Tuesday, March 31, 2020

Tuesday's Catch: Bracing for Months of Social Distance Ministry and More


Most Pastors Bracing for Months of Socially Distant Ministry

Barna findings show the toll of the coronavirus crisis is setting in week over week. Read More

How Forced Withdrawal Might Further the Mission

During COVID-19, Western society has shifted almost overnight from an emphasis on individualism (live as you please and be true to yourself) to collectivism (follow these rules and do your part for society). Though certainly not the kind of withdrawal church planters would’ve ever asked for, I wonder how this forced withdrawal from our comforts and rhythms—and from one another—might be strategically stewarded? Read More

Leading Your Church When So Much Is Unknown [Podcast]

Thom and Sam Rainer discuss some best practices and how to shepherd your people during times of uncertainty. Listen Now

8 Ways to Manage Your Team While Social Distancing

To help managers who are new to this — or even experienced managers who need additional guidance in these trying times — here are my best recommendations for supporting continued learning and the emotional well-being of your employees. Read More

The CARES Act & Your Church Staff: What You Need to Know & 4 Steps to Take Now

The new stimulus bill includes churches and has implication for church staff. Please learn more before making any staff decisions. Read More
Also See: What Church Leaders Need to Know About the CARES Act

The Church Online: Transitioning Online Visitors to Future In-Person Attenders and More


Four Ways to Transition Online Visitors to Future In-Person Attenders

For those who feel overwhelmed at the prospect of an influx of new believers—or are worried they won’t successfully connect with “visitors” who have been tuning in to livestreamed worship services—here are some stratagems for how to engage people into the church family when this present pandemic subsides. Read More

The Dos And Don’ts Of Video Meetings

Well, the past few weeks of online classes and meetings has certainly revealed some interesting video conversations. It’s also shown some really bad behaviors by people on Zoom or Skype or Microsoft teams or whatever video platform individuals are using. The tales people are now telling are amazing and sometimes a bit bizarre. In fact, I was just in a video meeting with some colleagues who shared some crazy stories about things they have seen and heard. So, what are the etiquette rules for video meetings? Read More

4 Essential Keys To Lead Worship Online

Here are a few things worship leaders can think about when leading worship in this new era.... Read More

Why You Should Use Hymns

These days many worship leaders believe they’re too hip or cool to include hymns in their cutting edge praise sets. It’s their loss – and their congregation’s. Read More
Youtube has a number of videos of contemporary versions of traditional hymns with lyrics, which can be shared with the participants of a ZOOM meeting. Youtube also has traditional versions of these hymns with lyrics. The lyrics enable the meeting participants to sing along with the video.
How to Keep Your Youth Ministry Vibrant Through the Quarantine

Ways to make sure your students stay connected. Read More

3 Options for Leading Groups, Especially When You're Not "Techie."

By now, most of the early adopters have jumped on board and begun to host their group ministries through a variety of options, including Zoom, Google Hangouts, and Facebook. However, for those who are in the “technologically challenged” category, such a prospect seems intimidating inducing in an already stress-filled time. So, are there options for the non-techie? Of course! Here are some ideas that might be helpful, grouped according to the level of a person’s tech abilities.... Read More

9 Tips for Starting Online Small Groups

Congregations across the United States—and throughout the world—can take advantage of this convenient, low-cost way of expanding their geographic reach. As you create this new study venue, use these eight tips.... Read More
ZOOM has chat as well as video and audio. Participants in a ZOOM meeting can chat with each other privately as well as publicly, i.e., the conversation is shared with everyone.
7 Things to Keep in Mind When Hosting an Online Connection

When hosting an online small group connection there are a few things to keep in mind... Read More
There is an additional charge for the ZOOM Breakout Room option. A a cell group, home fellowship, house church, microchurch, or small group meeting online will not need it.

New to ZOOM or an Old Hand?


The popularity of ZOOM as an application for videoconferencing in churches has grown exponentially since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. It enables pastors to hold staff meetings online, small groups and Sunday school classes to meet virtually, and small churches to become online churches. For readers who may be new to this application and those who are old hands, I am posting a list of articles that I believe they will find useful.

Top Zoom Tips for Better Videoconferencing in a Locked-Down World
13 Zoom video chat tips, tricks and hidden features
5 essential Zoom hacks to improve your virtual hangouts
Using Zoom for work? Here are five features you must know
Zoom Users Take Heed to Prevent Uninvited Guests in Your Meeting Rooms
How to stop trolls from taking over your Zoom call
Trolls find new targets in Zoom meetings: Here’s how to avoid ‘zoombombers’
Do These 4 Things To Keep Hackers Out Of Your Zoom Call

10 Ways To Help You Live Normal When Life Is Not Normal


I've been thinking about the stresses and pressures we are all carrying these days and attempting to focus on the practical things that help promote mental and spiritual health.

Whether you are a church leader, a parent leading your family, or leading in the business arena, we all need to lean into what helps us think and live healthily so we can better care for and lead others.

