In the last few days, we have seen public gatherings limited to 250 people and then limited to 100 people and then 50 people and now 10 or less people. As one church leader said, “This creates a crisis for our congregations, even the smallest of our congregations.”
Is he right?
Interestingly, the word “crisis” comes from a Greek word meaning “decision” or “decisive point.” Does the new reality of COVID-19 present local congregations with a crisis or with an opportunity?
It will feel like a crisis because we have to change our habits in how we prefer to participate in Church. It will feel like a crisis because we are cut off from our professional church workers and volunteers who we depend on to do our Church-business. It will feel like a crisis because we are used to being passive church-goers and the pandemic is requiring us to get up off our… pews and be active Christ-followers.
Our first urge is to cry out, “We haven’t done Church this way before!”
However, Jesus is not standing in the middle of all this disruption, wringing His hands and saying, “I never saw this coming! What shall we do??”
Instead, and as usual, Jesus is up to something redemptive in the disruption. This is a “decisive point” when we can start making new and clear-headed “decisions” about how we can help each other be Church for the foreseeable future. Jesus is shaking up His Church not so we are alarmed by a crisis but so we wake up to an opportunity… an opportunity to rediscover what being Church is really about. Perhaps Jesus is administering a whiff of smelling salts to His people so we can start pressing past being 501(c)3 organizations and be the New Testament Church.
In Acts 1:8, Jesus speaks these famous words, “…and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” However, it is not until Acts 8:1, just after Stephen is martyred and a great persecution breaks out in Jerusalem, that the Church is essentially forced to finally scatter into Judea and Samaria. Acts 8:1 says, “On that day a great persecution broke out against the church at Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria.”
To our twenty-first century, U.S. ears that would seem to signal the death of the Church. They were scattered and they were separated from the Apostles. I mean, if your congregation was scattered and separated from your professional church workers and volunteers, what would be the result? (We’re about to find out, right?)
However, just the opposite happened in Acts 8. This “crisis” didn’t lead to the end of the Church, but to the explosive expansion of the Church. Acts 8:4, “Those who were scattered shared the Good News wherever they went.”
Perhaps the COVID-19 pandemic is our Acts 8 moment.
What follows is some suggestions that other Christ-followers like you are beginning to implement in their neck of the kingdom here in the U.S. So let’s get up off our… pews and rediscover how to be the New Testament Church! Woohooo!
If You have Mixed Feelings about Not Gathering for Worship
The Church especially needs to take “social distancing” seriously to help slow the spread of the pandemic. Why? In South Korea, they have tracked 80% of their COVID-19 infections to one dear woman who went to church services twice within a few days. She thought she had a cold. This woman is known as Patient 31. Patient 31 had all the best of intentions when she went to church. But because she did not practice social distancing, she unintentionally led to 80% of South Korea’s COVID-19 infections. As of Monday, March 16, there were 8000+ COVID-19 cases and 75 deaths. (Information from Reuters) https://graphics.reuters.com/CHINA-HEALTH-SOUTHKOREA-CLUSTERS/0100B5G33SB/index.html
Jesus held up the value of the 1 over the 99 (Luke 15:1). If COVID-19 has an estimated death rate of even 1%, then the 99% need to protect the 1% who are most vulnerable. Right?
Now’s the Time to Discover House-Church
In the New Testament, house-churches were the norm. Even though we talk about the Church in Corinth or Rome, we are really referring to multiple smaller gatherings in houses in those cities. Now is an opportune time to help our people break out of simply being passive church-goers and become more experienced with being the Acts 8 Church. For instance, we can help them take on actively leading worship in their homes. One tool we have that the Acts 8 believers didn’t have is the internet (and websites, live streaming, Facebook Live, Zoom, Google Hangouts, email, phones, etc.). So we can start developing content and get it out to our members’ computers like never before. Praise God! What a great opportunity to begin shifting the center of their faith and worship from simply participating and receiving on Sunday mornings to actively engaging their family and neighbors during the week. (see below for a letter from The Point [Lutheran Church] in Knoxville, TN for some ideas of how to communicate this opportunity.)
Interestingly, some years ago in Myanmar, the communist government wanted to begin killing off the Church there. They thought the way to do that was to limit public gatherings for worship to 8 or fewer people. But instead of killing off the Church, it exploded. The Church spread even more rapidly. One of the reasons is that the believers no longer could rely on their professionals to do what God had given them to do. And the Word of the Lord spread even faster!
But what about Holy Week and Easter services? Now is the time to prepare materials that have house gatherings in mind. Don’t fight it. Don’t feel down about it. Embrace it. Think outside the box. Be creative. Be simple. Be celebrative. Enjoy it! What can gifted volunteers prepare for the rest of your people to use with small groups of family and neighbors in their homes?
