For Standing Committee, the last few weeks have presented us with the unprecedented challenges of how to open our Church buildings and to resume in-person gathering. At one level it is simply the question of logistics. One way systems; social distancing; to sing or not to sing; how long services will last and how to clean the Church after each one…
Far more significant than the organisational issues is the potential for division. Throughout our congregation there will be a broad assortment of strongly held convictions. Some will be eager to meet in person and impatient to wait much longer to get back to normal. Others will insist it’s unwise to meet at all until there’s a vaccine. Plenty will fall somewhere in between.
The conversation gives us an opportunity to model love that places the interests of others above the self (Phil.2:4). For example, someone might find it personally difficult, or dismiss it as a needless over-reaction, to stay six feet away from everyone at all times. But here’s the thing: even if it turns out you’re right (and it might not), can you not sacrifice your convictions and opinions for a season, out of love for others who believe the precautions are necessary? Even if you personally think it is silly, cowardly, or even unfaithful for someone to stay home even after the church is open again on Sundays, can you not heed Paul’s wisdom in Romans 14: “Let us not pass judgment on one another any longer, but rather decide never to put a stumbling block or hindrance in the way of a brother”?
Likewise, those who think the lockdowns should continue should not pass judgment on those who question the wisdom of the government’s ongoing restrictions. Churches should strive to honour people on both sides of the spectrum. Yes, it will be costly for churches to keep offering online services for those who don’t feel comfortable attending physical gatherings. Yes, it will be a sacrifice for church members who are sick of masks, social distancing, and Zoom to continue to use these for the sake of others. But little is more Christian than a posture of sacrifice (Rom. 12:1). We should embrace it with gladness.
It is unlikely that our experience of re-gathering will be straightforward. My guess is that no-one will be satisfied; some will think we are moving too fast, others that we are moving too slow. I suspect we will be running MIE on a ‘mixed economy’ of on- and off-line gathering for some considerable time. There will temptations to impatience and frustration. We’ll need to remember to be “quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger” (Jas.1:19). My own request is that we work together even when we are not happy with all the details of what we’re being asked to do (and probably none of us will be). In the midst of all our opinions, hopes, fears, expectations, let’s remember that no-one really seems to know what is going on, and that everything isn’t obvious. We are all just trying to do the best we can to (as one commentator puts it), “build the plane in mid-air”.
It is good and right to be eager to gather again as churches. We should take Hebrews 10:25 seriously when it says we ought not neglect meeting together. We should feel the ache of what is lost when we only meet virtually. But equally, we should be careful to not go faster than governments allow, or faster than those in our congregation can understand. We should be patient with a timeline that might be slower than we’d prefer; patient with a reopening process that will doubtless be clunky; patient with leaders feeling the pressure of this complex situation; and patient with one another as we figure out the new normal. Those who are not comfortable with physical gatherings should be patient with those who are, and vice versa. As hard as it will be to practice patience, remember that in the scheme of eternity this season—whether it’s months long or years—will be but a blip.
This is an abridged and edited version of an article ‘Church, Don’t Let Coronavirus Divide You’ published on the Gospel Coalition website, 150520, by Brett McCracken
