As a pastoral coach, I spend countless hours in conversation with our ministry’s target group, young ministers. It’s who we are; it’s what we do. And it’s a joy. These conversations are focused on helping our members in their ministry lives. Through regularly scheduled and special phone calls, I join their journeys and help them process not only their present life in ministry but their lifetime calling. With it comes a special blessing I call “reciprocal coaching”: members give me information and great insights on the world, the church, and ministry. It’s invaluable to me as I seek to serve them and the Lord well.

It’s also invaluable as I serve a second group of people: my peers. I spend significant time in contact with peers in and outside of ministry. My coaching conversations help me inform my peers about what is happening in the lives of young leaders. Without betraying confidences or sharing personal information, I can help my peers understand more about the world, the church, and the ministry – all from the perspective of younger ministers. In this way, Journey serves older ministers. And, just as we do with our members, we do it at no cost to them.

In recent weeks as we have processed the COVID-19 crisis and lockdown, several significant threads have become apparent in these conversations. As I read online articles, it’s evident that these questions are on the minds of many ministers across the country.

The COVID-19 virus is presenting at least nine questions to the church. They’re not just questions about now as we are in physical lockdown, but more importantly, they’re about the future – after the doors are finally re-opened and we can re-engage each other, the church, and the world.  

1.  Will church be an event or a community?

The lockdown has many people desiring a return to parish life.  Many are now feeling the thinness they experienced when they simply attended services. Isolation and separation have caused them to long for active membership in a vibrant faith community, one complete with a pastor-shepherd, meaningful relationships, and doing life missionally as a body of believers. It’s not only true in smaller churches and larger churches as well, but this kind of community is possible in both. Churches that foster parish life will thrive in the future. 

At the same time, the pumped-up digital rhythm playing during the COVID-19 lockdown has others dancing to its tune. They like “church-as-TV,” following Jesus as a spectator, or clicking from time to time as an interactive player. Some are writing that even after the lockdown is over, their church “experience” will be primarily digital, with some analog thrown in for seasoning. This will not require deeper discipleship ministries but better programming with a CEO-Media Visionary at the helm. Watch for tech sales to skyrocket. 

2.  What will be our real foundation?  

Some believers are falling through the floors of their thin faith and are living in panic. This is not to say that they are not believers. But soft faith crumbles when hard facts hit thin discipleship. Some churches are falling through the floors of their pre-lockdown programming approach and are now scrambling to survive. Their shallow foundations will have to be excavated and replaced. 

But even though they have been challenged throughout the lockdown, many believers have landed on foundations of faith that are giving them real peace. Frankly, they’ve rejoiced at just how solid is THE faith once for all delivered to the saints (Jude 3) and just how secure is their connection to the Lord of that faith. The crisis has revealed to these followers just who they are in Christ. And it’s invigorating to them.

The true foundational cornerstone of the church is Jesus, our never-changing, always faithful Savior and Lord (Eph. 2.20). Followers of Jesus know that challenging times do not break us; they make us – they demonstrate to us just who we are and just how genuine our faith in Jesus Christ is. Read the Apostle Peter’s second epistle for more on this.  

3.  Will digital be master or servant in ministry?

Six months ago, when pastors were asked how they were doing, they responded with something like, “We had 150 people in last Sunday’s worship service” Now they’re responding, “We had 650 engagements or ‘clicks’ online.” Meet the new boss; same as the old boss – body counting has morphed into click counting as a measure of self and ministry success.  

During the lockdown, these new digital churches are satisfied to be a kind of digital “dating service”: strong in “engagements” but weak in spiritual “marriages” (i.e., salvations) and “families” (i.e., follow-up for discipleship and community). Some invite online visitors to click if they have accepted Jesus – a digital “sinner’s prayer” if you will. But the numbers say that the follow-up after these digital prayers is not strong in many cases. In effect, many ministries are measuring themselves by digital hands raised, much like missionaries who send back pictures of 10,000 hands going up to “receive Jesus” at an outdoor meeting as validation of them and their ministries. 