Now’s the Time to Help Members become Friends with Each Other
Your Church is not a building and it is not an organization. It is people. Now is an opportune time to help them get to know each other like never before… even though they can’t be with each other. How? Map out where your members live using Google mapping software. Then recruit members who live in the midst of other members to start making phone calls once a week to 5-10 member households who live nearby. They can use the following questions to get to know each other better:
How are you doing?
Do you need anything?
Do you have internet access? (So they can receive content from the Church. If not, what can be a Plan B?)
What is your story? (Let’s get to know each other a little better.)
Do you mind if I call you again next week?
Your Church could come out on the other end of this pandemic being relationally closer than ever before. And all because you became more intentional about talking together over the phone! (One more idea: after we are past this pandemic, people can have what we call Connect-the-Dots parties with the people they had been calling.)
Now’s the Time to Help Your Members Care for Neighbors More Intentionally
Idea #1:
Place a notecard in each neighbors’ mailbox with Philippians 4:6-7 written on one side (“Do not be anxious…” or John 14:1, “Do not let your hearts be troubled…”) and your name and phone number on the other side with the invitation to call if the neighbor needs any help or just would like someone to talk to or even to pray with.
Idea #2:
Go door to door practicing social distancing and collect the following information:
+ Names at each address
+ Contact number
+ Email
+ Occupations
+ Any Special Needs
Tell neighbors you will compile the list and then drop a copy to each of them to keep everyone connected and aware of opportunities to help and serve one another. Times like these can bond people together. If we approach one another safely, intentionally and with love, after this ends, host a block party to celebrate what it means to be good neighbors!
Idea #3:
If you are a current or retired teacher or if you have expertise in math, science, English, etc., reach out to families in your neighborhood who have school-aged children. Offer to help with tutoring or with whatever academic help they could use.
Idea #4:
Here’s something no parent thought they would ever tell their teen, “Get on your phone!” But you can give them a specific amount of time to check in with their friends, see how they are doing with everything, offer some encouragement and hope, and even offer to pray with their friends.
The Letter from the Point:
This upcoming Sunday, we’re going to be gathering… differently.
We’ve always been a church who likes to meet in unconventional spaces: movie theaters, coffee shops, bars, and now - homes.
Why?
This past weekend, The CDC recommended that groups of 50+ people stop gathering across the country. We are going to respect the professionals, love the vulnerable people in our community, and continue gathering as people of God by meeting in smaller groups in people’s homes all around Knoxville.
We feel like this is such a God thing, and here’s why:
A group of people met a few weeks ago about the future of The Point. This was well before COVID-19 in the states hit the news. This group of people took a weekend to talk and plan and worship and pray - and one of the major takeaways of that weekend was this: Community is really important. It’s also not something we are always very good at.
We knew we wanted to find ways to build community at The Point. But we still weren’t clear on how.
So here we are now:
We could see this recommendation from the CDC as a hindrance OR we could see it as a huge opportunity - an opportunity to love the vulnerable people in our community by practicing social distancing, to humbly be an example of putting our interests aside for the sake of others, and (most excitingly if you ask us) an opportunity to get to know our neighbors and church family more intentionally than ever before.
What is this going to look like?
Good question! We will not be gathering at our usual location. We will be livestreaming our service on Sunday morning at 10:30am Eastern from Emilie’s house. You can join us the same way as always - via this link.
However, we will also be doing our best to get you an invitation soon from someone at The Point who lives in your area of town. The hope is they’ll invite you to church in their home and we will essentially have mini “livestream parties” all over Knoxville. Worship, truth, and community.
Of course, you know as well as we do that things are moving fast. We don’t know how long we’ll be gathering in this way. But we do know that God is not surprised by any of this. He’s not wringing His hands in worry. He’s strong and good and still in control. As for us, we will keep you up-to-date with any changes as best we can via social media, emails, and this page on the website.
Action Steps For You:
If you’d like to host a small livestream gathering at your house, let us know here!
If your information is not up-to-date in our system, please fill out the form at the bottom of this page so we can both connect you with a house church host and easily contact you should things get more dicey in the coming weeks.
If you need extra prayer or help, click here.
Keep an eye on your inbox - some discussion questions for house church and materials for parents to use with kids will be coming your way later this week.
Keep leaning into Jesus and praying for our church, city, and world!
God is moving in our city, our country, and our world. He’s shaking things up. And as always, He is in control and really good. We’re stoked to continue singing in the middle of the storm!