COVID & the Church

What did the Church do right (and wrong...)

Introduction

This article is proof that I am listening to my audience. A close friend asked if I would consider doing a short commentary on the COVID era, specifically, the Church’s reaction to the pandemic and what it could have done better (intending to learn from our mistakes and grow as the Body of Christ). With this period of American Church History over five years in the past, it seems like we should be able to look at the events objectively, or at least I hope we can. The first thing I want to do is clarify my aim for this article because you are probably already guessing which famous church leaders I will mention and side with. This is not going to be that type of thing. Second, I want to try to assess the efficacy of the various regulations that were in place to “keep people safe.” This is difficult, as many studies do not publish results publically, meaning that you have to be “in the field” to read the articles. Also, there does not appear to be a scientific consensus on this issue as far as I can tell. Finally, and most importantly, I want to look at the effects of the COVID era on the Church in America. This is where I will probably ruffle some feathers because (SPOILER ALERT!) shots will be fired and some of you may get hit (figuratively speaking of course).

Hindsight is 20/20

No, not THAT 2020… all I want to say in this first section is that it is so easy to judge a situation after the fact. Just as it was during the pandemic, it is still easy to judge people for their decisions. However, this is biblically unwise for several reasons. To start, it is difficult to make decisions in real-time. In the heat of battle, so to speak. Perhaps you know someone who died from/with COVID. Maybe you went to a “super spreader” event and someone who was there died from/with COVID. Maybe you got the virus early on and it felt like a bad flu. Maybe you are a highly social person who was extremely impacted by forced isolation. I could go on and on listing the different experiences that one may have had during this time, but my point is, that these facts are going to skew your view of the virus. Of course, they will. Also, it is always easy to judge people who make decisions that impact others, specifically people in leadership positions. Especially when the decisions complicate one’s ability to worship. There are ALWAYS the “shoulda,” “woulda,” and “coulda” questions in the aftermath of any novel or new situation, and too often we Christians fail to have the grace necessary to navigate these circumstances well. This was certainly the case in 2020 and 2021. Very few of us had to make decisions about what to do for public health, public safety, or a public business much less a local church gathering. Yet, many of us were quite critical of the people who did have to make those decisions. That is what I am going to avoid doing here. I am NOT going to criticize specific decision-makers (be they political, governmental, or ecclesial) but rather criticize us all as the Church, the Body of Christ. It is not about what individual governors, health organizations, or pastors/elders choose to do for the people they are supposed to serve, but about what the people of God do in response. At least that will be my take here.

Effectiveness of the Regulations

In this section, the first thing I want to say is this: VERY FEW people have the aptitude, interest, or time to read scientific papers. That is just the reality of the situation. Not many of us read peer-reviewed journals and the studies published therein. Mostly because you have to be a student or professor at a research institution to even have access to these studies. Fortunately for you, dear reader (but not so fortunately for me), I have spent HUNDREDS OF HOURS reading and summarizing this type of literature to earn my undergrad degree. Having said that, I still found “open source” articles to confirm the things I cite in this article. Second, over five years after the initial outbreak, we can hopefully look at the regulations and the effect they had at several levels with a little more objectivity. Again, at the time, it is nearly impossible to do, especially in our modern media climate. For the purpose of this article, the most important question that we must ask is: did regulations aimed at reducing the spread of COVID actually work? A study done as early as March of 2021 of 24 countries in Europe found that there was no clear association between stricter lockdowns and lower mortality rates. However, a later study showed that more stringent measures were effective in reducing the spread of the virus but it is extremely difficult to isolate which measures (worked best as many measures were implemented at once. Studies are still a mixed bag as far as I can tell and no clear answers have been provided by official or unofficial sources. However, all studies that I consulted agreed that the societal impact of all measures was significant. This societal impact, in my opinion, far outweighs the health impact. I say all this to make a simple point. In my humble opinion, it was not governmental regulations that caused harm to the Church, we did that ourselves.

