Just one pastor’s perspective (mine): This lengthy process of dealing with Covid-19 has been the most challenging period I have had to maneuver in 42 years of ministry. Ministry always presents obstacles and opportunities you have to overcome and navigate. But, there has never been anything like this present challenge. Everything in you says that the work of the church must move forward, but daily the resistance to making progress in that direction becomes increasingly more difficult and hard to overcome. So little is known about this virus and the regularly changing mandates are frustrating, to say the least. And, that’s not to mention the differing viewpoints from equally qualified scientists that only lead to people’s differing viewpoints about the virus. There is no way to completely fulfill the mission of His church when we are unable to meet regularly. Add to that the understandable fact that so few feel confident to venture out to services and you find yourself challenged with how to stay connected with them, as well as how to do what the New Testament commands us to do as a church body. “Forsake not the assembling of ourselves together” isn’t a suggestion, it’s a command. Being together accomplishes things that can never be fully realized through online services. I’m thankful for the opportunity to be able to continue sharing Biblical teaching and encouragement online, but the accountability needed for developing deep spiritual life is missing. Discipleship best takes place in person, not online. A drift is already taking place as some people become adjusted to “worship” at home and it becomes increasingly more commonplace. It’s too easy to tune in the service and tune out what God is really saying (i.e., we become consumers of "spiritual goods"). Add to these things the way some Christians have turned on each other over masks, six feet distancing, dismissal from services by sections, separate entrance/exit patterns, and dozens of other similar matters, there is a growing disunity that can sometimes be palpably felt among segments of church communities everywhere. Too often we look at others as if they are unloving for not doing exactly what is requested by the church to protect those in attendance. Or, we feel disconcerted, thinking others are being duped by the government into surrendering their constitutional rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Add to all this the growing number of conspiracy theories about our current situation and you sometimes feel like you are sinking deeper into a quagmire of complete irrationality. None of these aforementioned matters take into account other types of things such as the difficulty of singing with a mask (singing is a mandate in worship), feeling close to people you can’t touch or get within six feet (fellowship/relationship), being able to baptize new believers (a church ordinance), etc., etc. Just so you know, preaching to a camera is one kind of difficult, but preaching to faces you can barely see is another kind of difficult altogether. And, when you are in a service where the pews are nearly full and when they are barely full, there is a totally different experience to the worship services (For you sports fans, it is the difference between a stadium full for the game and one that is almost empty. The game gets played, but there is a completely different experience in the two different settings.). My observation is that some people are already drifting spiritually as they are kept from worship services by the legitimate concerns about the virus. New patterns of life on Sunday are being developed that will affect a lot of Christians for more than just the time we have to deal with this virus. Some of these things may not be rectified even when a vaccine is developed. And, there will be a host of people that won’t take the vaccine for a variety of reasons...some legitimate and others not so much. If these challenges only lasted for a few weeks then the impact would be somewhat limited, but we are looking at the end of the year or longer before the vaccine or therapeutics are developed. This whole situation is having significant temporal impact on businesses, schooling and personal lives that will last for years to come. It is also having a significant impact on the spiritual lives of people that will have long term ETERNAL consequences. Just consider the children and the worship patterns they are developing during these difficult times. I could go on like this... My desire in writing is to say we need God’s help! Those of us in ministry need your prayers as we try to keep the mission of Christ in the forefront and keep people growing in grace. Unity among believers isn’t a suggestion, it’s a matter of obedience! Our churches need your support financially to maintain the work that has been done so that when the day comes that we are together again as the “whole” church we don’t have to dig out of a financial hole that further hinders us from getting up to ministry/mission speed quickly. Hang in there with me, church. We are doing all we can to reach you, love you and lead you. We are trying hard to get the Gospel out as best we can while we wait on the Lord for His help. Our culture is in decline as the darkness engulfs our communities. The church is to be the light in the darkness, even if we can’t meet together as freely as we’d like! Don’t lose faith! Don’t leave the straight and narrow path of following Jesus! Don’t neglect your church family! Don’t be divisive, but love one another. This will pass and we WILL REBUILD! God still has a plan for all of this we face right now!!
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