Articles for tag: COVID-19

September 22, 2020

Kent E. Fillinger

Kent E. Fillinger

Beyond the Pandemic: How the Church Can Respond to Three Urgent Needs in Their Communities

By Kent E. Fillinger The full impact of COVID-19 goes well beyond the number of confirmed cases, the death toll, and the unemployment rate that many are tracking. The pandemic has exacerbated several preexisting problems like anxiety, depression, suicide, child abuse, drug abuse, and others. These often overlooked “killers” are affecting scores of Americans today, and some experts say these conditions have reached epidemic proportions. Dr. Elinore McCance-Katz, assistant U.S. secretary for mental health and substance use, said in late May, “The increase in the number of suicides, fatal drug overdoses and instances of domestic abuse will be broad, deep

September 22, 2020

Christian Standard

5 Big Shifts: What Will the Church Look Like Post-COVID-19?

By Randy Frazee Before I share my perspective on what the church will look like after the coronavirus, let me offer a couple of disclaimers. First, I missed the “Pastoring through Pandemics” class in seminary. Who would have thought we would ever need that? Second, I do not claim to be a prophet. (As a matter of fact, I lead a non-“prophet” organization.) And besides, if I were a prophet, I would have bought more toilet paper! The coronavirus has created the single greatest disruptive inflection point for American society in our lifetime. It has called us to a critical

September 22, 2020

Christian Standard

Rebuilding from the Rubble

What Will We Do If God Doesn’t Restore His Church to ‘Bigger Is Better’? By Kim Harris As I sat on the back deck on one of the cooler evenings in July, I compulsively picked up my phone for my routine post-dinner scroll through Twitter, my only connection to the world outside my COVID-19 bubble. I assumed my timeline would again be filled with petty debates about the efficacy of different mask fabrics, some sort of hashtag challenge designed to drown out the contentiousness in the world, or a friend from high school selling skin-care products. I expected to sigh

September 22, 2020

Christian Standard

The Challenge: What Do In-Person Services Look Like Upon Reopening?

By Justin Horey In Manhattan, Kansas—“The Little Apple”—a church of about 1,000 regular attendees has resumed in-person worship with no serious complications. Though the average Sunday attendance is lower than its pre-COVID-19 norm, Crestview Christian Church has found reopening to be a blessing. Elsewhere, three other churches found that resuming in-person worship wasn’t so simple. One church reopened successfully but the state forced it to “reclose,” another church opened partially, and the other reopened but then closed again after a church employee tested positive for the virus. These are their stories. _ _ _ Reopened and Staying Open: Crestview Christian

September 22, 2020

Christian Standard

The Waiting Place: What Does Church Look Like When Your Doors Are Closed?

By Justin Horey Trying to summarize how churches are resuming in-person worship after the 2020 quarantine feels a bit like a tribute to Dr. Seuss: Some are meeting, some are not. Some are indoors, some are out. But while reopening plans vary across a wide spectrum, churches that have decided to postpone in-person worship, even as local municipalities began to lift restrictions, have much in common. Most of them are large, with attendance of 1,000 or more. Many of them minister in cities with left-leaning political ideologies. And all churches—regardless of their reopening plans—are eager to minister face-to-face again. Despite

September 21, 2020

Christian Standard

Ozark Lifts ‘Self-Quarantine’ Order

Ozark Christian College has lifted a weeklong “self-quarantine” order that had asked students to remain in their dorm rooms as much as possible. In-person classes resumed today after a full-week of remote learning. In-person chapel also is slated to resume. “Our numbers of isolations and quarantines have improved,” Damien Spikereit, executive vice president of administration, wrote on OCC’s website late last week. “This is an answer to many prayers, and I’m proud of the self-discipline and wisdom you’ve shown this week.” Ozark’s “COVID Dashboard” as of noon Monday listed 6 students in isolation, meaning they are either symptomatic or have

August 5, 2020

Christian Standard

ICOM Changes 2020 Gathering to Both In-Person/Online

By Jim Nieman As the world has battled the coronavirus the last several months, representatives of the International Conference On Missions have repeatedly been asked the same question about their annual gathering, “Are you meeting in person or online in November?” The answer finally came this week. ICOM 2020 will be both. The gathering that attracts thousands of missionaries and mission-focused individuals each year will take place Friday and Saturday, Nov. 20 and 21, at the Indiana Convention Center in Indianapolis. But (and this is important), some of the activities that draw the largest crowds—including main sessions and workshops—will take

July 22, 2020

Kent E. Fillinger

The Financial Impact of COVID-19 on Christian Churches

(This article is excerpted from a longer feature article written for our October print magazine. We post some of the more time-critical information now for the benefit of our churches. The longer version—available at the end of September—provides a more comprehensive report.) By Kent E. Fillinger During the week of June 7, I conducted a COVID-19 Church Impact Survey to take a “snapshot” of how churches fared during the initial three months of quarantine (March to May) and what they anticipated would be happening over the next three months (June to August) as many have started regathering for in-person worship

July 21, 2020

Christian Standard

Church Staff Steps Up During Preacher Search, Pandemic

By Chris Moon The COVID-19 pandemic has been a difficult one for church leaders and staff to navigate. But try doing it without a senior pastor in place. That’s the reality Richwoods Christian Church in Peoria, Ill., has been living during these days of the new coronavirus. Tom Butler, the church’s executive pastor, joked that he took a class in seminary about serving in a church through a major pandemic and a recession—and without a head shepherd in place. “That class has really come in handy,” Butler said. Then, in a serious tone, he said, “This has been unprecedented in

July 15, 2020

Christian Standard

To Mask or Not to Mask?

