Once
upon a time there was an airplane that was designed to make very, very long
flights. She was a marvelous aircraft
and the crew had gone to great effort to make her the most comfortable aircraft
they possibly could. She was equipped
with every kind of device for comfort, ease and entertainment. When she was inflight she was a marvel of
transportation.
She
was a twin-engine plane and each engine was a marvel to behold. In fact, if one engine failed the other
engine could keep her airborne and provide sufficient thrust to carry her to
her destination and accomplish a safe landing.
Naturally, she was at her best if both engines were fully functional and
operating at maximum output. She might
even take off with only one engine, but if she did it was always dangerous and
the flight might not make it to its destination.
On
one occasion, this aircraft was making one of her long flights across
mountainous terrain. This was not the
kind of place where she could perform an emergency landing. As the flight progressed one of the engines
began to lose power. Slowly, engine #2
experienced diminished thrust and responsiveness. The crew was not too worried because they
were sure the plane was safe with a single engine. Besides, engine #2 was not completely dead. At some point engine #2 would be replaced by
something else.
Suddenly
and with almost no warning, something completely unexpected happened and engine
#1 was shut down. There was little time
to prepare for the total loss of power in engine #1. It was clipping along fine and boom, almost
nothing. With both engines almost
completely without power the only question was, “Will there be a successful
restart of one or the other of these engines before the plane falls into a
mountain, canyon, or river?” There was
only so much altitude and speed and momentum for the plane to use before the
end. With a glide ratio closer to that
of a rock than an eagle, everyone on board wondered what would happen.
The
church has/had two engines that give lift to her life and ministry. The first was the large gathering or worship;
the second was some sort of small groups’ ministry. On the small group side of the church there
was Sunday Schools, Bible studies, affinity groups, discipleship groups, to
name a few. While some churches have
kept these groups active and growing, they have for a couple of generations been
in decline as a whole. To be sure, some
churches have/had excellent small group ministries, but that is not universally
true. The emphasis has been on the other
side of the plane. The most focused-on
measurable of church life has been large worship gatherings. We may not want to hear it, but the truth
remains, that size is what we count most and measure most.
Covid-19
has killed the worship-gathering engine of the church. It remains to be seen how long the shut down
will continue. Sunday, from the Rose
Garden at the White House, the President extended the shut down until April 30-well
past Easter. Some have suggested that to be effective there needs to be a
nationwide shut down for 5 months, perhaps longer. When a church that has built itself around
the “thrust” provided by the large weekly gathering and suddenly is not able to
have that gathering, that church may be ditching on a mountainside.
What
can we do? I doubt that it is wise for
churches to simply close and wait for the meeting ban to be lifted and hope
that they will still have a congregation.
There may be several good solutions; here are few that come to mind.
Clearly,
in the short term “virtual church” via the Internet is an option. But we cannot hope to maintain real cohesiveness
via virtual relationship. I have already had a conversation with a lady who
told me that online was just not enough; that there was something profoundly
missing.
One
possibility is a hybrid between virtual church and small groups. Many groups (all less than 10) gather,
simultaneous to other small groups, to watch the online service and share
together discussion, communion, or a meal.
This will greatly depend on the nature of regulations for social
distancing and group gatherings.
Perhaps
the answer is what we see from Samaritan’s Purse, which dispatched a team to
New York this week. Maybe the local
church can organize itself around ministry to those who are in need. This will keep the body connected, provide
contact for disciple making, and allow them to be considered “vital” for the
nation.
I
would dearly love to hear what options come to your mind and heart as we
consider how to be the Church in the age of Covid-19.
In
the Cause
Charlie
No comments:
Post a Comment