I read last week that fewer people are tuning into their church's worship services online than there were when churches first began broadcasting their services due to the pandemic. The writers of the article were not sure if this reflected normal summer church attendance patterns or if it showed that people were getting tired of the online services and being unable to attend services in person.
A couple of weeks ago I was talking with an individual who said his family were attending services at a small, rural church that was holding on-site services. He said the online services of their home church were OK for a time, but they had grown tired of them. They wanted to be with people in a worship service.
There is another factor with the online services that may impact some churches in the near future. People have had an opportunity to view numerous services. Some Sundays I've watched 3-4 different services. Yesterday I watched two services, one from my home town and one in Cleveland, OH. I've watched only a portion of some services and found that they did not appeal to me at all. In some cases it was the music, in others it was the preaching style or quality of the message, and in a few cases things just seemed odd for some reason. When this is over I wonder how many people will decide to change churches due to their finding one that seemed to be a better fit for them than the one they've been attending.
We can criticize such consumer mentality if we want, but that doesn't make it any less real. There is a reason why people attend the church they attend, and if they find one that seems to be a better fit it's very possible they will make a change. People's lives change over the years, and everybody doesn't need the same thing from a church they did when they were at a different stage of their lives. A family of three small children might choose to attend a church with a strong children's and youth ministry. When the couple turns 70 they may have different needs or the church might have changed since they began attending there, and their church is no longer a good fit for this stage in their lives.
One church leader suggested a few years ago that we were approaching a time when people might attend three different churches. They would be involved in one church for its youth ministry; they might attend a Bible study offered by another church; and they might attend the worship service of a church with a strong music or pulpit ministry. The point he was making was that the days of a family attending one church all their lives unless they moved were over. Of course, this raises a lot of interesting questions. Will they financially support all three churches? Which church, if any, will they become involved in as far as serving in some area of ministry? I'm sure you can think of other questions.
This pandemic is going to have an impact on churches just as it has had on small businesses. Many small businesses will not reopen. Others may try to reopen, but at reduced capacity they may find they can't be profitable enough to remain open. I expect to see some churches not reopen their doors. Others may reopen but find that too many of their people did not return choosing to go to other churches they discovered online. These churches will also close.
We may not know how the pandemic will impact churches until a year passes, but it's safe to say that there will be changes. If your church leadership is not talking about how your church may change in the coming months, that conversation needs to happen now. You may want to bring in someone from your denomination or a consultant to help lead this discussion. If you think that everything is going to return to normal you are apt to be sadly mistaken.
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