Unexpected change is sometimes unpalatable. Any change that affects people’s security or business will definitely be opposed severely. The church may be changed after the corona virus pandemic. How prepared are you if the changes become permanent?

“It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends upon his not understanding”  – Dale Patridge

Evidently,  God is using the present Coronavirus pandemic to do more than tutor pastors on the use of livestreams sermons or the internet. There is a purification process going on.  The church may be changed permanently.

God is also enlarging  His church and potentially initiating another cultural era for it. As seen from the scriptures, God uses divine interference as an instrument to purify and change the focus of his people.

Every single divine event in the life of a king, judge, priest, prophet or apostle was awesome. It disoriented and transformed their lives in a spectacular way. 

For instance, Paul didn’t plan to encounter Jesus on his way to Damascus. David had no expectation  (aside being a shepherd boy) to be anointed King by Samuel. 

Undoubtedly, the scriptures are a convincing example that the will of God is unsettling to human plans.

As it were, a lot  of questions agitate our minds as a result of this ravaging pandemic: How might this unforgettable pandemic alter the local church? As ministers and pastors, what should we foresee to change after the viral floodwaters assuage?

Moreover, there’s also the question of how should we be seeing these changes through the eyes of the scriptures?

What are the modifications you should make to ensure the congregation are wisely guided? Most importantly how do we take hold of this situation and transform it into a productive and biblical expression of the local church?

While answers to all these questions may be limited, here are some insights into how the church may be affected after the pandemic.

Some Members May not Return for a while

With the media inducing rational anxiety and irrational panic into the minds and hearts of people, less people will return to church. We’ve been forced to avoid handshakes and public spaces, to distrust crowds and so on. Each and every contact appears to be a risk. It will not be surprising when many stay away altogether.

“When you combine the very real need for these groups to protect their lives with the comfort and security of watching from home you create a recipe for abandoned attendance “

– Dale Partridge

It is therefore essential to prepare alternatives to accommodate fruitful and biblical directives. This is especially for pastoring the category of people in the local church who may not return soonest.

Social media will not support lasting spiritual health

Reducing church gathering to watching online sermons may produce an edifying outcome for some but not an equal alternative to God’s instructional process.

As Mark Dever affirms: “Non-attendance in the early years of our church was considered one of the most sinister of sins, because it usually veiled all other sins. When someone begins to be in sins, you would expect them to stop attending.”

A healthy flock of God’s people may not be sustainable without definite physical and relational local church.

A smaller church will be regarded as a safer church. There may be strong groups of many Christians who will prefer small and safer units of local church. The coronavirus may act like a lightning that helps ignite a zeal for home churches.

Most people that are concerned about health risk of a larger crowd will most likely initiate a revival of home churches.

Nevertheless in all these, it is the responsibility of church leaders to oversee the spiritual health of their congregation. If coronavirus leaves the church with a smaller flock, it is still to the glory of God. Be encouraged therefore, to convince people of the Gospel, the Bible, and the local church.