As the effects from the Covid-19 pandemic continue to impact the overall health (physical AND mental), economy, governmental powers of our world, families, relationships and much more, an area I am especially concerned about, along with most ministers I've spent any amount of time with, is how this historical moment will impact the Church. Attendance of regular service, volunteers to teach kids, teens and adults, to take care of little ones in nurseries, engage in missions and community service projects were in decline BEFORE the pandemic. I have spent a little time studying how how the Church has historically responded to times of crisis. Please read some of the interesting thoughts toward this subject I've found.
In the British Magazine "Spectator," Luke Coppen authored a story in April 2020 asking if "coronavirus would hasten the demise of religion - or herald its revival." Coppen included in the article that "the Covid-19 outbreak, they say, is the western world’s first experience of mass death since 1945." Coppen goes on to say "The 1950s was, in some respects, a golden age of American Christianity." Coppen also reached further back into history by quoting the late 19th, early 20th century British author and philosopher GK Chesterton. Chesterton said "Christian history is not linear but cyclical. The Church seems all but exhausted, then bursts to life again." Coppen concluded his piece on how or if the church would bounce back by boldly stating, "For decades now, observers have declared that Christianity is dying. Rampant secularisation coupled with coronavirus will only seem to bring forward the obsequies. But Christianity began amid defeat and despair. And, if Chesterton is right, this won’t be the end, rather a new beginning." I pray Coppen is right!
On the other hand, our most recent experience of how tragedy impacts the church is an event Americans who are in their late 20s and older certainly remember. After the attack on our nation on September 11, 2001, resulting in around 3,000 deaths, churches were initially packed. But Christian statistician George Barna revealed that "after the attack, millions of nominally churched or generally irreligious Americans were desperately seeking something that would restore stability and a sense of meaning to life. Fortunately, many of them turned to the church. Unfortunately, few of them experienced anything that was sufficiently life-changing to capture their attention and their allegiance. They tended to appreciate the moments of comfort they received, but were unaware of anything sufficiently unique or beneficial as to redesign their lifestyle to integrate a deeper level of spiritual involvement. Our assessment is that churches succeeded at putting on a friendly face but failed at motivating the vast majority of spiritual explorers to connect with Christ in a more intimate or intense manner.”
THIS present crisis, in terms of how the Church is and will be impacted, has elements the previous ones mentioned did not. Even the aftermath of the Spanish Flu pandemic in 1918-1919 is hard to draw parallels from as most churches were only closed a month or so at the height of the pandemic in the US. There have been prolonged cancellations of in person worship and the halting of discipleship ministries like Sunday Schools, small group meetings and bible studies. Churches have come up with well-planned and thought out "stages" of return to ministry varying from church to church. An element that is unique to the Church in 2020, but was unknown to our culture during previous crisis, even in 2001, is the availability of online ministry almost any church today has the capacity to produce. Initially, online services and bible studies through church websites, platforms like Facebook and YouTube were overwhelmingly well received and "attended," many people structuring their Sundays around gathering in their own homes in front of a screen, at least "feeling" somewhat connected to other brothers and sisters in their local faith family doing the exact same! Yet, as time and the pandemic has dragged on, online services have fewer and fewer "real time" viewers as families discovered that Sundays can be a day of activities they previously put aside for attending church. More and more online "attenders" of church scheduled engaging THEIR church's services around family schedules, rather than scheduling weekends around attending and serving in their local church.
If you have stayed with me this long, thank you. I will make the conclusion short and to the point. The question I ask, of us all, is, "If it is dependent upon you and I, and our current level of commitment, involvement in and how we've defined "regular" attendance and service for our own family IN our own church, will OUR church, as well as THE Church be able to sustain its viability, witness, and even existence?" I can assure you of this, Churches...ministers, ARE adapting and exploring how to structure the ministries of their churches for survival. But, aren't we called to much more than "SURVIVAL?" If we truly believe that Christ has conquered sin, death, the grave, Satan and hell, why don't we just make our involvement IN, service FOR the Lord and HIS Church a non-negotiable? Christians, how would our homes, churches, communities and the world look if those of us who claimed Jesus as Lord actually structured our lives as though he IS???
Preachers, if we learn anything from Barna's findings from the aftermath of 911, let's don't get caught up in the politics and any patriotic emotion of this moment. The GOSPEL of JESUS CHRIST is sufficient to provide hope for those who feel they're without hope, eternal answers for those genuinely searching, and the Church, functioning as Christ designed it to, is the eternal family many have not found, even in their biological relationships! PREACH THE GOSPEL!
