Abstract
Joy has been considered at best elusive and at worst inappropriate during difficult times, and simply not representative of the experiences of online religious communities. Nevertheless, joy is also an experience of well-being and a mark of spiritual encounter, which Christians are commanded to live out. We consider how to resolve these issues in the context of Hong Kong online Christian communities, shaped by colonial legacies, migration, and protest movements. We show how these communities create opportunities for joy by working with offline/online and local/diasporic hybridities, shifting away from traditional forms of church organization and practice in ways which support creativity, civic participation, and dynamic discussions of faith and doubt. This, in turn, demonstrates how faith and online interactions intersect in the development of identity and digital activism. We suggest that joy, in diversity and through adversity, is appropriate both as a descriptor and as a recommendation for online religious communities.