This does not dismiss.... Read More

Self-Isolation: A Time for Spiritual Growth


Facing Coronavirus in Christ

Here are 14 truths to think on and apply to our lives in the face of the coronavirus. My suggestion is that we read them slowly, including the verses, and pray through them bit by bit. Read More

Don't Waste Your Quarantine: Spiritual Growth for Quarantine Season

Following the Holy Spirit, we exist to create a movement of disciple-making disciples, in RDU and around the world. During this season when we aren’t able to gather together in person, we want to provide you with some helpful tools and resources to not only grow as a disciple but also be a faithful witness to the hope we have in Christ. Read More

7 Suggestions for Finding Joy in Isolation

Many of you are experiencing isolating lifestyles similar to what we’ve lived now for a few years, but the strangeness of this isolation is compounded by the tidal wave of Pandemic news and reports. Knowing that this new way of life can be a bit challenging, I decided to share with you a few things that I’ve been passing onto friends and loved ones (as well as a few of my LifeChange clients) and thought you might find these helpful, so here we go, with 7 suggestions for finding joy in this season of isolating.... Read More

25 People to Pray for during the Coronavirus Pandemic

You might work through this list during your daily prayer time, taking time to lift up one group in the morning and one in the evening for as long as the pandemic lasts. Read More
Also see: A 7-Day Coronavirus Prayer Guide
Pray All the Psalms with Me the Next 30 Days

To that end, I have adapted a centuries-old approach to reading the psalms found in The Book of Common Prayer by extending a “Morning” and “Evening” reading of psalms into a “Morning,” “Midday,” and “Evening” pattern. There is precedent in the Scriptures for praying three times a day, and there is spiritual blessing in deliberately punctuating your day with moments of prayer and Bible-reading. The three-times-a-day approach is designed to lift your eyes above your current circumstances and to remind you that God is the blazing center of all things. Read More

Don’t Panic about Shopping, Getting Delivery or Accepting Packages


A recent study in the New England Journal of Medicine is making people think twice about how they might be exposed to covid-19 if they open a box delivered by UPS, touch packages at the grocery store or accept food delivery.

The risk is low. Let me explain.

First, disease transmission from inanimate surfaces is real, so I don’t want to minimize that. It’s something we have known for a long time; as early as the 1500s, infected surfaces were thought of as “seeds of disease,” able to transfer disease from one person to another.

In that new NEJM study, here’s the finding that is grabbing headlines: The coronavirus that causes covid-19 “was detectable . . . up to four hours on copper, up to 24 hours on cardboard and up to two to three days on plastic and stainless steel.”

The key word here is “detectable.” Read More

Unemployment during Coronavirus: The Psychology of Job Loss


Millions of people around the world have lost their jobs amid the current Covid-19 crisis. How should you handle your emotional reaction?

Earlier this week, unemployment insurance claims in the US soared past three million, a record-breaking number which far surpasses previous highs. To put it in context, this figure shatters the Great Recession crest of 665,000 of March 2009 and the previous record high of 695,000 in 1982, when the US Federal Reserve tried to tame inflation through its monetary policy. Even so, this number – a rise of 3,001,000 from the previous week’s level of 282,000 – understates the extent of the problem; it doesn’t include gig workers, the self-employed and other freelancers, who aren’t eligible for unemployment insurance in many states.

Around the world economies are all experiencing similar symptoms as millions of people are laid off because of Covid-19. “This is going to be a global pandemic of unemployment,” says David Blustein, a professor of counselling psychology at Boston College and the author of The Importance of Work in an Age of Uncertainty: The Eroding Work Experience in America. “I call it a crisis within a crisis.”

Further compounding these dramatic figures is the speed at which many suddenly found themselves without work – either laid off with some form of termination payment, asked to take indefinite unpaid leave or outright fired. This is, of course, a financial challenge for many who have suddenly lost their income, but it also presents a psychological challenge. When you lose your job, how do you handle those feelings? Read More

Worries About Coronavirus Surge, as Most Americans Expect a Recession – or Worse


Americans are increasingly alarmed by the rapid spread of the new coronavirus, with sharply growing majorities saying the outbreak poses a major threat to the health of the U.S. population and the nation’s economy. Many report that their own lives are already being negatively affected: 33% say they or someone in their household has lost their job or suffered a pay cut or reduction in work hours because of the coronavirus.

There is broad public agreement that the nation is confronting a crisis. Two-thirds of Americans – including majorities in all major demographic and partisan groups – say COVID-19 is a “significant crisis.”

And their outlook for the national economy is bleak. Nearly two-thirds of Americans (65%) say the coronavirus outbreak will cause a recession or depression in the U.S., including nearly one-in-five (17%) who anticipate a depression. Read More

Monday, March 30, 2020

COVID-19, Politics, Sin, and Grace


By Robin G. Jordan

What troubles me is the extent that politics has come not only permeate our thinking but also to dominate it. Right now our main concern should be slowing the spread of the Coronavirus and saving lives, not worrying about who may be elected the President of the United States this coming November. Rather than focusing on the outcome of a yet-to-be-held election and the political fortunes of our favorite candidate, we should be focusing on combating the virus’ spread and shoring up our health care system. We are in the midst of a major public health emergency. Our number one priority should safeguarding our communities, our families, and ourselves.

It is the time to back up and to say to ourselves, “I’m not going to go down that path.” If we allow politics to distract us, we are going to have a far greater disaster on our hands than what we might have otherwise faced. It is not the time for pointing fingers, making accusations, and playing the blame game. It is the time to work together, to close ranks against a common enemy—COVID-19.

We live in a fallen, sinful world. Our natural inclination is to make the wrong choices and to take the wrong actions. There are also spiritual forces at work in the world that encourage us to make these choices and take these actions. They delight in sowing discord and causing misery. The world would be in far worse shape than it is if were not for God’s grace. God himself is also at work in the world. While the powers of darkness work to turn us against each other, God works to bring us together. It is God who enables us to discern what is the right choice to make and the right action to take. It is also God who gives us the desire and the determination to do what is right despite our inclination to do otherwise.

If we look around us, we will see numerous manifestations of God’s grace—volunteer buying groceries for the elderly who are sickly and cannot leave their homes, doctors and nurses working long hours without respite, volunteers helping healthy worker who are overwhelmed with the skyrocketing number of Coronavirus cases. Even President Trump’s decision to extend the social distancing guidelines is a manifestation of God’s grace.

We are not alone in our struggle against the Coronavirus. God is with us. We can trust his promises.

God is prompting us to set aside our worldly concerns and to say “yes” to life and “no” to death. He will take our hidden motivations and transform them for our good, the good of others, and his own glory.

