Opinion

Many things in the world have been impacted by the pandemic, but at the top of the list for me, is churches. Back in March when COVID-19 initially hit, my first thought was how churches would be affected. Would churches close for a brief time? Would they go to virtual services? How would this effect churches financially? Several different thoughts came to my mind. As we head out of Summer and into the Fall, this continues to be an ongoing situation for churches all across the country. Some churches stayed open, others went to virtual services, while others had church in the parking lot. This pandemic has been very difficult on our churches—as Paul writes in Hebrews about “...not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing,” Paul writes this, he may not be referring to futuristic virtual meetings. Since the pandemic has begun, I have been a huge fan of parking lot services for congregations that are more at risk, as well as being back in the church building if the church is being led in that direction. I do not mean this for anyone who is at risk or has underlying health problems. I do not want someone coming in who is at risk in some way and is uncomfortable coming in, but I do not want to see people who are members of churches who are not at risk, get out of the habit of going to church. If they go every place else, why skip church? Coming together as Christians and worshipping God is such a powerful thing—we cannot let this virus dictate the future of church. I encourage church members to continue tithing in the same way they were before the pandemic began, as well as encouraging all of you to wear masks inside the church building if you are not social distancing, and if you feel uncomfortable, by all means wear it, at least for the people around you. Please pray for your local churches and pastors; churches are in an unprecedented time and they need us now more than ever, but more importantly, we need them.