Others, however, are seeing digital clicks not as self-authenticating (“look how effective we are!”), but as touchpoints and connectors to Christ and community. The proof is in the analog, i.e., human networks they’re already putting in place and actively working during the lockdown. These churches are looking and working ahead, building digital onramps to analog relationships. They are ramped up and ready to take this opportunity not just for “engagements,” but for engaging people fully in Christ – “marriages” (salvation) and “family” (discipleship and community).  

COVID-19 is asking the church if we will be able to take great digital tools and, rather than use them as metrics to measure ourselves, apply them to serving New Testament ministry – human connection and discipleship? Those who use digital tools to walk these two biblical values are poised for ministry effectiveness for the Kingdom of God. On the other hand, those who continue to look at clicks for self-measurement are in for a rude awakening.  

4.  How will biblical discipleship come through this test?

Many followers of Jesus are looking to eternal and transcendent truth during this time of testing. They’re digging into spiritual disciplines like study, meditation, fasting, confession, solitude, and even celebration. They’re opening themselves to the examination of the Holy Spirit and to Barnabas-relationships with other believers. There is a great reason to hope that these present trials have helped forge an individual and community discipleship that will so enamor us with God Himself that we will never think of going back to our pre-lockdown pseudo-discipleship and overly simplified 5-step discipleship programs.  

Others are loving the smorgasbord of this digital designer-faith moment. They can “attend” any service online they like and do so without any commitment in time, ministry, finances, or relationships. Attractional model churches who deliver slick consumer content will see larger numbers and possibly even attract some financial support as some people lock into digital “discipleship.” Many smaller and medium-sized churches will not survive the exodus. They will be forced to merge or close. Equally sad, many believers will miss genuine discipleship – individual and community. They will miss really knowing the life-giving King of Kings and Lord of Lords!

5.  Will churches take this opportunity to emphasize character over reputation (branding)? 

There’s a lot of talk right now about attracting people to our sites and our content: to us, our club and weekly concert. “How can we attract people to our product?” The answer: Branding – the right look, feel, logo, missional phrase, colors, even font choices – complete with merch, insider songs, and sermon clichés we can repeat to demonstrate we are full-fledged members of The Cool Church Club. A Christian Nike, if you will. Where the rallying cry of the early church was “Jesus is Lord,” the rallying cry of this church is, “Our brand is a banger!” Content is secondary; cool is primary. Style over substance. 

Other churches are looking inside themselves. Who are we? Why are we? What are we about and what are we doing about it? How much of who we are is Jesus? And how much of it is I, me, and mine, OR we, us, and ours? How much of our “why” is self-focused, and how much is HE and others focused?  How much of what we are about is eternal, and how much is temporal? How much is transcendent, and how much is cultural? How much of who we are and what we do flows from the character of Jesus to the glory of Jesus? How much is about branding ourselves for self-marketing, in the name of Jesus? 

6.  Will the Holy Spirit be given His place in church gatherings?

Some churches are already looking back to the future. They’re looking back to the Book of Acts to learn how the Holy Spirit was dynamically involved daily in the early church – filling and shaking rooms, filling and shaking believers, revealing Jesus, convicting of sin, drawing to salvation, breeding holiness, rooting out duplicity, moving people to generosity, drawing believers into relationships (individual and community), moving believers out into mission, giving the church favor with its neighbors, etc. These churches, even in lockdown, are already turning themselves over to the active leadership of the Holy Spirit – the gifts, manifestations, and operations of the Holy Spirit are evident in online gatherings and phone calls. When these churches can gather again, a flood of Spirit-led activity will follow.  And it will be through the lives of believers whose souls are following hard after God now in strong spiritual disciplines.

Churches who relied on programming before the lockdown – and during the lockdown – will continue to program the Holy Spirit out of their church life – worship services, “ministries,” planning, etc. They may generate large numbers – digital and analog – but the Holy Spirit will not be among those attending. 

