Mark Conner Church, Current Issues

COVID-19 and the Church

As of Sunday, 22nd March this year, churches in Australia could no longer meet in physical buildings due to the coronavirus pandemic lockdown. The majority of churches had to immediately move to some kind of online platform – ready or not. For some, this was a relatively easy step, especially for churches who had already been engaged in the digital space through live-streaming, Facebook, You Tube, or video podcasting. For others, this has been a huge and somewhat stressful learning curve.

I was speaking at a church in Perth in mid-March this year. I spoke at 3 church services on the Sunday, each with a smaller congregation of people in the auditorium than usual, but live-streamed to the rest of the congregation. Late Sunday evening, I recorded part 2 of my series of messages to be aired the following Sunday as all church services moved online (and I was unable to fly back to Perth due to interstate travel restrictions). Since that time, due to being unable to travel or speak at public church services, seminars or training events, I have been preparing ‘video sermons’ for a variety of churches, participating in a number of webinars, and doing a lot of video coaching. This truly is an unprecedented time for all of us, including for churches and church leaders.

Here are some of the current realities 3 months on (sources listed below):

  • There was an initial upsurge in online engagement for many churches, even higher than their previous regular weekend attendance numbers. People from other states and even overseas were able to engage over the internet. Many churches have had dozens or even 100s of more people joining their online services. At the upper end, I have been told that Gateway Church in Dallas had 250,000 people watch its Easter church services online, while Christ Fellowship in Florida had 1 million viewers.
  • Since Easter, there seems to have been a drop off of the numbers of people engaging with online church services. This is especially true of young people and young adults who find greater value in relational connection than in merely streaming more ‘content’.
  • Personal connection and engagement are very different matters than people merely watching a church service online (which can tend towards consumerism). Digital connect cards have been helpful for some churches while ‘Facebook LIVE’ after church services or ‘ZOOM morning teas’ are working well for others.
  • A lot of churches are engaged in practical local mission such as delivering meals and shopping for shut ins. There has also been a large uptake in ALPHA online, as well as Christianity Explained courses.
  • Communication from church leaders seems to have been good, especially from pastors to staff and congregations. However, connection with volunteer leaders, especially small group leaders, could be improved in some situations.
  • There are concerns about the financial impact of COVID-19 on churches, because of the inability to meet together (where many churches still receive physical offerings) and the loss of jobs by congregation members. According to one survey of Australian churches, 75% have experienced an income drop by at least 10%, 18% have decreased by more than 50%, while 8% of churches had an increase in income. Income reduction affects not only the church budget but also morale of the pastor. Interestingly, it appears that not much about the financial impact of COVID-19 on churches is being communicated with church members.
  • A lot of church leaders are exhausted, especially with all of the changes to the move online. Others are tired but excited about the new opportunities. Church leadership is becoming more and more difficult in our time. There is a lot of pressure. Emotional depletion and burnout is common. Many pastors are scrambling … while some are in despair.
  • Pastors and church leaders are benefiting from coaching with someone outside their context, for encouragement, support and mentoring. If you are a church leader, see what your denomination may provide in terms of coaching or contact an inter-denominational coach. For instance, Partners in Ministry here in Australia has a growing team of experienced coaches. The team, including myself, is currently offering 2-3 free coaching sessions (‘no need for you to pay’). Use the contact emails to make an enquiry if you are interested.

Here are some of the key questions currently being grappled with:

  • When will churches be able to meet again and what will this be like? How will churches re-open?
  • Could there be a second wave of the virus and what will the impact be?
  • What programs or ministries of the church would benefit by staying online?
  • Will churches go back to physical only gatherings or continue to engage in the digital space? Some are speaking about the future being more of a ‘hybrid’ model of church – both physical and digital. American church consultant Carey Nieuwhof recently noted that in many ways the church is currently a “physical organisation with an online presence” while the church of the future will be more of an “online organisation with a physical presence.” What do you think about this?
  • What is an appropriate ‘ecclesiology’, or theology of church, for this time? Is church online an appropriate regular expression of the church Jesus had in mind?
  • What needs to be different for churches as life gets back to ‘normal’? What do you think needs to be stopped? Started? Less of? More of? The same? Different?

No doubt COVID-19 is a time of disorientation for everyone, filling our lives with all kinds of uncertainty. We need to acknowledge and feel this fully. Fear, anxiety and grief are normal. Thankfully, we can draw courage, faith and wisdom from God. There is life on the other side of this and hope for the future.

