One almost does not want to believe that 2020 happened. But I do not want to join everyone else and just say this was the worst year ever, no it was a year that produced mixed blessings. It was a year of change. It was a year of testing, and it was a year of great discovery.
I will focus my thoughts primarily on the church and the church in society. The Church is the community of God’s special people. The church is the body and the bride of Christ. The church is the community of faith that prioritizes the will and ways of Christ in a world that does not have Christ as its priority. How then did the church engage COVID-19 that impacted everyone?
How has the church been faithful to the Word in this ever changing world heightened primarily by this pandemic?
- There has been creativity and resilience. Face to face worship was the major adjustment, and growth in virtual worship as churches sought valiantly to keep their membership intact. Connection in small groups increased as some members maintained the face to face contact. Creativity has been manifested in the ways churches conduct baptisms, infant dedication, funerals, weddings and the Lord’s Supper. These range from the practice of baptism by affusion to the dedication of babies without touching them.
Online church has become popular and everybody has a programme on social media. Even when the quality may be more suited for the local context, it is globally accessible. Churches boast of great increase in reach. But caution must be exercised as a study done by BARNA in April/May, showed that in the United States, approximately one third of practicing Christians had stopped streaming and fifty percent of this number was millennial. Although this was in the early months of the pandemic it would be interesting to see how the year ended. - The other challenge has to do with how does the church really engage those who do streaming. Do they remain for the duration of the service? What percentage engages in church hopping? What percentage participates in the service when it isstreamed? The critical point to note is that the church has continued albeit in a different way.
The church has shifted its priority from being a receiving centre to being a serving centre, which is really what the church is supposed to be. Rather than waiting on people to come to church she has been reaching out to the elderly, advised to stay home; children not able to attend school and those not able to be part of the gathered community in a fixed geographical location. - The church has been largely compliant with government regulations, but at times has behaved as if it is entitled. So when the government issues guidelines, it sometimes asks for exceptions, and conditions which require no sacrifice or solidarity with those who have suffered, or are suffering. Do ‘Watch Night’ services have to be held from the sanctuary at mid-night when there is a national curfew on? Why should churches be granted special privileges? How can the church morally challenge those who hold a party or two in their backyards?
- Online churches have become the order of the day. But are our churches more evangelistic? Is popular culture more or less secular and has the quality of the offerings from churches changed as a result of a greater global reach? To some of these questions I think not. BARNA did a survey in the middle of 2020 to discover the concerns facing US churches. Three areas stood out which we must not ignore in our context. These are ‘watered down gospel teachings”, “culture shift to a secular age’ and poor discipleship models’.
Let me suggest that as we welcome a new year, that we continue to remain faithful to the word. We must demand quality gospel teaching and should demonstrate this in daily living. The church must resist any effort to pander to the populace and must stand by convictions boldly.
The church needs to be aware that the shift to a secular culture is happening not only in the US, but right here as well. Consequently new ways have to be found to connect with the unsaved. The traditional methods of mass “crusades” as we call them, as it was in the days of Billy Graham, are no longer the norm. God is still powerful and still available to save, so we need to continue to find other effective ways of reaching the lost.
Finally, the church must give serious attention to its discipleship models. When disciples are not built on solid foundation, they will produce unstable disciples.
As we face a new year, may I invite you to recommit to honour the Lord, and give God priority in your life, in every dimension.
Happy new year!!!