How to Reconnect Your Groups After Being Apart

During the COVID-19 pandemic, people have found it harder to have what one Harvard Business Review article has dubbed “casual collisions.”

When people were together in a group pre-COVID, these kinds of random, spontaneous, organic relationships just happened. During our year of social distancing, we’ve lost the spontaneity that was a hallmark of in-person gatherings.

For more than a year now, pastors have been working through how to care for their members when they cannot be with them physically. In a recent Lifeway Research survey among hundreds of pastors, the respondents indicated that pastoral care from a distance was among their top five concerns. This certainly applies to maintaining community.

“Connecting with people is still a struggle. It’s tough to reach out to folks at the time they want,” one pastor said. “Phone and Zoom ministry is soul-sucking in a way that in-person ministry is not.”

And it’s not just pastors who feel this way. I interact regularly through training and events with Bible study group leaders from around the country who feel this way. They are concerned about the connectedness of their groups. You may be, too.

There are four easy ways you can foster more connection as group gatherings begin to see some normalcy. Read More