Siebert: Defining the church post COVID – The Hutchinson News

Jane Siebert| The Hutchinson News

As we continue to wait out this pandemic, churches are struggling with what to expect for the rest of 2021 and on. Reports suggest that the average churchs reopening attendance has been around 36% of previous levels (Tony Morgans Q3 Unstuck Church Report). People have enjoyed watching services on-line or on TV in their living rooms with an extra cup of coffee. Some are still nervous about coming back in the sanctuary and some say they really have not missed church.

It is a difficult time to be in church leadership. When numbers drop in the pews, it is often the minister that gets blamed. There are many factors, and this pandemic has shot holes in everything.

A couple positive things have emerged. Many churches scrambled and figured how a way to offer virtual services, if they werent before, and have found numbers of people they were able to reach has actually increased. Also, some members are hungry to come back as they missed the community and value face to face worship more than before. Sometimes we have to lose something or go without, to appreciate what we have.

The reality is physical church attendance has been in decline for decades and Covid-19 has accelerated the decline. The question before us is now how to count all who might be engaging and how to include them in the community sitting in the pews. How do we define what is the church?

Jesus is recorded as speaking about church only twice in Matthew 16:18 and Matthew 18:15-17, and the Greek word for church in these verses can also be translated as community. He is telling Peter, …on this rock I will build my community. A rock often corresponds to truth. And the truth Jesus teaches is love of one another as found in the Golden Rule Jesus gave us to live by.

Jesus didnt tell us how to build the church or organize the community. Maybe Jesus knew what might happen if we all became organizations or churches defined by what we think is right, creating exclusion, instead of inclusion. Maybe that is why Jesus last prayer before being arrested was that we all might be one, united, not divided by thinking we know best what The Bible, the Word of God, really says. Maybe that is what this pandemic is teaching us, to care for one another, not just worry about what we think is right for us.

Maybe….

The Rev. Jane Siebert is president of the Swedenborgian Church.

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Siebert: Defining the church post COVID - The Hutchinson News