COVID 19 – AFTER 2 YEARS, WHAT NOW?

It’s Been 2 Years, Near Enough…

We have endured two years of fear, self-isolation, social-distancing, masking, vaccination and lockdowns, plural. Covid has now morphed into its nth variant. It doesn’t appear like it is going away for good. In fact, the medical people are now talking about learning to live with it, like the annual Flu. After all, over 89 percent of the population over age 12 have received two doses of vaccine, and over 50 percent of those over age 18 have received a booster dose. Surely, we must be approaching herd immunity, don’t you think?

People are frustrated, tired, and just want to get back to life as normal, just as it was before the Pandemic. But is that possible anytime soon? The government wants to open things up to 50 percent capacity in restaurants, bars, and other public venues, to a maximum of 500 persons, as long as people are socially distanced and masked. Singing and dancing won’t be allowed in restaurants and bars except by workers and performers, and proof of vaccination will be required to enter most businesses. If the Covid numbers continue to decline, a further easing of restrictions MAY be undertaken on February 21st.

It all sounds promising, but what will it mean for The Church? Frankly, it may not be The Promised Land that many are anticipating

Church Decline Pre-Dates the Pandemic

An article posted on the CBC website in March of 2019 stated that Canada was poised to lose 9,000 churches in the next decade – fully one-third of the total number Canada-wide. The reason? Declining congregations, leading to declining revenue. Faced with rising maintenance costs, many older churches will be closed, sold, and re-purposed or torn down. Read the article here:

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/losing-churches-canada-1.5046812

Pre-Covid, the Church tried many initiatives to stem the decline. There was Natural Church Development, Appreciative Inquiry, Re-Imagine Church, Christianity 101, Alpha, Emmaus, Start!, Back-to-Church Sunday, The 30 Day Church Challenge, Pancake Suppers, Out-of-the-Cold / Out-of-the-Heat programs, and Fresh Expressions, among others. Nothing seemed to have staying power, or slowed the decline.

In fact, there is some evidence that Churches, themselves, contributed to the decline. Read the article “The Lonely Crowd: Churches Dying Due to Friendlessness” here:

https://churchleaders.com/outreach-missions/outreach-missions-articles/379774-the-lonely-crowd-churches-dying-due-to-friendlessness.html?utm_source=cl-fridayweeklysend-nl&utm_medium=email&utm_content=text-link&utm_campaign=cl-fridayweeklysend-nl20220204&maropost_id=744775623&mpweb=256-9629627-744775623

Is this the Church we long to return to? Or are we dreaming of the Church that was, in its heyday in the 1960s, when Churches were full, there were large Sunday Schools, and the future looked glorious?

What is the Situation Now?

With Covid, we heard a difficult truth from the political authorities – Church is NON-ESSENTIAL! Church has become irrelevant, out-of-touch, and frankly, out-of-mind for many. In fact, for some, Church is no longer in family memory.

For the Church, Covid is a disruptor; but could it also be an accelerator of the decline that was already happening? Therein lies the danger. It is said that it takes 31 days to make a habit. What happens when there have been 104 weeks – 730 days – of doing something differently, or not at all? How realistic is it to continue in the belief that when the restrictions are lifted people will just flock back to Church?

Church as we know it was put on pause with the Covid lockdowns. To their credit, many Churches pivoted to online worship – a space they had not been present in before. At first, they struggled to produce an online worship experience – getting the necessary software and equipment, learning how to use it, and finding someone to help with the technical issues. This was particularly the case with Churches that did not have many tech-savvy young people. After a while, they got better at using the technology, but many were not comfortable with it.

ZOOM worship was cumbersome and somewhat messy. There were glitches and ZOOM Bombings (disruption by hackers). The service was Morning Prayer. There was no choir. Nobody could receive Communion. But somehow it worked. In the early days of online worship, the Church I attend often had 100 attendees at its principal service – the limits of their ZOOM licence. When Communion was permitted to be celebrated on ZOOM those numbers held up. Nobody was allowed to be in the building, except the crew; limited, at first, to five people including the Celebrant. There was even a “Coffee Hour” begun online to provide an opportunity for people to talk with each other.

However, ZOOM worship was not satisfying in many ways, and clergy and staff started to explore using pre-taped services, which could be more professional and polished, and include music. This led to live-streaming using YouTube or Facebook. However, viewership declined using these formats. While somewhat easier for the worship team, they were, paradoxically, less real. With ZOOM worship, you could see the attendees, and different people could have roles in the service – doing a reading, or leading the Prayers of the People, for example. There was a greater sense of being present and involved. People still got dressed and “came to Church” to attend a ZOOM Service.