This is a time for those of us who call Jesus their Lord to show that he is truly the Lord of our lives and to shine brighter than we have ever shone before. May God be glorified in all our words and deeds.

Monday's Catch: 'Your Church Is Now a Blank Slate' and More


Your Church Is Now a Blank Slate

Let me be clearer. When you return to gather for worship and fellowship and study, it will not be the same church before the coronavirus pandemic. The world will never be the same. And neither will your church. Many, if not most, of our churches are struggling and hurting. Some will not make it. The situation is bleak for many congregations. But this period is also a time of opportunity. It is a time to rethink your church. It’s a time to shed “the way we’ve always done it” mindset and move into a new and exciting future. Read More

Bigger Fixes Nothing (What Reality TV Taught Me About Healthy Churches)

Being small does not mean that something is broken. But if something is broken, you can’t fix it by making it bigger. Those principles were reinforced for me recently in a surprisingly unlikely place. Reality TV. Read More

10 Tools to Help Your Church Navigate the Covid-19 Pandemic

Pastors all over the globe are being faced with an enormous challenge. How do we navigate the Covid-19 pandemic in a way that we can continue reaching out to those who don’t yet know Jesus and continue discipling and caring for our flock? Read More

Coronavirus Economic Relief Bill to Benefit Pastors and Churches

Millions of Americans will soon receive direct checks from the U.S. government as part of the COVID-19 Pandemic Phase III Stimulus Package; that includes pastors. In addition to the money sent to individuals, the $2 trillion economic relief plan has provisions that may benefit churches and other nonprofits. Read More

How Pastors Should Talk About Giving in the Current Crisis

As the world responds to a global pandemic, churches and the vital work they do are more important than ever. But as the weeks of social distancing continue, the challenge of meeting virtually with members who may or may not be able to tithe at the moment is a serious problem for more and more leaders. Read More

4 Ways Churches Can Help Those Who Battle Depression during the Pandemic

Here are four ways to walk alongside those battling depression that may be exacerbated by the pandemic and social isolation. Read More

10 Keys to Pastoring through a Pandemic

Remember, the church is not where you go, it’s who you are. As you consider what it looks like to belong to and care for your church today, think about your brothers and sisters in Christ, not the building. Then, consider these steps as you pastor.... Read More

10 Tips for Better Preaching

Most of my experience in preaching is to unchurched college students. This happens to be one the most difficult demographics to preach to. The last several years God has given me the opportunity to also help train up new staff on the craft of preaching. It has been a joy to see God grow leaders in these areas mentioned below. Make sure to check out the list of suggested resources at the bottom. Read More

Everybody Sing!

What do you miss most about church during enforced isolation? It might be the socializing, or the preaching, or the excellent Sunday school series that was interrupted. I miss the singing. Read More

A Single Gesture Behind Trump Fuels an Online Conspiracy Theory


At a White House briefing on the coronavirus March 20, President Donald Trump called the State Department the “Deep State Department.” Behind him, Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, dropped his head and rubbed his forehead.

Some thought Fauci was slighting the president, leading to a vitriolic online reaction. On Twitter and Facebook, a post that falsely claimed he was part of a secret cabal who opposed Trump was soon shared thousands of times, reaching roughly 1.5 million people.

A week later, Fauci — the administration’s most outspoken advocate of emergency measures to fight the coronavirus outbreak — has become the target of an online conspiracy theory that he is mobilizing to undermine the president. Read More
Sadly one segment of the US population would prefer to believe a conspiracy theory that for political reasons health experts are exaggerating the seriousness of the COVID-19 pandemic than face up to the fact that Coronavirus represents a major health threat to the United States. By not taking the COVID-19 pandemic seriously, they are endangering themselves, their families, and their communities. Right now the only way to slow the spread of the virus and to save lives is to implement the simple public health measures that President Trump and the White House Coronavirus Task Force have recommended. They are the best that we can do at the present time.

Sunday, March 29, 2020

Stay Home, Stay Healthy


Yesterday and today my next-door neighbors had several friends come and go from their apartment. Today they were visiting a third neighbor down the street. I could hear them talking loudly on his front porch. Like a number of people in my community they are ignoring the social distancing recommendations that were issued by the state governor and subsequently by the US president earlier this month.

A short while ago I read The New York Times article, “Liberty University Brings Back Its Students, and Coronavirus, Too.” While other universities had told their students to stay home after the spring break, had moved their classes online, and had closed their residence halls, Jerry Farwell Jr., the President of Liberty University, had reopened the university. Since then a number of Coronavirus cases have been reported at Liberty University. Needless to say, the residents of Lynchburg, Virginiana, are upset.

My initial response as I was reading the article was, “This is madness!! COVID-19 is a real threat to Americans. People are dying from the virus. It is not a part of a conspiracy to deny President Trump a second term.”

Before I retired, I was involved in social work, primarily doing child welfare casework. I am familiar with the different ways that people will react when they are confronted with a serious problem. They may own the problem and do something about it. They may deny the existence of the problem, its nature, its seriousness, or its extent. They may redefine the problem. One of the tasks of a social worker is to help the client to recognize the problem and to cooperate with the social worker and others in remedying it.

Sometimes a client will be a part of a family system in which some members of the family recognize the problem while other members do not. The latter may encourage the client’s denial of the problem’s existence, nature, seriousness, and extent.

I see this dynamic at work at the national, state, and local levels here in the United States where the COVID-19 pandemic is concerned. This explains at least in part why one segment of the population ignores or openly flouts the public health measures that have been implemented to reduce the spread of the virus and to alleviate the strain that the outbreak of the virus places upon our health care system.

The number of identified Cornavirus cases in my community has increased to three. For these three cases there is mostly likely a larger number of unidentified cases. Those infected may be asymptomatic or they have not reached the stage where they are recognizably suffering from the virus.