Individual believers who, before and during the lockdown, rely on convenience discipleship – a few verses here and there, prayer when we have the time, the soul-sugar of depending on Facebook videos of their favorite worship songs to keep them encouraged – in the future will continue to program the Holy Spirit out of their personal lives. They’re too busy “doing” to sit, be, and become in Jesus. What a shame to be so close to the nuclear core of life and yet be so far.

7.  Will the Gospel come front and center in the church again?

In the face of COVID-19 and the world response, people are asking about the meaning of life. For perhaps the first time, many are thinking about God, and the question of life after death. People are contacting churches through their websites, by email, and even by phone to ask about eternal life. Many churches were ready for this moment. Their pre-lockdown ministries were built and focused on biblical discipleship: preaching, teaching, and growing in the Gospel of Jesus. When seekers contact them looking for hope, these churches are ready. When the lockdown is over, these churches won’t miss a step; they’ll grow from strength to strength, and probably in numbers as well. 

But there are those churches whose ministries are self-sized and whose message is self-focused: My; Best; Life; Now. To be sure, many of these churches will continue to prosper among those attracted to self-sized, I-me-my, designer gospel. But, in the face of COVID-19, some in those churches will be left wondering at the hollowness of the prosperity gospel.

8.  Will the church’s mission be not just renewed but strengthened?

Those who study trends are predicting several striking changes in the post-lockdown church:  

• Fewer people will be physically present in church services each week;
• People will go to the church building less frequently;
• Digital attendance of services will permanently increase; 
• Financial giving will decrease.

What will this mean to the mission of the church?  

At random, I pulled twelve Bibles from my shelves (even two French-language Bibles) during the lockdown, and surprisingly, Matthew 28.18-20 is still there. As are Luke 24.44-49, Acts 1.5-8, Romans 10.15, et al. Yes, the Great Commission is still in the Bible.  And the Bible tells us that this Great Commission must and will be fulfilled. It is the cause that brought Jesus to the earth the first time (John 3.16-17), and it is the cause that keeps Him from coming the second time (Matthew 24.14). Whatever the world situation. 

After the social lockdown ends, will the mission of the church – your church – still be in lockdown? Or will the church adapt to its world and break out into full-fledged, every avenue evangelism and discipleship? 

Ministries like Network 211 are working hard to seize the moment because they were working hard at online evangelism and discipleship long before the COVID crisis. We praise God for ministries like this. But what about the local church – local bodies of believers? Will we let COVID-19 corner us in our tribal communities? Worse, will individual believers hide themselves in the cleft of their computer screens and phones? Or will COVID-19 push every believer and local faith community out of our safety zones to join the 2100-year-old parade of Jesus followers in a new wave of world evangelization and discipleship? 

9.  Will we lift our eyes to the skies or keep them on planet earth?

In recent years the message of the return of Jesus is less and less in evidence in the church. As I traveled and preached before the lockdown, believers were often intrigued to hear me speak of Jesus coming again, the Millennial Kingdom, the New Heavens and New Earth, etc. They told me, “I’ve never heard these things before.” Some pastors openly admit that they do not preach on the return of Jesus or even study it because, they say, “there is so much we don’t know about it.” And yet, there is so much the Bible does say about the return of Christ and what will follow. And there is so much that people – Christians and non-Christians – want to know about it. Even your neighbors.

The Second Coming is a message that motivates to holiness (Titus 2.11-13). It kindles joy and anticipation (Phil. 3.20-21) and promises future eternal transformation from these physical bodies so susceptible to disease. The Bible triumphantly points to the return of Christ as our Blessed Hope (Titus 2.13)!  Hope: why would anyone preach eternal hope in the midst of earthly crisis, right? Most important of all, the biblical message of Jesus’ return is His personal reminder that He is coming to us – we shall see our Savior and Lord face-to-face and be with Him forever. How my heart aches for that day and meeting!

The COVID-19 virus is causing people to ask if the church has anything to say about the times in which we live, anything to say about eternity. In its time of testing and much persecution, the early church preached the Second Coming of Jesus. That message delivered what it promised: not just surviving but thriving – in much joy, anticipation, and hope. The Word of God has already spoken its timeless message to our day and issue, but will the church use its voice to declare that life-changing truth?

A Final Thought

Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, I have reminded others that this kind of crisis is not new to the world or the church. We have faced all sorts of emergencies before: disease, economic depression, famine, and war. Consider just a few examples from the last one hundred years: 

The so-called Spanish Flu of 1918 infected one out of every four Americans and took 675,000 lives in a nation just one-third as populated as today. People were quarantined. 

In 1921, over 206,000 cases of diphtheria were recorded resulting in 15,520 deaths in the US, again, a nation just one-third as populated as today.  

In 1952, 58,000 Americans, primarily children under five years of age, were stricken with polio and paralyzed. Almost 4000 died. 

In the 1957 Asian Flu pandemic, there were over 1 million flu deaths worldwide, including about 69,800 in the United States. US population at that time was just over one-half what it is today.

Swine Flu. Over a 12-month period (2009 – 2010), the CDC estimates there were 60.8 million cases, 274,304 hospitalizations, and 12,500 deaths in the USA. There were more than 200,000 deaths worldwide.

• The Swine Flu epidemic happened only ten years ago. And yet, how many Americans even remember it?

Just two years ago in 2018, worldwide, over one million died with tuberculosis. 

Worldwide, HIV/AIDs has killed more than 30 million since its discovery not even 40 years ago (see our previous post for one story from that crisis and what it teaches pastors about how to shepherd their churches in an upside down world). 

Worldwide, malaria kills between 600,000 and one million people every year. 

The list from history and the list of today goes on and on of highly contagious diseases producing warlike death counts. 

No, epidemics and diseases are not new. Not in a fallen world. But one wonders if the response to this present epidemic is something entirely new. No, quarantine and social lockdowns are not new responses, challenging as they are. But what may be new is our “internal” response. Fueled by ever-changing “scientific” models and fired by wild media speculations and accusations, many people are terrorized and so have seized on panic as a reasonable response to the challenge. Even many in the church. 

Like pink was once the “new black,” will panic become the new “peace” – the new reasonable response to a fallen world that has always known disease and death?  Will social distancing become the new relational standard – even in the church?  Will masking (physical, personal, and relational) become the new openness and integrity? Will government become our new master, our benevolent pied piper, human officials telling us they are our only hope of protection from all of life’s threats? Will we welcome them as our nation’s first king – will Americans cede their freedoms for the promise of that protection? Health care, the economy, education, law, etc. – no area of American life will be untouched by the questions presented by this challenge. 

As serious as it is, the fundamental issue at hand is not the COVID-19 virus. The issue at hand is how followers of Jesus are responding and will respond.  Not only to this challenge but to life itself, for surely, this is not the final challenge the church will face in this life. 

The church has faced challenges like these since its birth in the blood of persecution, torture, and death in the first century. But the true church of Jesus Christ has always placed its trust and its very life in the hands of its Lord.  That trust is evident in its response to every challenge, be it COVID-19 virus or even the virus of prosperity. 

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NOTE: Journey Pastoral Coaching exists to provide pastoral coaching to Millennial ministers.

Saddled with large student debt, just beginning to set up homes and start families, and serving in low paying first and second positions, Millennials are those who most desire but can least afford to pay for pastoral coaching.

So we offer it to them at NO COST: Our members do not PAY for coaching; they EARN it by investing in each other.

We are able to do so thanks to the faithful and generous support of individuals and churches like yours who want to see young leaders not only enter the ministry, but remain in the ministry. If you or your church would like to help Millennial ministers in 20 US states and 5 nations build strong for a lifetime in ministry, please click here to contact us by email or to support Journey monthly or with your one-time gift. Thank you.

We also invite you to click and subscribe to our twice-monthly blogs at journeypastoralcoaching.com

“In the early years when I was becoming a pastor, I needed a pastor.” 

 Eugene H. Peterson, The Pastor: A Memoir