When it’s over, how will the church have been affected by the COVID-19 virus in the USA? We are certainly navigating uncharted waters. Here is Ed Stetzer’s (author, researcher and missiologist) tweet about inadequacies in the church as spiritual leaders face the coronavirus crisis head-on:

In other words, Christians have been conditioned to expect the church to be an attended event even if it is streamed. People equate church with a building, music, announcements a message/sermon, and an offering and communion. A quick tour of Facebook the past two Sundays demonstrates a dependence on a virtual church service by professionals in order to “attend church.” This is what people have come to expect regarding church—that no matter what, it must be led by a pastor—whether in person or virtually—as exampled in these last few weeks. 

It is also true that many believers are doing amazing acts of love around the world to help out people in need while physically and socially distancing. From children making baskets filled with comfort items for the elderly to Salvation Army Churches filling up vans full of paper goods and non-perishable food items to distribute to people in need. These acts of kindness are inspiring and hopefully will continue once this COVID-19 pandemic is over.

Because of the church’s dependence on professional leaders and programs, the closing of worship services caused by the physical distancing requirements to fight the pandemic, will affect many changes in churches around the world. As Stetzer stated above, churches have not equipped people to lead in their homes or neighborhoods. The COVID-19 virus exposes weaknesses in the church and offers opportunities for growth, maturity and change if they are noticed and embraced.  

Here are my best guesses at outcomes for the future of the church after the COVID-19 Pandemic is over.

1. Churches' finances will take a downturn.

Because some people are out of work and others have anxiety and uncertainty about their jobs, many people will choose to stop or reduce giving to churches and charities. There are at least three possible outcomes if this happens.

1.  Churches that have staff will be forced to lay off employees. These trained church leaders will have few options or opportunities for employment in other churches. Their families will be forced to seek out and learn new careers. When these staff people are regrettably let go, untrained volunteers will step up to carry on; but for how long and at what cost to the quality of the programs? Will the people in these churches adjust to the new normal? Will the church leadership move to small group/house church gatherings to meet people’s needs? Will there be a doubling down on recreating what has been lost?

 2.  After the staff is cut, church organizations will be forced to trim or stop programs and building maintenance will be delayed.  There will not be enough money to support them. This may cause an alarm to those who used these programs for spiritual inspiration. Parishioners (people) will look for other ways to receive programs and inspiration. As buildings decay and carpets fray, what once was inviting will soon be a deterrent.  More volunteers may be needed to hold things together. Will they be able to fulfill these new demands and for how long?

3.  For many churches of various sizes, there will simply not be enough money to keep paying both the rent and expenses as well as the salary of the pastor. Hard decisions will need to be made. If the church building is forfeited because the mortgage or rent cannot be paid, people may leave the church because setting up and tearing down a full-service church in a new place is hard work for an hour of inspiration a week. If the pastor is let go, some may leave because the church just will not be the same any longer—they are without leadership…and they are right.

 2.  People will be out of the rhythm of going to church.

This is most likely to happen with people who have been attending a church but have not been connected very deeply in any meaningful way. When I was thirteen, I remember our family going on a three-week vacation. During our vacation, we did not attend a church and once we returned, we did not go back to church for several years. Because our family was not deeply connected to leaders or anyone in the church, no one reached out to us and we enjoyed sleeping in on Sundays. If this scenario becomes a reality, it will reduce the church’s income further causing more financial challenges.

3. Churches will simply shut their doors.

Even before this new reality of churches being forced to move from live worship services to virtual streaming, churches appeared to be losing ground when measuring attendance. According to a 2019 article by Gallup[1], the past two decades of church attendance has declined sharply. Many church researchers indicate that anywhere between 3,000 and up to 10,000 churches close annually but those numbers are difficult to verify. There are also many churches being started annually. Again, the number of new church starts (traditional to organic/house churches) is hard to quantify. For those churches that have increased attendance, this is most often due to people moving from one church to another, not through organic growth or by new conversions. When this pandemic is over, most churches who survive with buildings and staff intact, will see great numerical growth at the expense of other churches that will close. The church will never be gone, but what form will it take in the future?

What can be done in this difficult time to equip people to become rugged disciple–makers?

Opportunities

The COVID-19 crisis creates opportunities…if they are looked for!