COVID-19 is highly contagious. It is one of those diseases in which an individual may not experience symptoms or feel ill but can transmit the virus by direct or indirect contact with other people.

On the other hand, simple public health measures like self-isolation, social distancing, washing hands, not touching one’s face, wearing face masks and surgical gloves, routinely disinfecting surfaces on which the virus can survive for long periods of time, testing, and quarantine can reduce the virus’s spread.

We are learning more about COVID-19 every day. In “What happens to people's lungs when they get coronavirus?” respiratory physician John Wilson explains how the virus can impact human lungs.

The Coronavirus Is Sending Lots Of Younger People To The Hospital” emphasizes that young people are not immune to the virus. They can become infected with the virus and in turn infect other people.

Below I provided links to several articles which draw attention not only to the seriousness of the COVID-19 pandemic but also the complexities of the US response to the spread of the virus. Among these complexities is the personality of the present occupant of the White House.

Coronavirus US Live: Trump Extends Distancing Guidelines and Attacks Media at Briefing
US Could See Millions of Coronavirus Cases and 100,000 or More Deaths, Fauci Says
Trump is Bragging on Twitter about His Coronavirus Briefings Getting Lots of Viewers
Dr. Anthony Fauci Defends Trump, Coronavirus Task Force amid Right-Wing Conspiracy Theory Attacks against Him
The Coronavirus Is the Worst Intelligence Failure in US History
President Donald Trump Takes the Right Way Forward on Coronavirus

I was born in England shortly after the conclusion of World War II. During the war years everyone was encouraged to do their bit in the war effort. To combat the virus here in the United States and elsewhere everyone needs to adopt the same attitude and to observe the recommended public health measures, to give priority to the safety of their community, and not to hoard essential supplies.

Whether we want to admit it, we are involved in a war and the enemy that we are fighting is a virus. It is not the time to be careless about our own health and the health of others. It is time for everyone to step up and to do their bit.

Saturday, March 28, 2020

An Argument for Online Communion


By Robin G. Jordan

I am expecting this article to generate disagreement since I am presenting what for some readers may be a controversial view. However, I believe that a case can be made for celebrating the Lord’s Supper online.

What makes us the body of Christ is that we share the same Holy Spirit. It is the Holy Spirit that links us to our Lord and to each other. When we gather together bodily, or physically, with each other, we give outward expression to this inward reality. When we gather together digitally, or virtually, we are still the Body of Christ. We still share the same Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit still links us to our Lord and to each other.

When we log into a ZOOM meeting, we are present to each other even though we may be in different rooms, in different buildings, in different locations. We can see and hear each other. We may not be able to feel each other’s body heat, smell each other’s body odors, touch each other, or taste each other but the same can be true in a physical gathering. For example, in some churches the members of congregation sit scattered around the sanctuary. They do not sit in close proximity to each other.

How much space an individual maintains between himself and the other members of the congregation will depend upon the individual. Some individuals can tolerate sitting next to someone else. Others cannot .The study of how much space that people can tolerate between themselves and others is called “proxemics.”

What transforms a loose aggregate of people into a Christian assembly is not their bodily or physical presence in the same room but their collective doing of what the church does when it meets—singing God’s praise, hear God’s Word, praying for God’s world, and celebrating the Lord’s Supper.

During part of its history the Scottish Episcopal Church was prohibited from gathering in groups of more than four or five people in the same room. It worked around this prohibition by modifying buildings so that small groups of people could meet in different rooms of the building and hear the minister and each other. In this way it held church services while at the same time complying with the letter of the law. Those who attended these services, while they were not assembled in the same room, nonetheless did what the church does when it meets. They were a Christian assembly.

A third consideration is intention. In many denominations an ordained minister—a presbyter or deacon—is the normative minister of baptism. In an emergency, however, a lay person may baptize so long as that person uses the right element—water—and baptizes with the intention to do what the church does when the church baptizes. Such baptisms are regarded as valid. A group of Christians who log into a ZOOM meeting for the purpose of singing God’s praise, hearing God’s Word, praying for God’s world, and celebrating the Lord’s Supper may be regarded as not only doing what the church does when it meets but as doing it with the same intention

Anglican evangelicals have historically viewed the Lord’s Supper as a visual proclamation of gospel. The Lord’s Supper is a means of grace because it stirs up our faith and it is through faith we appropriate the benefits of our Lord’s suffering and death. They have also held that the bread and wine undergo no change at the time of consecration other than a change of use. Faith is also the means by which we spiritually feed upon Christ. This spiritual feeding is not tied to our consumption of the elements of bread and wine. Rather eating the bread and drinking the cup points to it. They are symbolic of it. To feed on Christ, we do not need to eat the bread or drink the cup but to believe that he died for us. These views are in line with the Thirty-Nine Articles and the Book of Common Prayer (1552, 1559; 1662).

As Thomas Cranmer understood it, the consecration of the elements, their setting apart for sacramental use, was not the petition that those receiving the bread and wine in remembrance of Christ’s suffering and death might be partakers in his body and blood or the Words of Institution which follow this petition but the actions of eating the bread and drinking the cup, done in remembrance of his suffering and death as he commanded.

As long as the elements used for the Lord’s Supper are bread, leaven or unleaven, and wine or unfermented grape juice, and an ordained minister says the prayer that precedes these sacramental actions, as required by the discipline of the Anglican Church, the sacrament would be effectual even though the communicants were in different rooms, in different buildings, in different locations and provided their own bread and wine or unfermented grape juice. It would accomplish what our Lord intended when he instituted the sacrament. In the early church the congregation provided the bread and wine for the Lord’s Supper, bringing it from home. It was ordinary table bread and ordinary table wine. The bread was not made by nuns and pressed into thin wafers. It was bread bought at the local baker’s shop. The wine was not made by monks from grapes that they had grown in their own vineyards. It was bought from the local wine seller.

