Thriving Beyond Covid: Crisis or Opportunity?
Who could have imagined that a microscopic virus named Covid-19 would cause so much disruption in our world, our lives, and our churches? Weariness, grief, uncertainty, and even division have become viral as we struggle to recover. The long-term impact of Covid on congregations remains uncertain, but I am convinced that the attitude and spirit of church leaders and members as they respond to this crisis will play a key role as they navigate the challenges ahead.
In two of its definitions for “crisis,” the Merriam-Webster dictionary connects crisis with opportunity: the turning point for better or worse and the defining moment. The Chinese characters for “crisis” capture this connection as well: Danger and Opportunity. Albert Einstein saw the connection too: “In the midst of every crisis, lies great opportunity.”
It’s all about getting people in the right frame of mind to see beyond this crisis to an unprecedented opportunity to move from death to resurrection in the church. It’s time to begin an exciting Spirit-powered journey to trust God to empower your dreams and to rise up to embrace opportunities.
Prior to 2020, congregational vitality statistics were already grim. For the past 20 years, research has reported that 80-90 percent of the churches in the U.S. were either plateaued or declining. 3,500 to 4,000 congregations were closing every year. That’s approximately 10 per day. David Kinnaman, president of the Barna Group, a faith-based research organization, recently reported that as many as 1 in 5 U.S. congregations could close their doors permanently as a result of Covid. Many more may struggle to stay off life-support.
None of us want that to happen but all of us need to a plan to avoid it.
In reality, most congregations have been facing a sustainability crisis for decades. A pre-Covid study of chronic decline in average weekly worship attendance in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) projected that if the current rate of decline is not turned around, the total average weekly worship attendance in the ELCA will plummet from 899,000 people in 2017 to a dismal 15,811 in 2041! And that number does not factor in the impact of Covid.
The damaging by-product of church decline has been a steady rise in the levels of fear and worry present in our congregations regarding their future. The toxic fruit of fear and worry is doubt, which undermines the power of faith needed to move mountains. Fear, worry, and doubt were at high levels in most congregations prior to Covid. They have gone viral now, rising to dangerous pandemic levels in many places. These negative emotions must be acknowledged and dealt with in whatever re-gathering / renewal plan congregations make.
When Peter got out of the boat and began sinking, he cried out to Jesus for help. It would be wise for us to do same and to listen to his advice. There was a reason he told his followers 24 times in the Gospels to not be afraid, worried, or filled with doubt: When these emotions invade our corporate spirit, they eat away at a congregation’s vitality and hinder its ability to thrive.
Fear, worry, and doubt can deflate the corporate spirit, derailing dreams, and diminishing impact. If they become the dominant spirit in a congregation, they undermine the faith, optimism and hope that sustains it.
When faith takes a back seat to fear, the focus shifts to our diminishing resources and our mission is compromised.
Addressing these mostly unspoken emotions is the often overlooked first step on the path to congregational renewal in any season, but especially now. To ensure that you turn this crisis into an opportunity, releasing these negative emotions must be a desired outcome in whatever re-gathering or renewal process your congregation undertakes.
The treatment for this is simple: expose members’ fears, worries, and doubts to the light by creating opportunities for people to share them with one another and with God. When you do this you undermine and reduce their power, removing a key point of leverage the powers of evil love to use to meddle in God’s mission.
Once this step is taken, these negative emotions can be removed from your corporate spirit so that God’s Spirit becomes the driving force that awakens and empowers dreams, helps you overcome your challenges, and embrace new opportunities.
By sharing with others you discover that you do not walk alone and are encouraged. By being vulnerable with God you open the door for God’s power to take over so that these emotions do not hold you back and undermine your re-gathering / renewal efforts. It’s time to let go of the burdens and embrace the future. God wants to empower you to live by faith and trust the Spirit to empower your dreams.
To facilitate this journey in congregations, I have developed a free multi-session scripture based re-gathering / renewal resource called Thriving Beyond Covid to not just keep your congregation from closing or struggling to stay off life-support, but to help you turn this crisis into an opportunity to thrive.
In this season, embrace and believe Paul’s witness in Romans 8:28 that God makes all things work together for good and in Ephesians 3:20 that by the power at work within us, God is able to accomplish abundantly far more than all we can ask or imagine.
We can’t move back to the church we used to be. Move forward to the Church God is calling you to become.