1. A focus on discipleship, not passive attendance.

Many, if not most churches are attempting to keep believers meeting together for various types of virtual worship and teaching. The focus, in my survey of the internet, is that most churches are providing a virtual place to connect for music and teaching done by professionals. Certainly, many church leaders are also encouraging believers to look for opportunities to meet basic and physical needs of their neighbors and friends and this is wonderful. But more needs to be done to help believers learn how to feed themselves from the Scriptures and be equipped in discipleship as this pandemic recedes.

While we are practicing physical distancing, churches must find ways to help people stay connected socially through texts, Facetime, and applications like Zoom.  We must find practical ways to help others (particularly the elderly and immunocompromised) feed and nourish themselves on God’s Word and equip and teach them to make disciples. This is more urgent than providing worship music and more sermons. Believers need to be encouraged to view this pandemic as an opportunity to be equipped, empowered and released.

When life gets back to normal, my hope is that believers will have been connecting with their neighbors, co-workers, and friends, offering hope and encouraging them to look to God to experience His love. Will believers be viewed as having been different enough to make a difference when physical distancing was practiced? If so, then once physical distancing is abandoned, will they be equipped and prepared to reach out in fresh ways so a fresh harvest of souls will be reached? For those who were not believers before the pandemic, and came to believe in Jesus during this time, will they be able to help others to follow their example and place their trust in Jesus or will they have been taught to simply attend a church?

How can churches now move people from passive attenders to disciple-makers during this time of physical distancing? There are many answers to how to accomplish this, but it will not be done by providing virtual worship experiences alone. The church was not designed by God for this type of virtual connectivity. The church was also not designed to be something believers passively attend.

2. An embracing of smaller.

Was the church designed to be focused on large group gatherings where most believers are passive outside of singing? How can 1 Corinthians 14:26[2] be realized? Can a mobilized people where each person brings a gift to be imparted to a community be experienced in large groups? How is Hebrews 10:24–25[3] given texture? How can believers, stimulate and encourage each other if they simply sit in rows without a robust interaction with one another? The answer must be smaller gatherings – small enough so that spiritual gifts are encouraged to be practiced as a church. 

It seems logical that this happens mostly through relationships, and by empowering, equipping and releasing people to practice acts of faith and love with a few others. This type of thinking and shifting of paradigms is hard work. It will mean many changes which most people do not like or are uncomfortable with. These shifts will require a more willing and rugged believer who is ready and wanting to change and become a Kingdom of priests (1 Peter 2:9[4]). Is the church ready and willing to activate these priests to act with freedom and power? These shifts will be costly as things change but also powerful for our world.

3. Hope to reach further into society.

When the above thoughts are implemented, the church's ability to put foot to ground (action) by the priests (all believers) will have a positive impact on society. More ministry will be produced apart from the organization of churches and that will be a good thing. How can the church celebrate these new ministries and resource them with more equipping, encouragement and stimulation to reach the unreached?

When believers are empowered, equipped and released into the societies of their neighborhoods, workplaces, and third places, much more will be accomplished than any large group gathering can accomplish. Church leaders must be honest to admit that their large group gatherings are not accomplishing a significant mark on society. Let me be clear, I am not advocating that larger group gatherings should be abandoned, but should they be the main substance of our faith? If we have not been effective in raising disciples who know how to make disciples (2 Timothy 2:2–3[5]) prior to physical distancing, then how will it happen if nothing changes once the COVID-19 pandemic has passed? The church must change.

[1] https://news.gallup.com/poll/248837/church-membership-down-sharply-past-two-decades.aspx

[2] 1 Corinthians 14:26 (NASB95) What is the outcome then, brethren? When you assemble, each one has a psalm, has a teaching, has a revelation, has a tongue, has an interpretation. Let all things be done for edification.

[3] Hebrews 10:24–25 (NASB95) 24 and let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds 25 not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more as you see the day drawing near. 

[4] 1 Peter 2:9 (NASB95) But you are A CHOSEN RACE, A royal PRIESTHOOD, A HOLY NATION, A PEOPLE FOR God’s OWN POSSESSION, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.

[5] 2 Timothy 2:2–3 (NASB95) 2 The things which you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, entrust these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also. 3 Suffer hardship with me, as a good soldier of Christ Jesus.