What I Have Learned during the COVID-19 Pandemic

By Robin G. Jordan

An early observation that I read online when churches first began to grasp the full magnitude of the COVID-19 pandemic was “all churches are now start-ups.” In other words, they face the same conditions that start-ups do. With a few exceptions, this observation, I believe, is accurate. One can always find exceptions but their existence does not negate the overall accuracy of the observation.

I believe that a number of pastors and other church leaders are struggling to come to terms with this reality. It may at least in part account for why they are in a hurry to return to what they regard as “normalcy.” I, however, see in the new reality a tremendous opportunity to unlearn the things that have not worked for us in reaching the unchurched and spiritually disconnected and to learn things that do work. My own learning curve has gone up during the last few weeks and I am hoping to continue to learn.

I thought that I would share with you some of things that I have learned since they may prove helpful to readers in their ministry.

1. Rare is the church that has not gone to some form of online giving.

2. Most churches that moved their services online have reduced their length and simplified them, eliminating unnecessary elements. Only a small number of churches have kept their services at their usual length or lengthened them. When people attended our in-person services or gatherings for the first time, we could expect them to stay for the entire service or gathering. If they were not attracted to what we were doing, they would not return for a second visit the following Sunday. If they visit our online services or gatherings and they are not attracted within the first sixty seconds to what we are doing, a mouse click and they are gone. They have a plethora of online services and gatherings from which they can choose.

3. First time guests do not experience our services in the same way as long-time attendees. If they are not accustomed to liturgical services, they are apt to experience them as long and boring If they contain too many elements, even long-time attendees may experience them as tedious. When you move the same services online, both first time guests and long-time attendees are likely to experience them as long and boring. I can attest to this from personal experience. I sometimes attended services at a local Methodist church. I know one of the choir members and the choir director is a professor of music at my university. This church was livestreaming its services online before the COVID-19 pandemic. I occasionally watched them. The services, when the congregation attended them, were a comfortable length. But in the absence of the congregation they now feel unnecessarily long. The services, for instance, do not need to begin with a prelude played on the piano, followed by one played on the organ. This made sense when there was a congregation as it gave the congregation an opportunity to settle down. The two preludes are extraneous when there is no congregation.

4. Churches are revamping and upgrading their websites and Facebook pages. Their websites and Facebook pages are now their front door. Potential first-time guests are going to visit a church’s website and Facebook page first. If they are not attracted to what they find, they are not going checkout the church’s online services or gatherings. They are going to checkout another church’s website or Facebook page.

5. Pastors and other preachers are shortening their sermons. They are also preaching to the camera in less formal settings than the church sanctuary or worship center. As Charles Stone pointed out in a webinar on virtual preaching, it is not that people’s attention spans have grown shorter but that TV and the Internet have shaped their expectations. Online sermons should be short and concise. Their language should be easy to understand. They should also have only a single point. How long we can hold our listeners’ attention will depend upon how interesting they find the content of our sermon. Pastors and other preachers are finding that when they preach in a less formal setting, their audience who is often as not sitting on a sofa in front of a screen is more receptive to their message. They are also adopting a more conversational preaching style. Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s fireside chats is sometimes cited as an example of the best kind of approach to take.

6. A growing number of churches are doing online communion. Below are links to four articles about online communion to which I have previously posted links on Anglicans Ablaze. The first is Archbishop Glenn Davies' pastoral letter to the clergy and people of the Diocese of Sydney. The second and third articles weigh in on whether and how to do online communion. The fourth article shares helpful tips for online communion based upon the experience of DisciplesNet Church.

http://anglican.ink/2020/04/06/holy-communion-in-a-coronavirus-world/
https://wp.stolaf.edu/lutherancenter/2020/03/christ-is-really-present-virtually-a-proposal-for-virtual-communion/
https://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2020/march-web-only/online-communion-can-still-be-sacramental.html 
https://disciples.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/TIps-for-Communion-Online-DNet.pdf 

In online communions each participating household gathers in front of the TV or computer screen with a plate of bread and a cup or cups of wine or unfermented grape juice, depending upon the church’s tradition. The bread can be ordinary bread that is used in the household. It does not have to be unleaven. Pita bread is a good choice if a household is able to purchase it. The pastor also has bread and wine or unfermented grape juice in front of him, in front of the camera. The pastor says the prayer of consecration and then each household shares the elements—first the bread and then the wine or unfermented grape juice. Households have reported that the experience, while different from what they were accustomed to, was a deeply moving experience.

The thing to remember is that the Body of Christ is foremost a spiritual entity. Whether we are gathered in the same room or in separate rooms, we are still a part of the Body of Christ. We are united to our Lord and to each other by our baptism and the Holy Spirit. While we may be prevented from gathering physically, we can still gather digitally and spiritually with the intention to do what the church has always done—to partake of bread and wine in remembrance of Christ’s suffering and death and in proclamation of his atoning death for our sins and to feed spiritually upon Christ by faith with thanksgiving.

If a church uses the 1928 Book of Common Prayer in its worship, I recommend using the form for the Communion of the Sick, which is what a Continuing Anglican bishop with who I am acquainted did when he officiated at home communions. This enables the priest or in his case, the bishop, to shorten the service. I would also recommend using the 1662 Communion of the Sick since the prayer of consecration is shorter and communion immediately follows the prayer of consecration. Its use, of course, is something that the officiating minister must decide for himself.

If a contemporary language liturgy is desired, the Lord’s Supper, Form 4, from Common Prayer: Resources for Gospel-Shaped Gatherings may easily be adapted for use online.

I recommend the following modifications—substitute a brief invitation to confession for the exhortation, allow the participants time to examine themselves and to confess their sins to God in silence, conclude this time of self-examination and confession with suitable words of assurance of God’s forgiveness, invite the participants to join in the Prayer of Preparation, read the Prayer of Consecration, and then invite the participants to receive, omitting the “come” from “come let us eat and drink in remembrance that Christ died for us, and feed on him in our hearts by faith with thanksgiving.”

After the minister says these words, “Take and eat this, in remembrance that Christ died for you, and feed upon him your heart by faith, with thanksgiving,” all say “amen” and eat the bread together. After the minister says these words, “Drink this, in remembrance that Christ’s blood was shed for you and be thankful,” all say “amen” and drink the cup together. After Communion the minister invites the participants to join him in the Post-Communion Prayer.

What may be the most important thing that I have learned is not to compare in-person services or gatherings and on-line ones but to enter fully into worshiping God whatever the circumstances are. This entails turning off the negative talk in my head that is telling me, "But this is so different from what I am used to" and entering into the moment. Whether we gather together in a church sanctuary or worship center or via Zoom or some other video conferencing platform, God is present. He is not bound by time or space. He will meet us where we are. He will near to us as we draw near to him.

Let us not forget that it is not a building in which God in the person of the Holy Spirit dwells. It is in the inmost being of the believer. As Christians we have become so building-centered that we are apt to forget this most important truth. God may be using COVID-19 to remind us of it.