In addition to the global pandemic that we are all navigating our way through in our many different contexts (for me, that is ministry and academics), New Jersey has seen a lot of snow this winter. Each snowstorm, I look forward to running while the white stuff falls out of the sky. It can be peaceful or painful, bright or dark, fluffy or wet, bliss or suffering, pleasure or pain. Snow running is fun. It is never quite the same, but there are always similarities. I do my best to dress appropriately for the storm, but often, I don’t get it just right and I find myself doing the best with what I have to work with. Sometimes I have to alter my speed if the road is too slippery or the way is not clear. And almost always, I come back more ready and willing to do the less enchanting work of shoveling — sometimes more than once.
It is a tough question: What has the church learned by doing ministry during the COVID-19 pandemic? There is not one answer, but many, directly related to the many different experiences throughout the pandemic. Here is a bit of what I have learned this season (though I note that these are my thoughts and the church I lead helped form them, but they do not represent the thoughts of the particular church I lead and serve).
Preparation is key. With the snow, we don’t always know exactly what to prepare for, but we still prepare as much as we can. We pay attention to forecasts and incorporate data, rather than ignore it. And hopefully this is true for the church as well. We still don’t know exactly what to expect from this virus, but we do have information that we can try to use to prepare — to suit up the best we can to stay safe and yet still navigate through the pandemic. There is has been a lot of denial and distrust along the way, but we are finally getting to a place where we at least have consistent data and guidelines to follow. And all we can do is look back, look right in front of us and look forward and do our best to forecast, plan and then decide. I think we have progressed in data analysis for better or worse. And I do think we are learning to trust the data outside of our church and inside of our church.
We keep moving forward to the best of our ability. I don’t think I’ve ever given up and turned around during a snowstorm in New Jersey (though I can’t say the same for when I lived in Wisconsin, Illinois and Colorado). I move forward even if I have to change my course or alter my speed. I think the church has a way to go with this. I think many churches, the one I serve included, jumped into online ministry, but navigating hybrid worship has been more difficult. The church suspended many in-person ministries, and we now have the added challenge of how to adapt how to minister in the current context. Hopefully, the pandemic will continue to teach us to be creative, rather than to fold. Sure, there are ministries in every church context that need to cease — but they keep going, because they have always been. In order for the church to continue to thrive, these ministries do need to die, but others need to be reworked, revamped, re-envisioned for right now and into the future. A lot of churches have formed a habit of being in a holding pattern when there is much to do right now. We need to learn how to do ministry in different creative ways for temporary times.
Meeting a need makes the work exciting. I always go “play” first in the snow before I work. I get so excited seeing the white stuff fall from the sky that I can’t wait to get into it. The pandemic has taught us that it is quite easy to lose our joy. For me, lost joy was getting bogged down (and maybe even misguidedly fixated) in video editing. I am a perfectionist, so a recorded service is never going to be good enough, but I find joy in connecting with others through worshipping Jesus Christ. And this doesn’t have to go smoothly for that joy to still be found. We need to continue to worship, share life with one another and engage God together. And we need to let go of the “pandemic pressure” to do this with an excellent outer appearance that causes an inner depression. After almost a year of struggle, we need to get back to the joy of loving and serving God together. And we need to cultivate this joy into meeting the challenge and putting in the work. If we are restoring and renewing joy, the work will seem less of a chore and more of a challenge.
