES