For Wilshire Baptist Church
Wilshire had its first-ever virtual annual church conference on Sunday. In years past, there’d be several hundred people crowded into our community hall at noon for a light lunch and then an hour’s worth of reports about the missions, ministries and finances of the past year and the prospects and plans for the new year. This year we couldn’t meet in person, of course, but with at least 140-plus people online, I think we did pretty good.
That being the case, I took exception to one of the presenters who, in the course of his report said, “. . . since we can’t have church right now.” I know what he meant, but scrolling through all the faces on the computer screen, I was tempted to unmute myself and say, “Excuse me, but just look at us . . . we ARE having church.”
Not only were we having church, but we were being the church, too. In fact, thanks to great leadership, creativity and ingenuity, we’ve continued having and being the church throughout this pandemic, and we’ve been doing it long enough now that we know we will get through it. The big question now is: How will we have and be the church when we open the doors again? And related questions: Will we revert back to who and what we were before the pandemic, or will we carry some of our new ways into the future with us? And a question I find most interesting: How will we continue to be in communion with those who have joined us online but have never been inside our walls and due to distance may never be in church with us in person?
These are questions I’ve run into several times in recent months while writing articles for Baptist News Global. I’ve enjoyed talking to church leaders but also to church thinkers and planners, some who have ties to Wilshire. Among them, David King, a former pastoral resident and currently director of the Lake Institute on Faith and Giving at Indiana University’s Lilly Family School of Philanthropy, says that most churches have found “a new rhythm” during the pandemic, whether it’s remaining closed but virtual like Wilshire, or reopening to some degree.
“Those rhythms are established, and to think about what you’ve learned from that and what lessons you might be learning in anticipation of that new normal taking effect in the latter half of 2021 would do leaders and congregations good at this particular juncture,” he says.
In the church, as in businesses and other organizations, we tend to choose leaders and then look toward those leaders for, well, leadership. We put them in charge and ask them to make decisions on our behalf that will create great results and will pave the way for future prosperity. But when it comes to being the church, we can’t put it all on our leaders. We all are called upon to be the church, and that requires that we be engaged and active.
We did that on Sunday in our church conference when people showed up and listened, asked questions, and voted on various matters. We need to keep showing up in this way while we remain closed, and when we open the doors again, we will need to be flexible, open-minded and courageous as we consider how to harmonize the church that we were, the church that we have been during the pandemic, and the church that we will be tomorrow.