Jump directly to the Content

How Might the COVID-19 Crisis Reshape our Churches for Good?

We have a unique opportunity to reset, pivot from old patterns, and look afresh at the future.
How Might the COVID-19 Crisis Reshape our Churches for Good?
Image: Source photos: SEAN GLADWELL / getty | Sahil Ghosh / getty

In March 2020, as the American public only began to grasp the growing scope of the global pandemic, we suddenly went into a shutdown. Churches could no longer meet in person; many scrambled to find ways to broadcast their Sunday services online instead. Initially, many of us thought (wishfully, as it turned out) that the shutdown would last a few weeks and we would return to normal. But the shutdown dragged out for months and months. Many churches were unable to meet in person for more than a year.

Pastors began wondering out loud to me if their churches would survive financially. They fretted about their buildings, sitting empty week after week. They were concerned about giving amid sudden job losses and economic downturn. They worried about a drop-off in online service attendance. There was much cause for deep anxiety, and the pandemic’s long-term impact on churches may be felt for years to come.

But I don’t believe that the pandemic is a crisis we simply need to recover from. ...

March
Support Our Work

Subscribe to CT for less than $4.25/month

Homepage Subscription Panel

Read These Next

Related
10 Novels for Discipleship
10 Novels for Discipleship
What if we recommended fiction alongside non-fiction when discipling others?
From the Magazine
Empty Streets to the Empty Grave
Empty Streets to the Empty Grave
While reporting in Israel, photographer Michael Winters captures an unusually vacant experience at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher.
Editor's Pick
What Christians Miss When They Dismiss Imagination
What Christians Miss When They Dismiss Imagination
Understanding God and our world needs more than bare reason and experience.
close