Such a Lord's Supper celebration is not private communion. Those who have logged into the ZOOM meeting can see and hear each other when they eat the bread and drink the cup. What they are doing is not a private act. Indeed it may be more open and public than kneeling down at a communion rail and taking a wafer from a priest's hand and eating it and taking a sip of wine from a cup held by a communion assistant while ignoring the other communicants kneeling or standing beside you.

Leading Beyond the Blizzard: Why Every Organization Is Now a Startup


We’re not going back to normal. If you’re a leader in an organization, it is time to rewrite your vision deck — that presentation so many organizations have that summarizes who you are, whom you serve, why you serve them, and what you do and how you do it. In this essay we will explain why we think that for most organizations — businesses, nonprofits, and even churches — this is a time to urgently redesign our work in light of what we believe is not just a weeks-long “blizzard,” not even just a months-long “winter,” but something closer to the beginning of a 12–18 month “ice age” in which many assumptions and approaches must change for good. Almost all of us can and should keep the first three or four slides in our deck; everything else needs to be re-evaluated.

We write especially for leaders of businesses and nonprofit organizations who are fellow Christians, because Christians of all people are equipped to face the current reality with both clear-eyed realism and unparalleled hope. In this essay we outline the major challenges we face and some forward steps we can take, acknowledging that we all are operating with profound uncertainty not only about the future, but even about the present. We write in the confidence that Jesus is Lord, that his Spirit is even now working powerfully in all of our lives, and that God is good.

This time poses the greatest leadership crisis any of us have faced. It can be a moment of amazing creativity, though it also is going to be a time of unavoidable pain and loss. We will discover that while many resources are suddenly unavailable to us, the most essential resource is still available, and the most important reality has not changed. The reality is that God has called us to a time like this, given us a mission and a community to serve alongside, and we still have the most important resource, which is trust in the context of love. Everything depends on how quickly and thoroughly we move to build on that resource, starting today. Read More

Also See:
We’re Not Going Back to Normal

Online Communion Can Still Be Sacramental


The bread and the cup Zoomed for you.

Can ministers bless the Lord’s Table over Zoom? The worldwide pandemic provides all-new context for this theologically untested—and for some unthinkable—question. It may be time to consider what we mean by “presence.”

National guidelines now limit gatherings to 10 people. Churches have transitioned to online services and Zoom meetings. The sermon livestream is no problem—we’re comfortable with the Word transferring digitally. A recent study from the Pew Research Center easily pulled together 50,000 online sermons from Pentecostal to Catholic. Eighty-three percent of American protestant pastors agree that viewing a livestream is an acceptable option for the sick.

The controversy is with the latter half of Word and Table. “This is my body”—Christ’s words make our faith explicitly physical. But COVID-19 has transformed our physical bodies and gatherings from blessed unity to social-distanced partitioning. Hugs and hands convey fear instead of love. The bread and the cup elicit worry of viral transmission.

With physical gatherings canceled, congregations with quarterly Communion may slide the schedule a bit. But many evangelical Lutherans, Anglicans, and Presbyterians celebrate with bread and wine weekly. The shared Table is ordered and integral to worship. What now? Do you have to be present to partake of the presence? Read More

God Doesn’t Want Us to Sacrifice the Old


Christianity teaches that every single human life is valuable, even during a pandemic.

My grandmother always kept several freezers and multiple pantries loaded down with food, and hid emergency cash in a cubbyhole behind the medicine. As a child, I rolled my eyes at these habits, but she would say, “If you had lived through the Great Depression, you would understand.” I now realize that when I, or my children, are elderly we will be saying similar things to our own grandchildren: “If you lived through the Great Pandemic, you would understand.” I hope the lessons we take from our country’s experience with Covid-19 aren’t about food or avoiding the spread of germs, but about how we treat the most vulnerable among us. A pandemic is no time to turn our eyes away from the sanctity of human life.

We already are hearing talk about weighing the value of human life against the health of the nation’s economy and the strength of the stock market. It’s true that a depression would cause untold suffering for people around the world, hitting the poor the hardest. Still, each human life is more significant than a trillion-dollar gross national product. Stocks and bonds are important, yes, but human beings are created in the image of God.

We must also reject suggestions that it makes sense to prioritize the care of those who are young and healthy over those who are elderly or have disabilities. Such considerations turn human lives into checkmarks on a page rather than the sacred mystery they are. When we entertain these ideas, something of our very humanity is lost. Read More

The FAQs: How the Stimulus Bill Affects Churches and Individuals


What just happened?

On Friday, March 27, Congress passed and President Trump signed into law the 247-page Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act. This is the third of five emergency supplemental bills that Congress has passed or is preparing in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

This relief bill is the biggest fiscal stimulus package in modern American history. Read More

Saturday Lagniappe: Doing Church from Home and More


You Can Have Church at Home: Here’s a Guide to Help

Doing church from home is not a new thing. Here are some ideas from Life.Church Online. Read More

Six Reasons Why We Are Not Live Streaming Worship Services

Over the past couple weeks I’ve seen many churches live stream their worship services. Some people have asked if we are going to host a live stream service. For now the answer is no, though that could change in the future. Below are some of the reasons we have decided not to provide a live stream worship service. Read More

Survey: Churches Pivoting, Anxious, and Getting on Mission

Over 1500 church leaders responded to our Covid-19 Church Survey. Read More

25 Ways to Worship God on YouTube

As we wait for the glorious days when we can gather again and sing God’s praises in embodied community, we can at least catch glimpses of it through playlists, livestreamed hymn sings, and YouTube videos. Here are a few of the worship videos I’ve found most comforting in recent days. I hope these 25 selections—including old hymns, contemporary stadium anthems, even a little Bach—will be a comfort to you, too. Read More
Also see Family Hymn Sing Live--Getty Music and Songs of Comfort for Anxious Souls (Free Playlist).
5 Ways COVID-19 Encourages Small Group Ministry to Innovate

