Back to Church?

In a recent blog, a noted Baptist ethicist indicated that he feels that it is time to “reopen for worship services.” He provides some significant arguments and closes with this comment: “Big picture, we are a society crippled by a mismanaged pandemic and filled with hurting souls. I think it is time for our congregations to reopen, to meet the needs of those souls as best we can.”

Although I appreciate many of his observations, I strongly disagree with his conclusion. I know that every worshipping community will make its own decision about when to return to onsite worship, but I affirm the statements articulated by the Coronavirus Task Force at First Baptist Church in Murfreesboro, Tennessee (where I am a member):

We care for the FBC community.
We care for our neighbors and the broader community.
We want to protect the vulnerable.

The task force--made up of church leaders, staff, and several health care professionals--summarize what is important in our situation. They erred on the side of caution, and I agree with them. The pandemic is an opportunity for Christians to affirm their concern for each other and for their neighbors rather than meet their own needs. We will do what is best for all rather than what is best for us as individuals.

My colleague Mark Tidsworth has suggested that this is a great opportunity to visibly witness to our faith: “Rarely in this world's history does such a universally recognized signal that we love one another come along--the simple act of wearing a mask. [This is a] remarkable worldwide opportunity for ‘loving thy neighbor’." I do not wear a mask for me, I wear it for others.

In his blog, the ethicist seems to communicate that the church cannot survive without physical presence among its members. The church has survived many challenges and it will survive this one as well.

When I was interviewed by Glenn Yarbrough in 1970 for a campus ministry position, he asked the question, “What do you think about the church?” My rather off-handed response was, “Well, the church is going to survive.” He quickly said, “The church has to do more than survive; it has to prosper.”

I believe that this is a time for the church to prosper. We are learning much about what it means to be the body of Christ in unusual circumstances. We must be faithful, perceptive, loving, and flexible. These are attributes that have enabled the church not only to survive but prosper for the past two thousand years. This virus and social distancing will not defeat us but will provide an opportunity for us to witness to our faith. To God be the glory!

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