Learning to Respond to Church Crises

COVID revealed challenges for evangelical churches, not the least of which is authority and leadership in the church. How do you respond to state mandates requiring masks or online-only worship services? Who in the church decides how to respond?

Evangelical churches are often loosely affiliated with a denomination, and function more like parachurch organizations being led by the pastor or a small group of enthusiasts within the church.

At Salem Evangelical Free Church, we learned on March 15, 2020 that the pandemic was spreading like wildfire across the Upper Midwest. In a hastily called emergency meeting of key staff leaders and elders, our elder board established a five-person COVID-response team comprising pastors and elders with varying skills and backgrounds appropriate to the challenge.

Since then, the leadership provided by this team, working with the pastors and elders, has helped keep our body of Christians from tearing each other apart. Our church’s response has been imperfect, and we have lost a few families amid tensions, but our team minimized conflict. The team was empowered to make decisions and provide guidance for our church under the supervision of elders. Our intent was to use clear practices that slowed the spread while the church continued to make more disciples.

When a church faces a crisis, gathering a team with diverse talents and spiritual gifts beats autonomy and solo heroism (Rom 12:4–5). Read More






Here are some of the ways we responded to COVID, and lessons we learned along the way.