There is an upside and a downside to everything. Sometimes you have to look closely at something to see the upside. And full disclosure, sometimes you don't see the downside until it happens. As I look at COVID-19 I'm noticing several upsides. Read More

How to Pull Off a Professional Video Call From Home

Nearly every meeting at Wirecutter is a Web-video meeting, and over more than five years of talking to one another through tiny cameras, we’ve learned a lot about what works and what doesn’t. Here’s the best advice from Wirecutter staff, as well as from a few of our expert sources, for getting good video and audio. Whether you’re occasionally working from home, regularly meeting while working remotely, or preparing for a rare video job interview, these tips will help make your virtual presence pleasing and professional. Read More

Not Wearing Masks to Protect against Coronavirus Is a ‘Big Mistake,’ Top Chinese Scientist Says


Chinese scientists at the front of that country’s outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) have not been particularly accessible to foreign media. Many have been overwhelmed trying to understand their epidemic and combat it, and responding to media requests, especially from journalists outside of China, has not been a top priority.

Science has tried to interview George Gao, director-general of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), for 2 months. Last week he responded.

Gao oversees 2000 employees—one-fifth the staff size of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention—and he remains an active researcher himself. In January, he was part of a team that did the first isolation and sequencing of severe acute respiratory syndrome 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the virus that causes COVID-19. He co-authored two widely read papers published in The New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) that provided some of the first detailed epidemiology and clinical features of the disease, and has published three more papers on COVID-19 in The Lancet.

His team also provided important data to a joint commission between Chinese researchers and a team of international scientists, organized by the World Health Organization (WHO), that wrote a landmark report after touring the country to understand the response to the epidemic. Read More
Many people have the wrong idea about wearing a face mask. It is a public health measure. It will prevent them from spreading the virus through coughing and sneezing. It is far more effective than coughing or sneezing into your elbow or into tissue. Even if they are asymptomatic and do not feel ill, they should wear a mask. They still may be a carrier.

Mystery In Wuhan: Recovered Coronavirus Patients Test Negative ... Then Positive


A spate of mysterious second-time infections is calling into question the accuracy of COVID-19 diagnostic tools even as China prepares to lift quarantine measures to allow residents to leave the epicenter of its outbreak next month. It's also raising concerns of a possible second wave of cases.

From March 18-22, the Chinese city of Wuhan reported no new cases of the virus through domestic transmission — that is, infection passed on from one person to another. The achievement was seen as a turning point in efforts to contain the virus, which has infected more than 80,000 people in China. Wuhan was particularly hard-hit, with more than half of all confirmed cases in the country.

But some Wuhan residents who had tested positive earlier and then recovered from the disease are testing positive for the virus a second time. Based on data from several quarantine facilities in the city, which house patients for further observation after their discharge from hospitals, about 5%-10% of patients pronounced "recovered" have tested positive again.

Some of those who retested positive appear to be asymptomatic carriers — those who carry the virus and are possibly infectious but do not exhibit any of the illness's associated symptoms — suggesting that the outbreak in Wuhan is not close to being over. Read More

Friday, March 27, 2020

Friday's Catch: 'A Christian Mandate' and More


Obedience to God and Love of Neighbor in the Face of a Coronavirus: A Christian’s Mandate

A crisis like the COVID-19 pandemic tends to jerk humanity into the most fundamental theological questions. Who would have thought just a couple weeks ago that many would be forced to shelter in place, restrict their movements to only the grocery store and a local pharmacy? As this pandemic continues to cast its shadow, humanity will be forced into the most basic yet most important questions any human could ask. Life and death are now, all the sudden, our daily conversation. Read More

Spiritual Warfare: 7 Attacks of the Enemy during This COVID-19 Crisis

I’ve studied and written about spiritual warfare for more than 25 years, but I never dreamed I’d be considering the enemy’s schemes in a global pandemic. That’s where we are, though, and here’s where I see the enemy’s arrows hitting home.... Read More

When Corona Makes Us More Like the New Testament

In a number of curious ways, the Coronavirus outbreak is making us more like the New Testament church. There are all sorts of ways in which the opposite is true, of course—the lack of physical contact, the triumph of the private over the public, the retreat into tiny social units, the marginalisation or abolition of the sacraments, the inability to physically gather on Sunday, and so on—and we are all feeling the impact of them. But at the same time, it is worth noticing the ways in which we are becoming more biblical rather than less, and perhaps even giving thanks for them. Five in particular occur to me. Read More

Why Do Christians Need to Hear the Gospel Every Day?

Some people believe that the gospel is only useful for evangelism—a message only unbelievers need to hear. Yet the Bible teaches that followers of Jesus need to continue hearing the gospel even after they are born again. Christians should meditate on the gospel every day in their personal Bible reading, and pastors should preach the gospel in every sermon. We regularly need to hear about the life, death, burial, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus, as well as the call to repent of our sins and turn to Jesus in faith. Here are eight reasons we need to hear gospel truths each and every day.... Read More

7 Keys to a Strong Offering Time during an Online Service

Here are some thoughts on how to begin leading your generosity ministry with a focus on the offering time. Read More

If We All Stream Our Services, Will Anyone Ever Come Back?

