THE PANDEMIC BECAME THE GREAT ACCELERATOR

It seems like every few weeks, my wife and I have the same conversation. "Can you believe what has happened in the last two years!? Remember when we were totally locked down? I never thought it would last this long or get this weird!" We are still just trying to make sense of it all.

One thing we are still trying to get our heads around is how much people's church attendance has changed. Carey Nieuwhof said in his recent blog post, "During the pandemic, however, new habits were formed. The longer the lockdown lasted, the deeper the habits. As a result, casual attendees and members who were nominally committed to the church or the Christian faith drifted away (more on why below), leaving you with mostly…Engagers. For the most part, the Engagers returned. The disengaged didn’t.”

Secondly, things that were previously beneath the surface have been uncovered and exposed: attitudes, opinions, affiliations, belief systems, patterns and political leanings. It's all been brought to the surface in all of its wonder and glory...and ugliness.

It seems that whatever was already in motion was accelerated.

#1 - OUR SPIRITUAL DIRECTION WAS EXPOSED AND ACCELERATED

If you were backsliding, becoming more apathetic, and less engaged with people or ministries in your church, the pandemic moved you quickly out of fellowship with God and others. If you were considering giving your life to Christ and were spiritually hungry and curious, the pandemic moved you more quickly into a place of decision to follow Christ.

If you were attending church less frequently and occasionally substituting in-person attendance for the online broadcast because of convenience, the pandemic shifted you into an online posture as your pattern for engaging with church. If you were already in a process of deconstructing your faith and aligning with cultural paganism, this season moved you further from New Testament Christianity. If you were on fire for God and hungry for revival, the pandemic created in you a greater hunger and desire to see God move again.

The pandemic seemed to dramatically accelerate whatever direction you were already headed in!

Again, Nieuwhof writes, "Again, time will tell, but my guess is America greatly accelerated its move to becoming a post-Christian culture over the last two years. Everything from the political dialogue, to the cultural conversation, suggests that. Crisis is an accelerator, and the arrival of post-Christian America came a lot closer during the last two years of crisis. Which means many former occasional attendees and inactive members would now likely identify with the Nones and Dones—people who would say they have no religious affiliation or are simply done with church."

This is true, not just for individuals, but for churches. If your church was unhealthy before the pandemic, it is likely close to shutting the doors. If your church was in a season of revitalization, it probably pushed you forward as people found value in the local church they now saw as vital in their lives.

Pastors who were considering resigning and transitioning, made that decision faster due to the stresses of the pandemic. People, who may have seemed loyal and faithful to the church but were already thinking about leaving, made the decision to leave quicker. I was actually shocked at how some lay leaders decided to leave their churches within the first weeks of a global crisis. At a time when pastors would have expected greater loyalty and support from leaders, many of these very leaders chose to exit.

#2 - OUR POLITICAL AND TRIBAL DIVISIONS WERE EXPOSED AND ACCELERATED

In the USA, as in many nations around the world, political division and polarization was already at an all time high. The pandemic served to further expose strong opinions and deep divisions that were gaining momentum beneath the surface but not yet fully obvious.

Churches have often been the place where you could see the divisions more starkly. Why? While not all churches are made up of people who are diverse racially, politically, and generationally, those churches that are, quickly became aware of these deep contrasts . It was a jarring experience because,in a healthy growing church, there is an expectation that we are all walking in unity together. Many have been shocked to discover that those sitting next to them during worship think and feel very differently on a host of issues. While some people are swimming against the currents of culture and working hard at listening, building understanding, negotiating, and deeply loving each other, there are many who are moving swiftly into a posture of culture war and further racial, tribal, and political division.

#3 - GOD'S PLAN FOR THE WORLD IS BEING EXPOSED AND ACCELERATED

Honestly, I cannot say with certainty what God is up to in all of this. Many have asked if I think these things are signs that we are getting nearer to what the Bible predicts as "end time events". I am not sure how close we are to end time moments, but I do know that what we are going through cannot be just coincidence.

Somehow, in all of the stress, in all of the division, through all of the drama with the elections, in all of the situations internationally with the virus, God is up to something. He doesn't cause all things to happen in the world, but He is big enough to redeem and use what is happening to achieve His greater purpose.

