We are living in a time we only imagined in science fiction stories. Worldwide, one-third of the population is under movement restrictions, schools are closed, retail shops shut down, travel in any form limited, over half a million people have contracted the COVID-19 virus, and the number grows exponentially every 24 hours.  Convention centers are being transformed into hospitals, as traditional medical care facilities are overflowing. In the United States, as I write this on Thursday afternoon, the number of confirmed is quickly moving toward 100,000, with over 1,200 dead. Those numbers are growing rapidly.  Churches are closed.   And, it will all get worse over the next several weeks, or months, depending our response.   We are saturated with this news every day.

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Recently, a colleague was thinking about how the regional church might help congregations maintain their ministries during this COVID-19 health crisis.  He then realized that no congregation, large or small, should be the same after this crisis is over.  Therefore, how to maintain what we have is the wrong question.  He then began to wonder, how can the regional church enable congregations to imagine how to be church in new and different ways than ever before, post COVID-19?

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A few days later, reflecting on the rapid adaptations pastors and congregations are now making into being a digital church, another colleague posted a reminder from books written by Nancy Ammermann, Ronald Heifetz, and Marty Linsky that many church leaders were reading and discussing 12 plus years ago:  “Ammermann agrees with Heifetz and Linsky that adaptation is not an easy process.  She says adaptation requires determined effort at finding resources, establishing new partnerships, and developing new leaders, new programs, and new ideas, and often involves fighting among people who love each other.  Ammermann warns that congregations that do not choose adaptation are, by default, choosing to die.  Therefore, clergy and lay leaders who ignore the Digital Reformation and make no effort to adapt to these technological changes are by default choosing to die.”

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Changing the way we do things is so hard.  We know how to do church the way church has been done for several centuries.  We even think the way we do church is a scriptural design that must be followed.  If we are honest, that thinking is rather arrogant.  Followers of Jesus have been church together in a vast variety of ways over the past twenty centuries. 

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It’s not the way to which we are accustomed, but if you have internet access, a smart phone, and a free Facebook account, all you need to do is spend about $25, or less, to get a tripod with phone attachment and you can live stream your worship service via Facebook Live.  With a free Zoom account, you can have a 40 minute live streamed worship service, where the whole congregation can be present, each from their respective homes.  For $14.95 per month you can have an unlimited amount of time.  Yes, it can be intimidating, at first, but it is not super expensive. 

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Today, being church means taking care of each other.  It means radical community, even without touching.  It means taking initiative to check on our neighbors—especially the vulnerable.  It means being, rather than, doing.  It means a profound hope that we are followers of a God who loves us.

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The Washington Post described the closing moments of New York Governor Andrew Cuomo’s recent daily briefing on his state’s response to the COVID-19 crisis:  “As he wrapped up Tuesday morning, his throat seemed to tighten as he expressed his love for New York and said: ‘At the end of the day, my friends, even if it is a long day. . . love wins, always, and it will win again through this virus.'"

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May it be so.