In its own way, the technology serves to highlight the distance between us. Read More

12 Songs to Sing During a Crisis

During this unfamiliar time for the church, God has given his people a familiar gift that we cannot forget—singing. Read More

Answering Kids' Questions about Why Is Allowing the Coronavirus to Happen 

It's important to prepare yourself to have conversations with children about what is happening. One of the questions you may be called upon to answer is this... WHY is God allowing this to happen? Read More

ChMeetings Simplifying the Church Administration

A very affordable, easy and user-friendly church management software, available on web, Android and iOS. ChMeetings is designed for churches of all sizes and denominations. It’s used by thousands of ministries, churches and even dioceses. Learn More

How to Help the Homeless in a Quarantine

As the outbreak upends our daily lives, many believers likely haven’t realized how this crisis is playing out for their neighbors on the streets—or that there are ways they can help. Read More

How Teenagers Can Protect Their Mental Health during Coronavirus (COVID-19)


6 strategies for teens facing a new (temporary) normal

Being a teenager is difficult no matter what, and the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is making it even harder. With school closures and cancelled events, many teens are missing out on some of the biggest moments of their young lives — as well as everyday moments like chatting with friends and participating in class.

For teenagers facing life changes due to the outbreak who are feeling anxious, isolated and disappointed, know this: you are not alone. We spoke with expert adolescent psychologist, best-selling author and monthly New York Times columnist Dr. Lisa Damour about what you can do to practice self-care and look after your mental health. Read More

How Experts Are Fighting the Coronavirus 'Infodemic'


Are you stocking up on hand soap or garlic?

Both have been named on the internet as potential guards against the outbreak of Coronavirus, or COVID-19, but only one is effective. And it’s this rapid spread of misinformation that’s front of mind for the head of the World Health Organization (WHO), Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.

“We’re not just fighting an epidemic; we’re fighting an infodemic,” he says....

With fake news and the spread of misinformation one of the defining issues of our time, incorrect, misleading or false medical advice can travel around the world before anyone has a chance to correct it. So how big is the problem? And what can be done other than monitoring social media? Read More

COVID-19: An Ounce of Prevention Is Worth a Pound of Cure


A vaccine against COVID-19 and an effective treatment for the virus may be months, even years away. Until that time our best defense against the virus are simple public health measures like social distancing and hand washing. In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries the United States was plagued by outbreaks of yellow fever that killed thousands of Americans. In the late nineteenth century it was discovered that yellow fever was spread by mosquitoes. Simple public health methods such eliminating standing water where mosquitoes breed would reduce the outbreaks. We now have a vaccine against yellow fever and states, counties, and cities have mosquito abatement programs which are designed to reduce the mosquito population through regular spraying and other measures.

Here are links to several articles which I believe will help us safeguard ourselves, our families, and our communities as well as keep us better informed about the seriousness of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Links
Why social distancing might last for some time
Coronavirus social distancing advice: What two metres looks like
An expert guide to physical distancing – and what to do if friends and family aren't onboard
Coronavirus: These products work best to kill the virus
UV light is nature’s disinfectant, but can it kill coronavirus?
Covid-19: The history of pandemics
Mother to baby transmission of COVID-19 cannot be ruled out, new study finds

Is the United States Fumbling the Ball on COVID-19?


Yesterday I received a postcard in the mail. I first mistook it for a presidential campaign postcard mailer. Boldly printed on the front of the card was "President Donald Trump's..." in bright red letters. On the reverse side was printed the Coronavirus guidelines that President Trump and the White House Corona Virus Taskforce had issued ten days before. The card was not very large and the print on the reverse side was difficult to read. It contained nothing new. I have been posting articles on the Coronavirus pandemic since February. These articles had included the recommended steps and more. I have not received anything else from the federal government in the mail.

Today I ventured out of self-isolation to buy needed supplies. Before spring break my university had urged students to stay at home and avoid unnecessary travel and unnecessary contact with other people. I had hoped to go early to one store that was close to my home at a time when the store would normally have few customers. I checked the store's hours on the internet and encountered conflicting information. One site said that the store would be open at 7:00 AM; another said it would be open at 8:00 AM. I did not know which site to believe. When I arrived at the store, I discovered that the store was opening at the earlier hour and designating the first hour after it opened as a time for shoppers who were elderly or otherwise vulnerable. I heard one of the store clerks tell a customer that some customers were observing the recommended guidelines while others were ignoring them. From what I gathered, the community had become divided into two groups of people, those who like the university and the mayor take the coronavirus pandemic seriously and those who believed the reports of the seriousness of the virus are a hoax.

Both the post card and the reaction of the latter segment of the population show how the US response to the Coronavirus pandemic has become entangled in US politics. I received the card after President Trump announced that he was planning to relax the Coronavirus guidelines.

Below I have posted links to a number of articles that report on the spread of the Coronavirus in the the United States, the factors which are complicating the response to the virus, and the reaction of different segments of the US population to its spread.

Links
Prepare For Outbreaks Like New York's In Other States, Warns Anthony Fauci
Surgeon General says some states will still be battling coronavirus by LABOR DAY and that it'll travel through the country in yet another rejection of Trump's 'Easter' deadline
Coronavirus: US overtakes China with most cases
Trump allies fear a premature victory lap against coronavirus
What Governors Are Saying about Reopening Their States after Trump's Call to Restart Economy by Easter
Coronavirus modelers factor in new public health risk: Accusations their work is a hoax
Coronavirus: One case lays bare America's testing failure
FACT CHECK: Testing Not Meeting Demand Despite Trump's Boasts

Thursday, March 26, 2020

Transitioning to Virtual Gatherings


How to Livestream Your Church Service: A Practical Guide

Among the many ramifications about the spread of COVID-19 is a sudden need for churches everywhere to rethink their Sunday services, moving from a physical to an online gathering for a season.

But livestreaming a sermon or Sunday service can be a daunting challenge, especially for small-to-medium-sized churches that lack the budget and team to execute such a production. The following is a practical guide for how small- or medium-sized churches can get started in livestreaming. Read More

The FAQs: Answering Tech Questions Pastors Are Asking

In light of the current COVID-19 virus, churches are facing disruption in their ability to fellowship and proclaim the Word. Many pastors feel the pressure of getting up to speed on the latest tech tools and are asking for help in various forums around the web.

