Yeshua Explored
6th June 2022
Times of change?
How has the Church responded since COVID?
(This series of articles was written a year after the first lockdown in March/April 2021)
Previous articles are still available on the Premier Christian radio website – https://www.premierchristianradio.com/Blogs2/Yeshua-Explored – (until they finally pull the plug!)
Surely one of the hardest jobs for an evangelist is to feed God’s truth into someone who has been corrupted by false teachings, whether through a cult or a fringe Christian group such as the Jehovah’s Witnesses. Too much to undo, before you can rebuild on a true foundation. Similarly, it’s going to be a big ask to expect our Church leaders to acknowledge that they really haven’t really learned the lessons of Flockdown.
Yes, some good has come out of this. The point has finally been driven home that the Church is the people not the buildings. This is welcome. Also, the virtual world had always been there, full of possibilities, but largely ignored. Yet, when it was the only game in town, the Church had no option but to sample its delights. It was most pleasantly surprised and it is hopeful to think that the more enlightened wings of the Church will continue with some aspects of it, once ‘normality’ has returned. The ability to reach the unchurched and the immobile, to expand the horizons beyond the walls, to book in an overseas speaker without paying for flights and hotels. Other advantages have been the growth in family time and personal devotions, as a result of confinement with more free time. Church attendances have grown, because clicking buttons is more convenient than tramping the pavements, though the flip side is the rapturing of souls from one service to another, in a quest for … dare I say … a more entertaining experience?
Counter to this is what I think is the biggest mistake the Church has made in all of this. I hinted at it earlier. The heart of Plan A is not about the virus, or even the virtual world, it is the window of opportunity they have provided for a return to the original model.
The virtual world, particularly Zoom, was a knight on a white charger for the Church. Here it was, waiting in the wings, its moment had come and it performed admirably. Yet, it was just a tool. The key thought regards the motives of those using the tool. Our Church leaders and influencers saw this tool and thought, how can we replicate what we have been doing and adapt it for our new situation? And so it happened. We had (and still have) streamed services over YouTube and Facebook, where you sit silently on your armchair rather than the pews. We had (and still have – increasingly) funky interactive Zoom services, with breakout rooms and multi-streams. All good, we were doing this ourselves all through 2020.
But it was just more of the same … there was no change.
It was (and is) church-as-we-know-it, but just delivered differently. Everything else is still the same, the structures and hierarchies are still functioning (after some initial bruising). Now that we can give in so many new, innovative ways, electronically, we can finally toss aside the floating pews basket. All is well … ?! Really?
I make no apologies in reproducing the list that God gave me years ago when I wrote Hebraic Church, a list that regularly popped up in subsequent books, including Flockdown. I considered it some kind of revelation at the time and have not added to it nor taken from it since. I believe it is a good starting place for us to do a major rethink. In later articles I will investigate each point, but perhaps in a more practical manner than before. It’s about time we had answers, not just questions. I may not have the answers, but at least I’m asking the questions. And you can take that in any way you want!
This will continue next week …
This is an extract from the book, Flockdown Church: Back to the drawing board?, available for £5 at https://www.sppublishing.com/flockdown-church-278-p.asp
