Insights Into The Covid-19 Church Era –Part XXV
“I have become all things to all people, that by all mean I might save some.” (I Corinthians 9.22)
“Put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life… and put on the new self.” (Ephesians 4:22-23)
It is tough being an adult!
You are no longer a child; but mature, responsible.
In the work force you need to be professional; reliable and profitable.
At home you need to be a parent; a role model who nurtures.
During the Covid-19 pandemic, you need to be a teacher; a mentor and tutor.
Your roles are continuously changing; you are wearing so many hats.
Where in life are you allowed to be yourself?
During this Covid-19 pandemic roles are constantly changing:
If you were a usher, how do you socially distance and “Greet One Another”?
You must wear masks, elbow bump, and maintain your distance.
If you are a parent, you are now asked to also be a teacher, tutor, and mentor,
And you might be your child’s best friend and only playmate.
If you are a boss or in management at work,
you may not have anyone in your building to manage since all were furloughed or sent home to work.
You may have to manage virtually through Zoom,
While watching and tutoring the kids at home.
You were a caretaker of your parent who you helped move into assistant living.
Now you can only be a cheerleader and visit through her bedroom window.
You taught Sunday School, was a Boy/Girl Scout Leader, coach in a 5 & 6 year old basketball league.
You can only Socially Network with your kids, no longer giving hands-on instruction.
Bob Dylan keeps singing, “Your old road is rapidly agin'; Please get out of the new one if you can't lend your hand; For the times they are a-changin.”
As new wineskins, new structures, new organizations, and new institutional policies are formed, new roles are being required, new formats are necessary, new ideas are presented, and new expectations are being developed. Change necessitates new roles.
Can the Covid-19 era church adjust? Will the church’s staff’s roles change?
Mega-church buildings with huge auditoriums are now albatrosses. What do we do with them? Do we convert them into Recording Studios to do podcasts, in-house virtual sermons, administer virtual Zoom groups, be the center for all social networking?
Teaching Pastors who preached to hundreds in those auditoriums have adjusted by preaching online, but are forced to be “out of touch” with individuals in their congregation.
Sunday numbers measured “church growth”, but by what criteria will “church growth” be measured in the Covid-19 era?
With the quarantines required during a Covid-19 pandemic, how can staff do hospital visitations when prohibited?
How can they be effective and personal when isolation is required to prevent the virus’ growth?
Can the staff change hats from being a teacher to a comforter?
What does a hands-on shepherd do when social distancing is required?
What is a janitor to do when the building doesn’t get dirty or need maintaining because it is empty?
The Covid-19 pandemic causes more questions than we have answers because we are in a time of transition and transition demands changes in roles. It will be interesting in seeing what kind of wine we will put in these new wineskins, new roles, new structures. If we do what we have done before because that is the way it has always been done, we will see the wine break out of the wineskins and both will be ruined, so we have to be careful what wine we put into the new wineskins we create.