I’ve been thinking house church, not because something is great about houses and certainly not great to have no educated, dedicated leadership. Rather, I’ve been thinking that we need to focus on evangelism, discipleship, and leadership building rather than merely infra-structure. Looks now like many people might re-think how to do church precisely because they can’t use the large building they have. However, you all do have other infrastructure to use.
What will you do? Just heard that one church, because the pastor has the tech savvy is now online. He also has appointed leaders over sections of the congregation for helps, support, and accountability. Thus, everyone will be taken care of. Churches that have “small groups” can use that structure to be sure everyone is taken care of. Some small groups will have to fission. Pastoral staff can stay in touch with the small group leaders, supplying them with more material. Watch parties could arise.
There should particularly be some appointments to see after “widows and orphans” — in our culture, the elderly and the very poor. Some people can not work from home. Older people may have trouble with the restrictions. Please watch out for your congregation.
However, what about people down the block? On the one hand, I have a report that neighbors have already snitched on Christian groups, and called the police when it appeared that more than 10 people were meeting. This is really amazing since the executive order went in Friday at 2:30p and I am writing this Saturday 7:00p! Somebody was quick to turn Christians in. And in Texas. And in a fairly small town! At any rate, it is a good time to check on your family, friends, and neighbors to see if they are okay. My next door neighbors are members of a very large church nearby that couldn’t meet last Sunday. They could never fit under the 250 rule! So my neighbors joined the handful of people in my living room.
Now, their church probably thinks that this will be a 3 week interruption. Well the tech savvy pastor mentioned above hopes so too. I have no word from God on that. However, I know that in the natural, there is no reason to think so. The President mentioned August in his remarks. So, pastors, please go ahead and move on this now.
We are thankful for those who stream, and for those who have added ‘casts. There is a lot of word and worship available. It really is not hard to start. Facebook requires only an account, a camera and a microphone and you can cast. Streaming is better, but takes a bit more. Ask your sound man. Remember, nothing electronic is private, but Facebook perhaps the least of all.
A pastor friend of mine prophesied in January that this year would be a year of interruption, particularly of public school. that has happened. Now he is saying “reset.” Yes, I believe I heard that somewhere else. Churches who are mostly just shows and expect people to come just a couple of times a month, after 4 months may not find themselves with much congregation. However, on fire Christians will surely see this as a wake-up call and it will renew and revive them. Squashing meetings down to 10 will … we will see.
The most motivating thing I heard just now on my round of telephone calls, was a pastor who said he was spending his days in travailing prayer. Let’s do more praying and more listening to God! We prayed in repentance for the nation last week. Let’s pray in repentance for the church this week.