A Divided Church

There are two things that I want to observe in this section. First, what were the two main responses from local churches to regulations? Second, what were the ecclesial effects of there being two very different responses? As far as I can tell, there were two responses to COVID regulations. Some churches chose to adhere to their local regulations as closely as they reasonably could, while other churches chose to continue meeting as usual and allow people to choose how to keep themselves safe. One side cited Romans 13, 1 Peter 2, and Titus 3 as biblical evidence that submitting to government regulations was the way to go. Other churches cited the many biblical examples of people disobeying the government (the midwives in Exodus, Daniel and his three friends, Queen Esther, and, most commonly, Peter and John in Acts 5) as reasons to resist or ignore regulations. In my opinion (and it is ONLY my opinion), the right choice depended on where you lived at the time. For example, where I live (in a Portland, Oregon suburb), the broad majority consensus amongst Christians and non-Christians seemed to be that COVID regulations were reasonable and should not be resisted. Therefore, for the sake of witness to those outside the Church, it was best to submit rather than be seen as anti-science or rebellious. HOWEVER, I spoke to a classmate recently who lived in Missouri during the pandemic, and he said that absolutely nothing changed in that area, at any point during the pandemic. No lockdowns, no distancing, and masks were only worn in hospitals. In this situation, it would have been a bad witness for the Church to lock down, distance, and wear masks everywhere because Christians would have been seen as fearful without sufficient reason.

In terms of the ecclesial effects, the results were devastating in my opinion. Two responses did not only mean that certain churches were doing different things. Nope. Two responses led to there being TWO Churches, TWO Bodies of Christ. In other words, the choices of individual churches led to a hard split within the corporate or collective Church. Not just on Twitter, where the behavior of Christians and non-Christians is virtually indistinguishable, but in my neighborhood and many others. For example, within 6-12 months of the initial lockdowns and “stay-at-home” orders, virtually every Christian I knew had either stayed in a church that was reacting to regulations in a manner they agreed with, or left their church to find one they did agree with. I am NOT being hyperbolic. More than half of the Christians I knew at the time had moved to a new church. Again, these were NOT people who left certain churches because they disagreed with their stance on baptism or women in ministry, but people who did not want to wear a mask in church or sit six feet away from people who were not in their household. I also know people who left churches because they did not want to be the only person wearing a mask and adhering to six-foot “social distancing” regulations. This WAS NOT a “Divide For” issue (if that term is unfamiliar to you, read my article on Theological Triage). For me, this issue is not just about dividing local churches from one another, but rather about creating “echo chambers” within local churches that still exist to this day, and may always exist as a result of this period in our history. In other words, because COVID regulations had a political bent to them, people who chose one reaction to regulations over another ended up in politically homogeneous churches. For example, all churches that resisted government regulations are now full of people who have certain political views– and vice versa. We’ll see what sorts of effects this has the next time there is a COVID-level event that requires a unified front from Christians.

Conclusion

Maybe I am out of line. Maybe I am soapboxing. Maybe I am just a raving lunatic. But I will tell you one thing for certain, nothing gets me hot under the collar more than division in the Body of Christ. NOTHING. I have more sympathy for repentant serial killers and mass murderers than I do for people who sow discord amongst the people of God. Again, I AM NOT being hyperbolic. I am all for people who feel that they need to act according to their conscience and I would never criticize a person for that, but what I cannot tolerate is people who create unnecessary strife in a local church. The Apostle Paul could not have been more clear that Christians ought to be people of unity, NOT division (Rom. 16:17; 1 Cor. 1:10; Phil. 4:2; Titus 3:10). We should have been people who were willing to be in churches where people disagreed with our stance on this issue. After all, the COVID-19 age may be entirely forgotten in a century and certainly will have virtually no bearing on the shared love of the once-divided saints a thousand years into glory on the New Earth. That is the perspective that we SHOULD have had. Next time, I pray that we ask ourselves these questions BEFORE abandoning our local church:

“Am I treating or viewing these people according to their true identity, or as in their glorified state right NOW?”

“Will this issue matter to me 20 minutes, much less ten thousand years, into my eternal state?”

“Will I still hold this grudge when I worship shoulder to shoulder with this person before the throne of Christ?”

If the answer is “no” to any of these questions, and it should be, then we should aim to let it go now. That is the state in which we belong. That is the time that we ought to live into now. That is our true identity, and it ought to show. Unfortunately, that is rarely the case.

“May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus, that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.” -Romans 15:5-6