The Socially Distanced Church

This article originally appeared in Christian Renewal Magazine.

It is odd to write for print these days, especially on the topic of coronavirus. This is an evolving situation, and things are changing fast.

If I had to guess, as you’re reading this little two-week-time-capsule message to the future, the White House restrictions of March 16 are, at a minimum, still in force. Even today, 8 days into a 15 day program, things have already gotten tighter in statewide shelter in place requirements in New York and California.

We are still adapting to social distancing. When we began this strategy, we may have thought it would last 15 days, or a month. But what if it endures much longer? Two months, six months, or until a coronavirus vaccine is developed, perhaps eighteen months for now? What does church look like during a season of social distancing, and what impact might that have on what the church looks like going forward?

I am not a prophet, but the following are some first thoughts on these questions I hope to develop, both in dialogue with our local church leadership and with other ministers in the church.

Shall We Hold Public Worship?

The single largest impact of social distancing is on our public worship. When the government is advising against or prohibiting gatherings larger than ten for the sake of public health, how are we to respond?

This is a new, rapidly developing situation, so it makes sense that reactions to this problem will vary. I have urged a healthy dose of Christian liberty in the early phases of this disease, as there are so many unknowns and so much difference of opinion, it is reasonable for faithful Christians to come to a wide range of different conclusions.

I understand those churches that initially felt it was essentially that they continue worshiping until absolutely forbidden to do so. Worship is an essential activity if there ever was one. If God commands us to worship, and man forbids, we must obey God rather than man. 

But of course, this is not merely a question of God’s law vs. Man’s law. God commands many things. God commands love of neighbor, as well as worship. He also commands submission to the governing authorities. If the governing authorities advise that public gatherings will harm public health, harm our neighbor, then we should listen to them. They are after all charged with maintaining public health — by God himself — and have gathered vastly more expertise to that end. 

We should halt our public services. This is not a time for civil disobedience. The disease was largely spread in South Korea because one of the first infected individuals attended a large gathering of a Christian cult, where failure to attend was strongly discouraged. Hundreds and ultimately thousands were thus infected. Though well contained in South Korea, COVID-19 to date has killed 126 there. In the face of growing knowledge about how this disease spreads, it is unloving and an exceedingly poor witness to a watching world.

One note of caution: We have many models of Church Fathers or Reformers selflessly ministering to the plague stricken. These heroes of the faith showed great courage in ministering gospel comfort to others at great risk of personal harm. We may be tempted to emulate them, both personally, and as church bodies, gathering for worship in the face of great personal risk. However, we know much more today about epidemiology and the spread of communicable disease. We know that violating a quarantine not only puts the individual at risk, but it puts the community at risk, it potentially harms our neighbor. I urge Christians to think carefully about how our actions will impact others. It may be that the most loving thing we can do is model submission to civil authorities on matters of self-quarantine, to love our neighbors by helping them to live.

How Shall We Worship?

Suspending worship for a week or two for the sake of public welfare is not unheard of. We have all done so for the sake of a blizzard or a storm. But what if this lasts for months? What if, after government restrictions are lifted, it remains extremely hazardous to attend large groups, creating good reason for people to stay home?

Obviously, under these circumstances, the church should encourage a greater reliance on private, home worship. There have been long seasons where the church was restricted to very small home gatherings, due to persecution, for instance, and the Christian faith has survived and thrived during these times.

Technology provides a wealth of options for us to feed our flocks during this time. Our first response in Washington, DC was to provide a live stream of our full Sunday liturgy for our members to view online, excluding the Lord’s Supper. Our hope is not to build a “virtual worship” experience, but to supplement home worship during this time. We plan to do this as long as necessary. Other churches have provided video messages of sermons or devotionals or song. 

While these resources may be useful, we need to carefully distinguish that they are not the same as gathering together, and that the church is by definition a worshiping assembly. As more and more areas of our work and school life transition to remote, online participations, Christians should stand firm that the breaking of bread and pouring of wine can’t take place over a Wi-Fi connection, and true Christian fellowship entails incarnate, bodily communion.

The individualistic, Gnosticizing impulse in modern religion is strong. Many for years have been pushing Christianity toward a personalized, virtual expression of the faith, and we need to be particularly wary of these tendencies during this time. Satan will seek to use this season of isolation to peel week sheep away from the flock, and watchful shepherds need to be on their guard. 

With these thoughts in mind, I urge pastors and elders to think deeply how they can maintain a virtual diet for their people — as well as for a watching world — that leads to thriving and faithfulness. I urge leaders to teach your flocks to long for gathered worship, put them on guard against the foe of virtual life. And perhaps, due to a flood of zoom conferences and Skype calls, God will use this season for our good, to instill a greater love, a greater longing for public worship and human fellowship that only the church of Christ can provide.

Song

God’s people need to sing. This is harder to do in private than in public, and we live in an age of waning musical talents. Singing alone at home is tough, yet we should encourage the saints to do so. 