Here are some answers to the most frequently asked questions. Read More

What It Takes to Run a Great Virtual Meeting

As companies scramble to protect employees from the spreading coronavirus with travel restrictions and remote work arrangements, there’s a distinct possibility that in-person meetings with teams, customers, or suppliers may be canceled for days — or potentially weeks.

Under the best of circumstances, as soon as one or two attendees “dial in” to any meeting, productivity starts to suffer. There’s a long list of reasons. Attendees often interpret virtual meetings as a license to multi-task. Meeting organizers tend to be less careful with the purpose and design of the conversation. And it’s not uncommon for one or two attendees to dominate the discussion while others sit back and “tune out.”

But it doesn’t have to be this way. Virtual meetings — even impromptu ones sparked by fears of a contagion — can be run more effectively, using basic meeting best practices and easy-to-use, inexpensive technology.

Here are 12 steps you can take to make that happen.... Read More

Practicing the Ordinances in a Pandemic


Churches are scrambling to figure out how to love and care for people well in the face of an unprecedented challenge. While we can learn from some historical examples, technology offers us new opportunities to care for and shepherd people through this crisis.

It’s essential for pastors to do what they can to encourage and nourish people, even when we can’t gather physically. This has raised the question of how best to gather—whether to livestream services, provide a liturgy guide to be practiced at home, or shut down entirely—along with appropriate questions about the ordinances of baptism and the Lord’s Supper. Challenges and suffering provide us with rich soil to work out deeper theological considerations, and we ought not waste that opportunity.

The church never shuts down, even when our ability to gather physically has been suspended. Read More

Also See:
Can Baptism and the Lord’s Supper Go Online?

Thursday's Catch: 'Love in the Time of Coronavirus' and More


Love in the Time of Coronavirus: A Guide for Christian leaders

At this extraordinary moment, local leaders — people who lead groups of 10 to 1,000 people — have perhaps the greatest opportunity to shape culture in the United States that they have ever had. This is a guide for those of us who are Christian leaders at this moment. Read More

8 Tips for Leading a Ministry Team Remotely

On top of the chaos filling our world, we are now faced with the task of leading our ministry teams in a completely new and foreign way. Because of this, I want to share with you eight tips I’ve learned over the past several years of working remotely. Read More

4 Steps to Navigate a Death during a Pandemic

Death is a steady part of ministry at all times. But in this season, we need to think ahead to how we’ll navigate a death during a pandemic. Read More

6 Ways to Encourage Online Giving

Online giving is not a silver bullet, but it can have a positive effect during these difficult times. So, how do you encourage online giving when in-person giving is impossible? Here are six suggestions. Read More

5 Encouragements during These Trying Times

As you hunker down for a bit, pastor, here are a few encouragements.... Read More

Cleaning Products Can Kill The COVID-19 Virus. Here's What to Use in Your House


COVID-19 has only been around for a few months, so at this point scientists don't know that much about it. But more is being learned every day.

We now know, for example, it can live on surfaces for up to nine days and survives in the air for a few hours. We also now know that the virus particles are shed through saliva and fluids coughed up from the lungs. And that the virus can also be shed from our faeces.

It's easy for an infected person to spread the virus particles through coughing, touching other people or leaving the virus on surfaces.

Undoubtedly, hand-washing after being in public spaces is key to reduce the spread of COVID-19. But what should we be doing in our homes to eliminate it? Read More

The Anatomy of a Pandemic


Why Outbreaks like Coronavirus Spread Exponentially, and How to “Flatten the Curve”

After the first case of covid-19, the disease caused by the new strain of coronavirus, was announced in the United States, reports of further infections trickled in slowly. Two months later, that trickle has turned into a steady current.

This so-called exponential curve has experts worried. If the number of cases were to continue to double every three days, there would be about a hundred million cases in the United States by May.

That is math, not prophecy. The spread can be slowed, public health professionals say, if people practice “social distancing” by avoiding public spaces and generally limiting their movement. Read More

The Korean Clusters: How Coronavirus Cases Exploded in South Korean Churches and Hospitals

South Korea announced thousands of coronavirus cases in the space of only a few days in late February. The surge in cases centred mostly around one main cluster from a church in Daegu city. The outbreak initially pushed South Korea’s tally of confirmed cases much higher than anywhere else outside of China and cases there have continued to rise since.

The virus was first confirmed in the country on Jan. 20 when a 35-year-old Chinese woman who flew from Wuhan, China to Incheon international airport, which serves Seoul, was isolated upon entry into the country. In the four weeks following the incident, South Korea managed to avoid a major outbreak with only 30 people contracting the virus, despite many interactions between those later confirmed as being sick and hundreds more people being identified as contacts of the sick patients.

This changed with the emergence of “Patient 31.” Read More

Can You Become Immune to the Coronavirus?

As the number of people infected with the coronavirus surpasses 450,000 worldwide, and more than 1 billion are locked in their homes, scientists are wrestling with one of the most pressing questions of the pandemic: Do people who survive the infection become immune to the virus?

The answer is a qualified yes, with some significant unknowns. That’s important for several reasons.

People who are confirmed to be immune could venture from their homes and help shore up the workforce until a vaccine becomes available, for example. In particular, health care workers who are known to be immune could continue to care for the severely ill.

Growing immunity in the community also is the way the epidemic ends: With fewer and fewer people to infect, the coronavirus will lose its toehold and even the most vulnerable citizens become more insulated from the threat.

Immunity may also bring an early treatment. Antibodies gathered from the bodies of those who have recovered may be used to aid those struggling with the illness caused by the coronavirus, called COVID-19. Read More