MORE PRAYER, MORE WISDOM
Dear Friends,
The Council of Church of the Messiah met on Monday evening, March 2nd. We did not discuss how to do ministry when the pandemic led to a lockdown and a suspension of “in person” church services. On March 12, the NBA and NHL suspended their seasons, a few days later, most of the country went into lockdown. Tuesday May 12 will mark 2 months of lockdown. I am writing for you to pray for wisdom for Messiah in the weeks and months ahead. We need the Lord’s wisdom and guidance. Here are some matters to pray into.
First, what do we do if we cannot meet for public worship until mid September or mid October? In other words, how do we as a church seek to follow Christ, proclaim the Gospel, disciple Christians, build community, and reach out to Ottawa and beyond if we cannot gather as a whole church for four or five months? Is our current pattern the right one? Should we add and/or subtract from what we are doing? Is there new equipment and/or software that we should buy?
This question leads to a second question. When we are able to gather together legally, what do we do about the people who are afraid to come to church? This fear may continue for quite a few months beyond the lockdown. There is another similar group. How do we minister to “high at-risk” individuals who might not want to come to a church service without a vaccine is found? We obviously should have Sunday morning worship. But should we plan to stream our service live? Should we edit the service and stream it later? Should we do 3 services on a Sunday, two live and in person and on streamed live for the rest of the congregation? If we do want to stream our services after we gather, that will mean spending money on higher end cameras and equipment.
Third, how do we balance the advantages and disadvantages of ongoing-streamed services? There are obvious advantages for including those who cannot come to the OLT. Streaming services also makes it easier for spiritual seekers, or the curious, to take a small step towards Messiah when they might be too intimidated to come inside the OLT on a Sunday morning. However, will streaming services feed into consumerism? Will it foster bad habits of people staying home to join a virtual church and miss out on gathering, belonging, serving, knowing and being know?
Fourth, can we even gather in worship if social distancing is in effect? How do we prevent children from playing and breaking the social distancing rules? Managed line-ups to get into the OLT and out? Do I hand out communion behind plexiglass? Is this conducive to worship and to communion?
Friends, this is a call to prayer and an invitation for you to share your best wisdom. There are lots of different ways the lock-down will be played out. More ways than I can mention in this short blog. We managed to adapt and change pretty quickly between March 12 and 14. I am confident that by the grace of God we can adapt quickly again. But prayerful thinking and convention is always good. So, please pray. Please feel free to share your best wisdom. Please pray that the Lord will guide and provide for Messiah.
George+