I believe that God is in control of all things and that includes the pandemic that we’re in right now. That makes me hopeful of His good purposes for all that we’re experiencing. But there is genuine cause for concern as well. When COVID-19 first caused churches to close their doors, there was a lot of optimism and even celebration. Early on in the pandemic, Carey Nieuwhof, announced that church growth had spiked 300% in the month following the shutdown and cited research that showed that 49% of all churches were growing. Church growth soon showed itself to be little more than online church curiosity. Christians were popping around to various churches to see what everyone else was doing.
Dealing with the closure of our church ministries has been a difficult process for everyone. For some of you, it’s probably been the longest period that you’ve gone without attending a church service since you were born. For others without such established patterns of church attendance, the separation is different. As we try to navigate through the unchartered pandemic waters that we’re facing, it’s important that we continue to listen to each other and seek God’s will for our next steps. To help in that, I wanted to share the results of our latest survey about returning to in-person worship services along with some of my own thoughts.
I fear that people’s attitude toward Christianity can sometimes be a little bit like the Raptors victory parade. People can sit on the sidelines and cheer on the team and think they’re part of the game, when they’re not. There are no spectators in the Christian life. There is no all-star team to applaud. In fact, the Bible says that the less prominent service in the kingdom is often the most vital (1 Corinthians 12:22). And everyone’s needed on the court, not in the stands. Let me share some thoughts on serving that stand out in light of Monday’s parade.
