Insights Into The Covid-19 Church Era –Part XXXXVI
“It happened while Apollo was at Corinth, and Paul in Ephesus… they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus, and when Paul laid his hands upon them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they began speaking with tongues and prophesying. There were in all about twelve men.” (Acts 19:1-7)
Each day the number of Covid-19 cases is posted on the corner of the television screen during newscasts. Tens of millions have been infected by it worldwide. Hundreds of thousands have died. The number of cases going up or down affects what restrictions are imposed or lifted. Penn State’s Beaver Stadium holds 106,000 for a home football game, but Pennsylvania restrictions in August limits only 250 maximum can attend! Other restrictions have prevented groups to be as small as 25 or even 10! Churches scream because almost every congregation is over 25! The 10 limit would even eliminating the 12 disciples from meeting!
It’s the end of the summer, and what has been the church’s influence on this Covid-19 pandemic so far? Has it prepared itself to respond to the need of record breaking unemployment, and possible evictions, and economic hardships? It’s had all summer to do so! Unfortunately, the only time the church makes the news is when it complains about restrictions and the government infringing on their rights. America keeps looking to its government to be its savior during this pandemic. They expect the government to come to the aide of a overwhelmed healthcare system, to feed stimulus money into the economy through our pockets, to regulate the distribution of the vaccine when it comes, etc., but what are they expecting from the church as an institution? The United States citizens have seen for almost 9 months into the pandemic the U.S. government still failing to govern or lead. They have also seen the institutional church fail them, for the only thing important to the church seems to be the size, not the safety, in meeting in large groups often in old, poorly ventilated buildings. The church is known for “service”, but having a “church service,” a structured program with a sermon, on a Sunday in a building is more important that “serving” others who are unemployed, homeless, and hurting. Something must change!
Small Groups today have become Bible Study groups that rehash the lead or teaching pastors sermons. Introduced 50 years ago as cell groups, each cell group was an independent organism unto itself, which brought life. Together, they jointly formed a local body, the Church. Cells are where you find life in a body. They are diverse, function differently, and are independent of one another, but dependent on each other. Unfortunately, the church has institutionalized them through micromanagement. They’ve become puppets where church hierarchy pulls the strings.
Jesus never birthed or built a mega-church to outdo the Jewish Temple. He poured his life into 12 individuals. He equipped them for works of service, which are recorded in the book of Acts. Paul, too, never built a mega-church. He invested is local believers who took the reigns and responsibility of the group as a community, not an institutionalized organization, when he left.
Instead of trying to achieve large numbers, the church needs to allow the Holy Spirit to work in small numbered groups, or cells. Will the church allow organic life to return to these groups to again become an organism? Can these cells jointly work together, not through institutional logistic, but through the leading of the Holy Spirit to becomes arms, legs, organs, etc. of the body of Christ? Can we lay aside our complaints and become pro-active in ministering to needs? Will we reach out to our neighbors, our sphere of influence, to help meet needs when they lose their jobs, cannot meet their mortgage, live under the threat of eviction, and wonder where their next meal may come, or will we opt to maintain our old wineskin mindset that we need to build mega-parachurch ministries to meet needs?