By: Rev. Gerald D. Adams
Something For Sunday
Many commentators, who are concerned about life in the new normal after the COVID-19 pandemic passes have been heard to say that what all we can say with surety is that our lives will never be the same again. This author certainly agrees. There will be change.
We have been soothed and challenged in years past as we have heard George Benson’s mellow rendition of Everything Must Change. In the black gospel music genre, the King of Gospel, the late James Cleveland added the coda “except Jesus is the Christ and he offers eternal life to all who will believe.” Even though in the new normal, the message of the Gospel will remain unchanged, the mode of transmission of that message will most assuredly undergo change.
We are getting to practice some of that changed transmission while we are abiding by the rulings of the CDC and our local governments. The fact that we have been forced out of our in-house fellowship gatherings has caused us to have to find creative ways of maintaining our romance with God’s Word. Mega churches and larger ministry groups are already adept at presenting religious truth via technological means. Small churches and local ministries have had to find ways to do the same or risk losing their followings.
As we turned aside from our traditional mode of transmission of the gospel, we entered into the world of social media. We started with audio gatherings via the telephone. Then, we added Zoom. Finally, we began Facebook transmissions of worship services. I must note that some pastors used their personal accounts for daily connecting. Oddly enough, some churches realized new contacts as persons who normally would not be touched by traditional means started to be return visitors to church media sites.
This suggests that perhaps the new normal for churches will feature at least a combination of the traditional in-house gatherings and virtual worship. Not either or, but both and. We will have to work at creative ways of maintaining the fellowship component of church life.
Let me suggest helps for those who will be restructuring and using techno-churching. I will be using the acronym PROGRAM.
P – Be sure that you have a true sense of purpose.
R – Rely on the strengths available in your congregation.
O – Organize your presentations. Don’t be afraid that you will rule out spontaneity.
G – Guide the worship so that there will not be gaps in the flow.
R – Rehearse as needed so that you will stay on track with everyone in position.
A – Analyze regularly your abilities and use professional help as needed.
M – Measure and celebrate your success.