Finally, here are some helpful resources:

Mark Conner Current Affairs, Current Issues, General Interest

Waking Up to My Own ‘Blind Privilege’

I am white, I am male, I am tall, I am middle class, I am educated, I am straight, and I grew up in a Christian home. All of these things were given to me by birth, not by choice. I did not earn them or do anything to acquire them – other than live out the life I was handed because of my family upbringing and contextual circumstances beyond my control.

I represent the dominant culture.

I have no idea what it would like to be black. To have a taxi driver slow down, notice the colour of my skin then keep driving. I have absolutely no idea what it would be like to be a woman. To work my butt off then be paid less and then be overlooked for promotions simply because of my gender. I have no idea what it would like to be short. At 197 cm (6′ 5″), I see the world from a different perspective than most – from above looking down not below looking up.

I have no idea what it would be like to be poor, homeless and wondering where my next meal is coming from. I haven’t a clue what it would like to not be able to learn whatever I want … because I am illiterate. I haven’t a clue what it would be like to ostracised by my faith community because I am gay or have a different sexual orientation. I also have no idea what it would like to be from another religion. To be in the minority … like Muslims, Hindus or Jews living in Australia today.

Only recently have I learnt about ‘blind privilege’ which simply means to be totally unaware of (‘blind’ to) one’s own privilege. We become so accustomed to our own state of affairs, and life experiences, that we fail to realise or acknowledge our own inherent biased perspective, judgements and evaluations.

When I walk down the street or through a crowd, everyone moves out of my way. In fact, my family often walk behind me, because I make somewhat of a ‘wake’ in which it is easy for them to walk! This ‘privilege’ of walking so freely has happened through most of my adult life and I have never thought much about it because this is what life is like for me. I have never thought that it could be otherwise. In contrast, my wife, who is shorter than me, regularly has to dodge people who are about to walk right through her or step aside for others, mainly men, who don’t have the courtesy to make room for her … because they have blind privilege just like me.

If you are having trouble understanding the current “Black Lives Matter” marches around the globe, it could be because you, like me, have never been the target of racial discrimination. Recently, this movement has accelerated because of the death of George Floyd, an African American man living in Minneapolis, Minnesota, whose neck was held under the knee of a policeman for almost 9 minutes , resulting in his death. Why all the extreme outrage? Because the ‘knee on the neck’ has 400 years of history attached to it. It’s called ‘white privilege‘ and this kind of racism is systemic in our society (please read Peggy McIntosh’s confronting article White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack). As an Australian, I was confronted afresh by this last year when I watched the Adam Goodes’ documentary The Final Quarter.

“… ‘Black Lives Matter’ simply refers to the notion that there’s a specific vulnerability for African Americans that needs to be addressed. It’s not meant to suggest that other lives don’t matter. It’s to suggest that other folks aren’t experiencing this particular vulnerability.”

Barack Obama

“In a racist society, it is not enough to be non-racist. We must be anti-racist.”

Angela Davis

Back in the first century, Jewish men would often begin the day by praying, “Thank you God that you have not made me a Gentile, a slave, or a woman.” Racism, elitism, and patriarchy in full bloom. The apostle Paul would have prayed this prayer many times himself as a religious leader. Yet, because of his encounter with Jesus (one who radically included everyone in his new community, especially those on the margins), he radically confronted this blind privileged thinking. In fact, he turned it upside down. In his letter to some churches in Galatia, he wrote this:

“There is no longer Jew or Gentile, slave or free, male and female. For you are all one in Christ Jesus.”

Galatians 3:28. NLT

For Paul, God was building a new family with NO divisions. It’s meant to be ONE family in Christ. Racial, socio-economic, and gender distinctions still exist but NOT as a basis for discrimination, oppression or exclusion. Each human being is to be treated with great value, as someone made in the very image of God.

Most importantly, those with privilege (in Paul’s case, the Jews, the well-off, and the men), have the bigger responsibility to treat with love, respect and honour those without inborn privilege (in Paul’s case, the Gentiles, the poor, and the women).

What have you inherited by birth that is a privilege? Are you aware of it? Or blind to it? Have you considered what it would be like to NOT have that privilege? To be someone different? To be born somewhere else? To grow up in a different family? Take time to listen to the stories of those who are not like you. Put yourself in their shoes. See the world through their eyes. Then think about how you would want to be treated if you were them … then grab the initiative and treat people that same way (Matthew 7:12).

May we all work for restorative justice, compassion, and peace in our world, starting right where we live.

“We must have courage — determination — to go on with the task of becoming free — not only for ourselves, but for the nation and the world — cooperate with each other. Have faith in God and ourselves.”

Rosa Parks