I believe that God is preparing His people for what is coming next. He exposed the division, apathy, hatred, and misaligned priorities, so that He could bring us to repentance and reconciliation. Not everyone will repent or reconcile. Some will choose to stay permanently distracted into secondary pursuits. But God is calling to Himself a purified and renewed Church that will be more focused on the power of the gospel.

I believe that out of this season will come a fresh outpouring of the Holy Spirit. I anticipate a global revival. God will not allow this season to be wasted. He is still working to bring the message of a resurrected Jesus to the billions of people who have never heard His name. He is working to call His people to rise up and be the solution for the problems and challenges of a broken world.

I believe that we are being positioned as God's people for His purpose in the world to be fulfilled.

#4 - GOD'S WORK TO PRUNE MY LIFE HAS BEEN EXPOSED AND ACCELERATED

God gave me a word in early 2020 from John 15:2. "...every branch that does bear fruit He prunes so that it will be even more fruitful." Jesus is the vine. We are branches connected to the vine. The Father cuts back even certain productive branches to make them more focused and fruitful.

This season in my life has been a season of pruning. God has shifted me away from some good investments in my life that were not the best use of my time, energy and gifting. He shut down some things that we used to do as a church that we were not able to do anymore. Some of those things, He intended to permanently remove from our midst.

If I am honest, I have to admit that God has quickly shifted and accelerated my direction. I feel more confident now about where I am going, what my priorities are, who my partnerships should be with, and what I am expecting in my life than I ever was before. I am actually less tribal and political than I was before the pandemic, because I made some key decisions about the posture of my heart and my relationship to the news and to social media.

I can personally say that I am better because of what I have endured over the last twenty months. Allison Park Church is actually better now as well. And it has happened faster and with greater clarity than if none of this had happened.

Can you say that about yourself? About your church? Since everything is moving faster, your alignment with God's purpose becomes even more essential. If you are not responding to His pruning; if you are not discerning His direction; if you are not repenting and working toward reconciliation, the momentum and speed will only take you in the wrong direction faster.

But if you are aligned with what God is doing in your life and in the world, the acceleration of this season will be a tremendous gift in your life.

#5 - OUR EFFORT TO REFORM AND RE-ENGAGE NEEDS TO BE ACCELERATED

I have quoted several times from Carey Nieuwhof's recent blog but the title of that post sums it up perfectly, "Why they're not coming back to church (and what to do with who's left)." I will close with a significant portion of that blog post from Carey...

"If they’re not coming back now, you told yourself, then people will come back:

In the fall

After Christmas

When the mask mandate is lifted

When most people are vaccinated

After the summer break

When ALL the restrictions are lifted

Once the kids are back in school full time

And now, almost two full years into the pandemic, with some states and regions having been open for a year or longer, the slow realization is finally happening.

The Great Return to church has become the Great Realization: Maybe they’re not coming back. Not now, not tomorrow, not ever.

By now you’ve probably heard 3-5 reasons why people who haven’t been back aren’t back—all from the same person.

The dialogue sounds like this, in sequence:

First conversation after reopening
I’m just not comfortable coming back to church until the vaccines are available.

The following month
Well  sure, now I’m vaccinated, but I just don’t like wearing masks.

Month after
Yes, the mask mandates are gone, but we’re just not comfortable with our kids being exposed right now.

A few weeks later
Well, we haven’t travelled in a bit so we’ll be away for a while.

Last conversation
I’m sure we’ll be back, we just don’t know when.

Meanwhile, on social, you see the same person at football games and house parties, and restaurants every week.

As a leader, it’s critical to grieve your losses.  Don’t skip over that part. There has been so much loss. But there also comes a time when you have to start celebrating who’s there and imagining a new future. Now’s the time to get on with the mission. The past is gone, the future is here. You can keep waiting, or you can just get on with the most important work of the mission of the local church.

If you start to move forward now, you’ll realize what could be, rather than long for what was. Your people will sense the shift.  It’s hard to lead people into the future if you’re stuck in the past. So, move forward."