There is no doubt that Covid-19 has caused a lot of devastation and that its path of destruction is not over. However, there are many perks or positives that have also come out of Covid-19. When a global pandemic hits which interrupts all of our lives, I think we have to step back and ask God what is he up to. It’s not that God has caused the pandemic, but we must understand that he has certainly allowed it to happen.
I don’t like it when people lose their jobs, their teams, their life, but perhaps these are just the moments that God is calling one into a new career, a new path, a new course. Maybe we didn’t need the excess after all. It is very painful if you are say a baseball player at the University of Furman who was just told that your team’s program has been cut by your college. This represents a great case example in showing how Covid-19 is so much more than a medical issue. It’s an economic issue, a mental health issue, a political issue, a sports and entertainment issue, a business issue, a family issue, a church issue, a media issue, etc. The virus’s impact is far-reaching and its damage is mass.
In previous posts, I have already mentioned some of the bright sides of Covid-19. It’s great when families get to spend more time together, when sons and daughters learn the family trade, when young people learn how to sew, cook, garden, plant, and the list goes on. But, what about the church? What are the benefits of Covid-19 on church life as it relates to the next generation? Especially at a time when the next generation is told to stay at home and to stay away from church? If you have teenagers, you know what I am talking about. Teens don’t want to stay at home because they want to be out with their friends, whether that’s at church, school, or some other third place.
I can only speak from a digital point of view. Gen Z lives and breathes in a world of social media and technology. For far too long, the church has lagged behind in keeping up with, but more importantly reaching the next generation on their own turf. In other words, before Covid-19, many churches were irrelevant when it came to the next generation because they had no online presence and couldn’t communicate in the same way that the next generation communicates with one another. At the rate churches were going, most would have become obsolete.
But Covid-19, and I like to think God through this pandemic, has forced churches to catch up to the culture that surrounds it. It’s nearly impossible for the church to fulfill the mission God has given it if it cannot communicate, much less make sense to the community and culture they are trying to reach. Missionaries have to speak the natives’ language and in the church’s case, as it relates to the next generation and the world at large, the church has to be able to speak the digital natives’ language. A famous ministry leader has recently quipped that he believes churches will soon be saying, “we’re an online church with physical and local locations.”
Do you see what this ministry leader is really saying? He is putting the virtual before the real. Not that virtual isn’t real. Virtual is very real to the next generation and in this context, is probably more real than that which appears to be a physical church building. None the less, I am not a fan of this statement and not because the statement doesn’t contain some truth. Let me explain. I don’t think we have to argue which comes first. It’s like the chicken and egg argument. Does it really matter? When you’re ministering to the world as you have been called to in the Great Commission, ministering in-person and online are both vital.
This is similar to asking if the church is to be primarily ministering locally or globally. The answer is Yes. The church is to be ministering glocally! Virtual reality is real and the point of this post is simply to state that I believe God has used the pandemic to help the universal Church “get it.” Real is real and virtual is real. There is no need to debate which should come first. In fact, on the flip side, Covid-19 has helped the next generation learn much about the real world, and how it is a world that doesn’t just operate solely in a virtual reality. For example, manual labor and blue-collar jobs are just as important to society as office work and white-collar jobs. It takes everyone to make this world go around!
Let’s be honest. For too long, I think we Americans have had too much. Too many choices, too many options, too many . . . analysis by paralysis – – – leading us to make no decision because of the dizzying array of colors and flavors constantly at our disposal. I am grateful for these luxuries, but are they all needed? I like to call these extra add-on’s unnecessary fluff. What does this mean for the church? Like sport programs or even certain jobs that are being cut, perhaps there are some ministry programs that need to die. They’re just no longer effective in a post COVID-19 world.
I must give props to Dr. James Emery White of Mecklenburg Community Church in Charlotte, NC. In a pre COVID-19 world, this pastor was already beefing up his online campus (and I don’t mean church website). He was already using online pastors, social media and tech gurus that speak the digital language of the next generation. It is at this point that I must admit that there many aspects of the old normal that I prefer to the new normal. I prefer packed out stadiums, arenas, restaurants, malls, and churches to that of the same kind that are hybrid or half-filled. I prefer not having to wear a mask or social distance. I prefer a handshake or a hug to that of staying six feet away to the next closest person. But I’m learning to put my preferences aside, to do whatever it takes to reach the next generation, and to balance my life by getting in tune with God’s bigger picture. What is God teaching you during these unprecedented times?