10 THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT THE CHURCH AFTER CORONAVIRUS by Megan Hill for Core Christianity
1. Coronavirus hasn’t changed anything important about the church.
Last Sunday, our church regathered for the first time in months. We wore masks, we social-distanced, we didn’t touch the door handles, and we sat next to open windows. We only sang one hymn—at the very end of the service—to minimize the possibility of airborne transmission. We moved our post-worship conversations outside to the church lawn. In some ways, church felt very different.
But, in all the important ways, nothing changed. We are still the people of God, gathered in the presence of God, to bring glory to God. We still affirm his righteous rule by living under his command. We still love one another with the same love with which the Father loved the Son (John 17:26). We still testify to the truth and power of the gospel before a watching world. Throughout redemptive history, God’s people have gathered to worship him in all kinds of situations—many of them less than ideal. They worshipped together as slaves in Egypt and exiles in Babylon, as wanderers in the wilderness and as objects of Roman persecution. The church in a pandemic joins their faithful company. We may be six feet apart, but we are still the church.
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2. God loves the church.
Going to church is rarely convenient, and these months of worshipping via livestream have elevated comfort and consumerism. When we can hear a sermon—and even interact with other church members—without getting off the couch or putting on street clothes, it’s hard to muster the energy to actually go to church again.
But our fundamental motivation for committing to the church hasn’t changed because of coronavirus. As we are able, we go to church, serve the church, and love the church because God does. Christ promises to be present with his people when they gather in his name (Matt. 18:20). He serves the church by making her holy, and he loves the church by dying for her (Eph. 5:25–27). And what God loves, we must love.
3. Lone Christians aren’t a thing.
The quarantine can create a false sense of self-sufficiency. Equipped with a Wi-Fi connection, I can instantly stream content and community to my nearest device. It can be tempting to think that my spiritual growth can be downloaded remotely too. But the Christian life was never meant to be lived alone.
With his words to Adam in the Garden, “It is not good that man should be alone” (Gen. 2:18), God establishes the importance of congregational life. And this corporate priority is borne out in the rest of Scripture: the family of Abraham, the assembly of Israel, the churches in Acts, the congregations of the New Testament Epistles. In the whole Bible, there are no lone Christians.
You were created and redeemed to join with God’s people in your particular location to worship and work together for his glory. You were made for church.