During this season of increased isolation the church should identify this challenge and make an extra effort to exhort and enable the saints to maintain sung worship in the home. Pick a monthly psalm to memorize, provide musical accompaniment. At Christ Reformed, we have encouraged ownership of the Trinity Psalter Hymnal, and during this season have loaned hymnals to those who don’t own it. We have a list of publicly available musical accompaniment at our church website (www.christreformeddc.org) and Facebook page. There are a lot of other resources available, and churches should be taking the lead in marshaling them to address this challenge.

Pastoral Care

My dad was a mediocre golfer, and in this respect the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. But we used to enjoy watching the pros play golf on television, and I’d be a wealthy man if I had a nickel for every time he said “Drive for show, putt for dough” after a professional golfer missed an easy putt. It looks impressive to hit a golf ball a long way — drive for show — but mastering the short game is where the money is made — putt for dough.

Sunday morning worship is the pastor’s equivalent of a 300 yard “drive for show.” Public worship is the big show. But the short game is where great churches separate themselves from the pack. This is where the real harvest of pastoral ministry is reaped. This has always been the case, but in the age of the socially distanced church, our short game is going to be put to the test.

How does a church be a church without gathering for worship? How can we be the “called out ones” when we’re not responding to the call to worship publicly? One answer I would normally give to this challenge is Christian hospitality in the home. But for obvious reasons, the socially distanced church faces restrictions on that front as well. 

One initial thought is that we take advantage of technology to stay in contact as much as possible. At Christ Reformed, one of the first steps we took was dividing our membership list up among all our elders and deacons in an effort to ensure robust personal connection with each and every member. Technology helps us have lots of small points of contact, such as texts and emails. It also lets us have slightly more robust interactions such as phone and videoconference calls. In an age of cheap electronic communication — firing off a text takes seconds — we shouldn’t underestimate the value of the human voice and human face. In a phone call you can hear anxiety in a voice, ask follow up questions, trade stories and jokes, laugh together. 

Here’s one basic tool we developed at Christ Reformed. We have a Google document all our leadership can easily access that tells us when each member was last contacted, and keeps a running status report on their work, home, and other needs. I check this daily and make a few calls to those who haven’t heard from us in a while, just to ensure that no one falls through the cracks.

We must not forsake prayer during this time. Praying together, one on one or in small groups, will be very important. Continuing in prayer, as leadership, for the flock will be more essential than ever. 

Evangelism and Mission

It is challenging enough to think of shepherding a socially distanced church. But growing a socially distanced church through evangelism and outreach can seem impossible in times of limited personal contact.

Yet the world needs the gospel now more than ever. Times of loss reveal the fading power of worldly comfort. Death and disease will strike many and bring the final enemy near. The missionary call of the church to be salt and light is never more relevant than during times of plague. 

Public worship is a key tool in evangelism. It provides a place for a an interested party to meet with the church, hear the gospel, and observe Christian fellowship. With the loss of public worship, how do we reach and welcome the world into our midst? 

I must admit that I’m still wrestling with this challenge. Increased live streaming of public worship and gospel preaching means more may hear our message of hope and comfort. And yet, what action shall they take?  How and where will we meet them, come alongside them, bear their burdens, and catechize them to living faith?

Here are three initial thoughts on socially distanced evangelism:

First, works of love and mercy always bear witness to the power of Christ’s saving work in our hearts and in the world. There will be many opportunities for such service in the days ahead. We must all look to our closest neighbors and see how we can love and serve them. We love because he first loved us, and works of selfless love will be used by God to lead our neighbors to Christ. 

Second, many, many of our family members need Christ. The internet was full of humorous and yet tragic memes about how challenging and difficult it will be for many of us to live in close quarters with our wives, our parents, and other immediate and extended family members. Such is the world’s view of family. Ours is different. Yes, we are sinners living in close quarters. But we should embrace opportunities of Christian love and service, confession and forgiveness, within our own homes. More than ever, our households should be models of Christian love and reconciliation for the world to see. Let’s double down on family worship, catechesis, and reconciliation. 

Third, I am reminding our members during this time that we all have many callings in life. As our work and school lives are upended by self-quarantine, we must remember that being a Christian is a vocation, being a husband or wife, a child or a parent is a vocation. Being a neighbor is our vocation. As some vocations fall away, there are abundant opportunities in faithfulness in others. All of the members of our churches need to be activated to love and care for one another during this time of remote, distance church. Not only our leadership, but our membership, must learn to love one another in new ways. 

Conclusion

One of our central callings as Christians is prayer. It is a mark of gratitude, and a work of mission. We should be focused and diligent in our prayers both for the church, and for the world. 

Finally, we should note that this is a partial list. Many things about our church life — including finances, property, etc. — will have to change. We won’t be able to anticipate them all. We should pray that God would give us wisdom, and the strength and flexibility to adapt to a rapidly changing world. And, as always, that we would have boldness and courage in the work of Christ. Boldness to change our habits and traditions to suit the present circumstances.