Three considerations for reopening churches
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As we anticipate re-opening our churches, we have changed, and so have our congregations. Do you remember how things changed when you or your children went away to college and came home again?
As you reflect on how things have changed, here are three things you may wish to consider as you plan for the reopening of your church:
1. The joys and sorrows people have experienced during the pandemic
We were created to laugh and cry with each other in person. During the pandemic some people have lost loved ones, lost jobs, or have been unable to pursue their dreams. They have had to go through the grief process alone, or online without physical contact. Other people have finished milestones – graduating from high school, college, university, or seminary. Others have gotten married, celebrated wedding anniversaries, births, and birthdays without having the opportunity to celebrate these once-in-a-lifetime milestones. Others have experimented with gardening, cooking, exploring nature, reading or a plethora of other hobbies and have stories to tell, but they have had nobody to tell their stories to. Others have sat alone, doom-scrolling through social media and becoming more and more afraid and lonely.
How can your church facilitate opportunities for people to laugh, weep and share stories together in God's presence?
2. Christian service
There are some people in your congregation who have spent the last year in a holding pattern, waiting for the day that your church reopens so they can serve God through the programs of your local church. Conversely there will be other people who used to serve in your church and have moved on. There will be people who are now either serving in other venues or have chosen not to serve in the same way in their local church.
This is a tremendous opportunity for you to formulate and teach a theology of Christian service. Are good followers of Christ only those who serve in the local church?
This is also an opportunity for you as leaders to model your faith in God to your congregation. Can God advance his Kingdom even though you are not able to run a program that your church has done for many years? Some people in your congregation have had to give up successful business practices or have lost their businesses because of the pandemic. They will be watching you, as a leader, to see how you handle these situations in your church. Although they may never verbalize this, they will be asking what difference faith in God makes when programs have to be cancelled or staff have to be let go due to lack of resources or budgetary constraints.
3. Those who have joined and those who no longer attend your church
During this pandemic season while your church was online, God will have brought people to watch your church online who are not familiar names and faces. Some of these people may choose to visit you on a Sunday morning, others may choose to continue to watch online. What sort of things can you do to make them part of your community?
There will also be people who God brought to your church prior to the pandemic who have chosen not to attend virtually, and who may choose not to return to attend a physical church service. There are many reasons for this. One of these is that as a result of the pandemic, many of the boundaries that used to exist in life no longer exist (such as between school and work, or office hours.) Without these boundaries, some people no longer have a place for church activities in their life. In other words, instead of their faith permeating all of life (whole-life discipleship), work or school now permeates all of life.
How will you continue to engage, equip, and encourage these people whom God entrusted to you, who choose not to return to your Sunday services?
May the grace of our Lord continue to be poured out on you abundantly, along with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus … May your church continue to bring honor and glory to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God. Amen. (1 Tim 1:14, 17).
 | James Bruyn is a bi-vocational visionary leader, writer and speaker who enjoys helping individuals integrate their faith in God with their daily life. He leads a ministry to Christians in the marketplace in Calgary, provides leadership coaching, and consults for the rail industry. He writes a weekly devotional and also has a devotional book, 31 Days with God at Work (Marketplace 2018). Learn More » |
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