Thoughts on COVID/ Church
This was written the first Sunday that churches in my area closed down due to COVID-19 and originally shared with my own church worship team.
In my home, we watched our church service, and then my dad and mom’s church service. After that we went around and watched the livestream videos of some of the churches we’ve been a part of over the years. We watched some of Sevier Heights’ broadcast, where dad was a pastor and where I was on staff as an audio engineer. We watched a bit of Highview Baptist Louisville’s stream, where I was a guitarist and worship leader while in college. We watched the broadcasts of a few pastor-friends’ churches and friends of our family. As I watched the global church worshiping together, from empty sanctuaries to homes throughout the US, I was struck by a couple of things. I wanted to share with you.
First, though the global church faces adversity today, it is—we are—stronger than ever. We have more avenues today to reach the lost than ever before through the use of technology. More people are able to tune in; as we watched today, we read comments and received texts from all over the nation from people who formerly had little way of connecting. Shut-in’s, the elderly, the differently-abled and disabled, families with young children, pregnant and nursing mothers, and men and women coming off of a difficult nightshifts were all able to join in worship for the first time. We saw as our humble church in Clinton, TN was reaching people all around the US, with people as far as Des Moines, IA and Tok, AL tuning in.
We watched as connections were being made through Second Baptist's live prayer-platform, as people were able to engage with our pastors and counselors in the prayer and comments section of their streaming service. This shows me that the Church is more capable than ever before to reach the unreached and the lost. We also got to see families worshiping together in the posts that were shared on social media. We saw kids enjoying live children’s ministry content—that was especially neat to see—how the Church is adapting to its current circumstances to continue to deliver incredible resources that support the family. I was encouraged to see a strong global church this morning!
Second, watching online highlighted the need for production volunteers and workers in the Church. We ought to be SO THANKFUL for those like Tim and Zach who are willing to give of their time and expertise to help us deliver a message that is intelligible, audible, and in high definition! Our entire crew deserves so much gratitude. But they also need our help! We need volunteers to man the IMAGs (the words on screen), to mix audio, to operate cameras, to be stage-hands to help the pastor and the worship team. We need volunteers to step in, to be willing to work to relieve Tim and Zach every once in awhile to allow them to worship with their families. We need volunteers to step up to be willing to receive training in these complex systems, men and women who desire to put the best possible church “product” out to the world, for the purpose of reaching people. And speaking of: Tim and Zach, that video of Austin was AWESOME. My mother (who is ultra-critical LOL) said that it was an even better looking broadcast than Second Baptist's! (Not that it’s a competition). If y’all know anyone willing and able to jump in to help on Smoky View’s communications team, please let us know!
Lastly, though this experiment in worshiping from home, I think, was an unqualified success, it still showed me one unending truth: We are better together. Church ought to be done in personal community, in close proximity, face-to-face with fellow believers. I watched the Church at worship all around the world today in homes, but it still stung my heart not to be with you in person. I now understand what Paul was talking about when he said as much in 1 Thessalonians 2 and elsewhere, how he eagerly longed to be with his church. There just simply is no substitute for active, participatory church membership to disciple and encourage a believer. I so look forward to being back with you in person.
Paul wrote to the church in Corinth, a church facing as much, if not more, adversity in its day. In chapter 1 of his second letter to the Corinthians he said, and I paraphrase, “Yep, it’s true, we had a death sentence. We almost didn’t make it out of that last one! But we trust God who did deliver us, who does continually deliver us, and who will deliver us again.” He goes on to say this: “God is faithful. It’s not a mixed message with him, it’s not some-Yes and some-No. No! In Christ, all the promises of God are Yes and Amen!” One of God’s promises is a strong promise of deliverance—he will rescue us—by the work of his son Jesus.