Guest Post: Ten Ways The Church Will Be Changed By COVID-19

Convergence is an online congregational resource.

The following is an abbreviated version of a thoughtful piece by Cameron Trimble, a pastor and the CEO of Convergence, and is posted here with her permission:  

1. Doing church online is here to stay. We will still gather. Some churches will go back to gathering every Sunday; others might just gather once a month or once a quarter. The shift is that we will ask the question, "Is it necessary that we gather in person for this celebration (or to do this work), or could it be done online?"

2. Church closures will accelerate.  Scott Thuma, PhD, in an article citing a 20 point decrease in median attendance every five years, states, “Our present 2020 survey effort will likely show a median size around 60 attenders. This means that 50% of US congregations have 60 or less in weekly services, with perhaps three-quarters of America’s faith communities with 100 or fewer attendees.”

3. Giving in most churches will drop and then MIGHT rise again in some. Unemployment estimates to reach 32% with over 47 million jobs lost, those who depend on paychecks for their survival are being cautious about where their money goes.

4. Churches need a new staff structure. We need people/staff who know how to take church online. We no longer live in a world where we can have 1-2 services on a Sunday, and people are engaged. (Question: Might this also call for a return to more unpaid, volunteer staff and leadership?)

5. Younger generations can finally contribute more engaged leadership.

6. Because churches and their programs are now more accessible online, we will all church hop…We are going to see the blurring of denominational brands... People will attend a service at a UMC, a UCC, a non-denominational, and an Episcopal church and gain benefit from them all.

7. We are creating new liturgies, prayers, and songs that will carry us forward.

8. We will renew our investment in our local communities.

9. We will see a continued rise in spiritual directors and pastoral counselors who work outside of traditional congregational settings. 

10. We will create new partnerships between Evangelical, Mainline, Catholic and New Thought organizations and leaders as we all seek new skills and greater connection to communities.

Our work today is to courageously name and own what is NOT working, to ask what is missing in the face of these institutional break downs, and to go about creating a world that addresses what is needed with deeper integrity to a wholistic world. (emphases mine)

Here's a link to the full text of her piece: 
https://convergenceus.org/2020/04/02/ten-ways-the-church-will-be-changed-by-covid-19/.