Like the rest of our country, middle Tennessee is struggling to navigate the various COVID-19 mandates while trying to find some kind of normalcy. Some have thrown caution to the wind by fully engaging in their pre-pandemic habits. Others are being more cautious. They are ordering their groceries online and don’t eat inside restaurants. They are avoiding crowds and when they travel and choosing to drive instead of fly. Their return to attending in-person church has been slower. While some of us are finding a new normal, for these friends, things aren’t normal yet.
Are we back to normal yet? Is this the new normal? Will we ever get back to normal? What was normal anyway?
Every day, I am contacted by someone who is frustrated with the way things are. They really want to know when we’ll get back to normal, the pre-pandemic normal when COVID-19 wasn’t an issue. My answer is that I don’t know.
The real answer is “never.”
Here are a few aspects of our new reality. First, there is a group of people who will never come back to church. They were nominally connected before the pandemic and when they stopped coming to church, they didn’t notice a significant loss of anything meaningful. They’re doing fine without church and though they may not have told anyone, they aren’t coming back.
The second group who hasn’t returned to church are those who prefer the online service. They get up, fix their coffee, sit together on the couch and watch the service online. It works for them. They enjoy watching the service in their pajamas and not having to fight the traffic. It’s easy and less stressful for their family. They may come to church for the big services – Easter and Christmas – but other than that, they’re not coming back.
The rest of the congregation is on vacation. Everyone is taking at least one vacation this year. Most people are taking several. They’ve been cooped up for so long at home that an escape seems necessary. When they get back from vacation, they want to go somewhere again. They’re seeing family. They’re headed to the beach and to the mountains but it doesn’t matter where they go. They’re just not staying home.
The hard truth is that attendance in local churches won’t go back to pre-COVID-19 levels. We need to understand this. For one thing, too many pastors measure their self-worth by attendance numbers. Though few will admit it, part of the depression being experienced by many pastors has to do with preaching to empty sanctuaries during the pandemic and half-filled sanctuaries after things reopened. Second, churches need to rethink the markers of success for their pastor. Full sanctuaries can no longer be used — and never should have been used — as a measurement of a successful ministry.
Now, where we are is where we are and where we are is a great place to start. How many times have we as pastors said to ourselves if we just knew who the committed members were, we could change the world?
Well, now we know.
Disappointing, isn’t it?
Here’s the good news. Jesus has a way of doing miraculous work with whoever shows up. Look at the first disciples. Not one of us would have hired any of them. Yet, Jesus chose them. As Paul reminds us in I Corinthians, God chose the unimpressive of the world to impress the world. Yet, Peter did indeed become the rock. Thomas found his belief and that handful of Christ-followers changed the world.
Jesus never chased anyone. Neither should we. Work with whoever shows up. Get serious about discipleship and serving your community. COVID-19 didn’t break anything, but it showed us what was broken. I don’t know about your church, but we found out about 80% of our programs made no difference in the lives of their participants.
Only a handful of things make the most impact. We’re focusing on those things and letting the rest go. We’ve shot a lot of sacred cows and blamed COVID-19.
I know there have been a lot of challenges during the past few years. I’m not minimizing any of them. This pandemic has forced us to ask some hard questions about our lives. That’s why we’re seeing so many people resign from their jobs and choose new futures. The price they were paying in their quality of life could no longer be ignored.
The pandemic has given us a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to change things in our local churches. Don’t waste it. I’m not sure we’ll get another one.
Things are never going to back to normal…and that’s okay.
