For the record this is in no way making light of the thousands of lives lost to the virus Covid-19. Each life lost was a great loss to someone and we should all take a moment to mourn with them. It’s a shame I have to preface what I’m going to say with this but someone somewhere will do their level best to make this something it’s not. So don’t try it and lesson the loss of someone else.
As a pastor, it’s been one of the most challenging times I can remember in a long time. Church planting is hard and there were times I didn’t think we would make it. However all glory to God we have recently celebrated 10 years as a church. But again during this pandemic, it’s been a world wind of challenges. We’ve had to adjust, readjust and then burn it all down and readjust again. I’ve spent more time in front of a camera than any other time in my life. Can’t imagine what those that accused me of being a media whore a few years back are saying now. 🤷🏼♂️ And even more funny, I ABSOLUTELY HATE THE CAMERA! It’s cold and non-responsive.
The challenges we’ve faced have been hard and a moving target most Sunday’s. No way of telling if our message was having any impact until all the numbers came from the preset algorithms of social media. And let’s not even talk about the first few weeks when Facebook freaked out and couldn’t handle what we churches were putting into their servers. But here is the raw truth of the motive of every church and every pastor. Ultimately we were just tying to keep people connected until we could get back to doing church like we used to; in-person, face to face services with fist bumps only if need be. And another truth is that we would not know if we succeeded until several weeks perhaps months after we got back.
From what I see, the verdict is in.
Some once committed Christians have fallen back into old lifestyles. They loved their church but now they have no problem in slanderous social media posts. Some used this “things will never be the same” mantra when speaking about the church, not because that isn’t true but because they don’t want church to be the same. They frankly didn’t like the bride of Christ and thought they had a better idea of what it should be. They reveled in the fact that church had come to a screeching halt in how we conducted services pre-pandemic.
Even more alarming is that I’ve heard of people disparaging their pastors because he didn’t have the opportunity or ability to do a quality online experience so now they are rethinking his leadership. Never mind helping the guy out and become a solution to the issue. No it’s better to throw the man out. I mean sheep choose their shepherd anyway right? I’ll just let that sit there and simmer. I’ve listened to pastors tell me how entire music and media teams refused to show up and prerecord music because they just didn’t want to take a chance with Covid-19. But Wal-mart and Home Depot were safe. I mean donuts and fertilizer are all necessities anyway. Apparently these worships leaders and teams had forgotten who their real audience was.
Here is the point. Some weak Christians have been taken out. We are not just saying they made mistakes and fallen. No they are completely walking away from their walks with God and pursuing what they used to pursue before Christ; their flesh. Some have even taken on lifestyles or allowed their children to take on lifestyles that they would have wept in the altars over just a year ago.
Say what you will, but being together, meeting together is the real essential activity. Regardless if we like or not, the Bible does command it in Hebrews 10:25. And no, I don’t care what preacher says it; online services are not the same and never will be. It’s a start. It’s great if you’re ill or have to work that day but it was never meant to be a replacement for meeting together. In that same verse it speaks of a "habit" that people obviously developed in those days of missing the gathering. It goes on to say that as things get crazier and more people miss we should strive to meet together all the more. (Emphasis mine).
Question: do you as a Christian find it the least bit strange that the very thing that God instructs us in His word to avoid (not meeting together) is the very thing that some politicians and leaders are demanding? And in some states, churches are being demanded to go long term even possibly until late 2021? I know here comes the faith vs fear crowd who are ready to argue that it’s not fear to be smart. Perhaps. I've heard the arguments and I am not convinced. The proof is now that we are back, thousands have yet to return. The book of James says to “show your faith” by what you do. And Mark chapter 16 would even go on to say that one of the signs of those that believe is that "they would lay hands on the sick" and they would recover. In addition, I've read and heard many say that they sought God in their decision to not meet. I too prayed. And frankly, I will not say that God told me it was okay. I didn't know what to do and it was sickening to me what decision I eventually made. We too suspended services. Hindsight, I wished I had not. And here is why.
The result for some of the believers has been devastating as I pointed out earlier. That keeps me up at night. And the fact is, the number of infections today are far greater than they were when we suspended services. So truth is we should not have suspended as it didn't help one bit in stopping the spread but it sure waged war on peoples walks with God. And yes still today we wear masks, we promote social distancing. We even removed over half our chairs and hosted 2 services in the return. But again, no amount of masks, no amount of social distancing slowed the spread.
As I said before, I prayed over it. And I will not tell you God said shut down. Why? Because the Holy Spirit will never ask you or prompt you to do something that is contrary to Scripture! And disobedience will never be blessed!
And just know, that this virus is not unprecedented. The Spanish flu in the early 1900's took out over 500,000 or more people. Yes, during that time you will find that the government requested churches to shut down. But there are countless stories of those that held services outside and pushed through. And even more fascinating are the stories of preachers traveling to other cities to host services only to have the virus nearly eradicated after arriving. Again, I ask where is our faith in the miraculous? And do we really trust God over enticing words of mans wisdom?
So the real cost of this virus is more than the massive amount of lives that have been lost. It's the countless lives of people whose souls have quite possibly been lost in all of this; those who no longer follow Jesus like they used to. Who no longer love their neighbor like they used to. Who would rather trust the words of educated men over what Jesus can do with this virus.
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