The church will never return to "normal"

 Ever since the pandemic began I've heard people talking about their hope that everything can soon return back to normal so they can get on with their lives. Church leaders have been hopeful that their churches can soon get back to normal operations again. In some instances pastors were forced by the lay leadership to reopen their churches before the churches were ready in an effort to return to normal. In some cases, that did not end well.

What these individuals fail to realize is that the world will not get "back to normal" in this post-pandemic world. Just as 9/11 forever changed the world in which we live, so has the pandemic. It will likely take years before we realize the full ramifications of all the changes that will occur because of Covid, but we can be certain that things will never return back to what they were before the pandemic. We are forced to find a new normal if we are going to move forward into the future.

What all this means for the church is still uncertain. Certainly, it is going to require us to take a fresh look at how we do ministry in a post-pandemic world. Many churches began offering their worship services through social media outlets during the quarantine, some reluctantly, but then many of them found they had a lot more people tuning in to those services than they had previously had in their in-house services. The next surprise came when church leaders found that people were watching the broadcast services at various times of the week when it was more convenient for them to do so. If we do not want to lose touch with these individuals it will require us to continue broadcasting our services even when we are free to fully reopen our churches.

Of course, this presents the church with more challenges. How do we effectively minister to the needs of our digital congregation? How does this impact small-group ministry? How do we disciple those who connect with us through social media? In what ways can we offer community to those who only connect with us through social media? I'm sure you can identify other challenges in your context.

A different challenge for churches is that we do not become so enamored with our digital ministry that we try to do too many things. We can become so wrapped up in the opportunities presented by our media presence that we lose focus on ministering to people. Many people have become addicted to technology to the point that they struggle to function in the real world. The same danger exists for churches. We can get so caught up in doing ministry online that we forget the human touch in ministry. We must not allow that to happen.

Our world has once again changed forever, and the church must adapt to that change. We are not going to return to business as usual as it existed pre-Covid. The challenges before the church are real, but the good news is that God was not caught unaware of them. As we seek Him for guidance we will find He will guide us through this transition into a new world of exciting ministry opportunities.