Watching live-streaming is just like watching a movie. You are strictly the audience, with no way to participate except vicariously, and cannot see anyone other than the service team – and lately, with a return to limited in-person worship, some of the few attendees if the Church doesn’t place an Act of Spiritual Communion on the screen while those in attendance actually receive Communion. What you can see is just the number attending, and the number who drop out during the service. Because it does not matter what you wear to watch a movie in your own home, you can “attend” in your pajamas or robe, and some people do. You can watch, or listen while eating breakfast; or watch it later in the day if you choose. You can also watch other services, from other Churches, which may be of higher production quality, or have better preaching, or better music. Are the declining numbers on live-stream services due to their decreasing novelty, or to people making different choices? Whatever the situation, habits were stressed; perhaps some to the breaking point.

It Was not Only In-Person Worship That was Closed Down

Pastoral care also suffered during the pandemic. Because Church was considered to be non-essential so too were its ministers. Clergy were not on the approved list for admission to hospitals, or long-term care facilities, to provide pastoral care in person. Instead, they were welcome to telephone, which is not quite the same thing when dealing with people in life-threatening situations. There were all sorts of “good reasons” given for this. After all, it was considered necessary to reduce disease risk by refusing entry to anyone who was not required to be there – family or clergy. Unfortunately, sick people were left to face their fate among well-intentioned health caregivers, most or all of whom were overworked and could not give time and attention, and most of whom were strangers.

The other aspect of pastoral care that often suffered was contact between Churches and their parishioners who were isolated by the shutdowns, but not in the hospital. In an existential crisis, electronic media like email and newsletters does not replace the personal connection of the human voice. Perhaps others received that level of care. I only know that my wife and I did not. We never received a call asking if we were ok and whether there was anything that we needed. Paradoxically, we did get that call from the Public Library. The person that called was warm, solicitous and concerned; and provided access to community resources that could be of help if needed.

The Pandemic Restrictions not only disrupted Church but also disrupted all Church Meetings. While Church Boards moved quite quickly to ZOOM, it is not clear how many Church small groups and guilds did.

The Christian Meditation Community, a contemplative community movement that is not formally part of any Church, did pivot to ZOOM almost immediately, and has held regular weekly meetings, courses, workshops, retreats, and seminars, including International Conferences, in the virtual space with great success throughout the Pandemic. Participants in weekly meetings actually prefer ZOOM, after some initial trepidation, because they have found they listen more fully and share more deeply on ZOOM than they ever did in face-to-face meetings. As a result, some have become akin to Covenant Groups, providing support and solace to their members.

Churches are about relationship – with God and with each other. Support, solace and a spiritual bond are some of the things that matter in such a relationship. For some people, those are also the things they now realize their Church has not been providing. The coronavirus shutdowns have made such realizations all the more clear.

Considerations About Re-opening

Recent polling by the Barna Group shows some rather surprising realities:
• 48% of churchgoers say they have not watched any church online in the last 4 weeks. That means almost half of all churchgoers haven’t done any online or in-person church in a month.
• Only 40% of churchgoers report watching their regular home church online. A rather surprising 23% said they streamed a different church (either in place of their regular church or in addition to their regular church).

According to a Barna/Stadia survey, only 41% of Gen Z say that when COVID is over, they want to return to primarily in-person worship. 42% of Millennials say they prefer primarily in-person worship. 71% of Boomers say they want primarily in-person worship after COVID is over.

The average Minister or Priest in charge of a Parish is a Baby Boomer; similarly the members of many church boards, senior leadership teams, key donors, and even volunteers. It may be no wonder that there is a general belief among Church leaders that everybody wants to come back to attend in person. According to this research, that’s exactly how older adults would think.

Except, it’s not reflective of the majority of those under age 55.

Only a minority of Millennials, Gen Z and even Gen X want to primarily gather in person in the future. The changes happening right now in church attendance preferences are not just cultural, they’re generational.

So, What Can You Do Now?

If your mission is to fill buildings, then keep going with your current strategy. But if your mission is to reach people, it might be time to rethink things:

• First, get some young leaders around your table; not just sharing opinions, but involving them in evaluating your situation and making decisions.
• Second, step back and take a good, hard look at what you are currently doing. Begin with a SWOT Analysis – Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats. If you don’t know how to do it a Google search will turn up resources. Understand that it may not be necessary to change what is dear and Holy to you. It may be enough to consider doing something different, in addition to what you are doing now – perhaps at a different time, maybe in a different place – to accommodate different preferences. You also need to determine how to resource new initiatives.
• Third, rethink the allocation of resources you’re spending on in-person gatherings versus online ministry. You’ll make your own choices, but most churches are spending less than 10% of their time and budget on the very thing that will probably give them the greatest potential for the future—a strong online presence.
• Fourth, remember that Jesus and his disciples never emphasized going to Church. They emphasized being the Church and going into the world.

Church isn’t about filling a building. It’s about emptying out into the community to minister, serve and share the Good News. If we do that we may come to be seen as relevant, perhaps even essential, once again.