Jesus’ Re-Shaping of a Post-Pandemic Church

So, now what?

For many, the fruit of this pandemic has been troubling, confusing, and spiritually disorienting.

But not for all.

For some, this season of cultural turbulence has brought greater clarity to their spiritual intuition. They’ve witnessed many moorings of tradition exposed as skimpy vestiges that could not possibly survive this test. They’ve watched our sacred ecclesiastical proxies evaporate – vaporized by an imperceptible virus. Elaborate systems that have long served as safe, synthesized surrogates for a more substantive participation in Christ’s mission have come to a sputtering and inglorious end.

So, now what?

Speak Courage. Ironically, some who regularly proclaim from our pulpits that “all members are ministers” and that “we are all missionaries,” have been very silent on directions for their ‘minister-mission-force’ in the season of a scattered church. Instead, we most often hear of a longing, languishing, desperate, yearning to fill the empty pews – as if to concede that the scattering has altogether thwarted the church’s mission. But surely God is still at work.

If the church’s mission is essentially seen as one of gathering, then we have enough evidence to see that an invisible virus is more powerful than that version of church. This is a conclusion that many have realized – well before the pandemic hit. The Holy Spirit has revealed to many through an honest reading of the New Testament, that Jesus’ church was never meant to be a weekly worship experience, but a unified, commissioned, and sent people living synergistically in the world under the authority of Christ. We know this. But do we have the courage to voice it?

The Courage ...