Two Biblical Principles We Must Make Every Effort to Follow During This Season of Regathering   By Ken Idleman “To be or not to be? That is the question.” Most of us will recognize this quotation from Hamlet, one of William Shakespeare’s famous plays. Hamlet, who spoke these words, was contemplating suicide . . . trying to decide whether it was better for him to live or to die. It’s pretty heavy stuff. (Shakespeare sometimes managed to encapsulate in a very few words ideas that take the rest of us many paragraphs to articulate.) We are currently living through a

July 14, 2020

Christian Standard

INTERVIEW: Two Ministers Discuss How COVID-19 Diagnoses Have Affected Their Ministries

By Jim Nieman The coronavirus has proven to be a complex issue for churches and church leaders. And it can be further complicated—and even turn emotional—when there are COVID-19 diagnoses in leadership. Johnson University professor Jody Owens recently interviewed two senior ministers, Matthew Sink and Greg Taylor, who have been personally affected by COVID-19 diagnoses. Sink, senior minister with Pinedale Christian Church, Winston-Salem, N.C., is doing well after he and his three children, along with his parents—who live next door—contracted the disease. He has completed a two-week quarantine. Taylor, lead minister with Second Church of Christ in Danville, Ill., didn’t

July 1, 2020

Christian Standard

Christian Colleges Prep for Fall Amid COVID-19

By Chris Moon Restoration Movement colleges are putting plans in place for reopening their campuses this fall amid the COVID-19 pandemic. While most are planning a return to in-person instruction, in many cases the “normal” classroom experience is being modified. Johnson University in Knoxville, Tenn., recently created a planning guide for its fall semester. The school will have students meet regularly in the classroom, but it also is bolstering its online content so that classroom time can be more limited and focused on discussion and skill development. More theoretical content will be taught online. “We’re going to be highly flexible

June 17, 2020

Christian Standard

Small Churches Find Unique Ways to Deal with COVID-19 Challenges

By Chris Moon Dave Richmond was standing in the parking lot of his church in rural Virginia. In one direction, he could hear chainsaws. Someone was cutting down a tree. In the other direction was a tobacco field. Asked whether living and ministering in a remote environment proved to be an advantage during the COVID-19 pandemic, the preaching minister at Cool Spring Christian Church near Keysville, Va., said he sensed that it was—for the most part. “We’re naturally spread out,” Richmond said. “There have not been a lot of cases in our area. We’ve had very little impact because of

June 14, 2020

Alan Scott

Open for Business . . . No Laughing Matter?

By Alan Scott In the midst of the COVID-19 crisis in April, I met a good friend at a restaurant because we could. We needed to. But nobody else was there. I felt fear and dread still creeping through the streets as I trekked toward our favorite eatery. A masked host seated us at properly distanced chairs outside on a patio. Apparently, innumerable state restrictions allowed restaurants to open, but with all the fun taken out. It was weird. But sitting outside in the warm sun and laughing wasn’t weird. I thought of Paul’s great theological words, “Rejoice in the

June 10, 2020

Christian Standard

CIY ‘Rocked Financially’ by Coronavirus Pandemic

By Chris Moon The COVID-19 pandemic dealt a major financial blow to Joplin, Mo.-based Christ In Youth, which hosts dozens of popular student ministry conferences across the country each year. CIY has canceled all of its high school MOVE and middle school MIX conferences this summer—56 events in all—because of the impossibility of holding those large events during the pandemic. The organization also had to cancel dozens of weekend events in March and April because of the outbreak. Those events represented virtually all of CIY’s revenue stream for the year. Ninety percent of CIY’s revenue comes from fees churches pay

June 3, 2020

Christian Standard

Northeast Organizes 200-plus ‘Campuses’ as Restrictions Ease

By Chris Moon Louisville’s Northeast Christian Church seized the opportunity. With Kentucky loosening pandemic restrictions slightly, the church quickly organized more than 200 “watch parties”—some would call them 200 new “campuses”—to tune into the church’s worship services this past Sunday. Church members gathered groups of no more than 10 people in homes to worship, pray, and listen to the Sunday sermon. And it certainly was a fitting occasion, since Sunday was Pentecost. “We were just trying to help people look at weekend services a little differently given the state we were in,” said David McKinley, director of marketing and communications

May 27, 2020

Christian Standard

COVID-19 Causing Children’s Minister to ‘Rethink Everything’

By Chris Moon In her 20 years in children’s ministry at Fairview Christian Church in Carthage, Mo., Angie Fewin has never seen anything like COVID-19 and the effects it has had on the local church. “We’ve had to rethink everything,” she said. Just as senior pastors and church elders across the country have been working out how to reestablish in-person worship services as government stay-at-home orders are lifting, so children’s ministers are trying to figure out how to return their ministries to some semblance of normal—or at least to a new normal. And there’s no time to lose. Summer—the highlight

May 26, 2020

Christian Standard

TSF, CDF, CFR Helping Partner Churches to Weather COVID-19

The three church extension funds that provide loans to independent Christian churches and churches of Christ have been working to accommodate and help their partner churches during the challenges brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic. The Solomon Foundation has thus far helped 34 churches secure $8.4 million in SBA Payroll Protection Program forgivable loans through its bank partnerships. TSF also initiated a special program for those unable to obtain PPP funds which has provided grants totaling more than $425,000 to 26 churches and organizations. (TSF and 13 partnering churches provided funds for this endeavor.) Additionally, the TSF Tithe program disbursed

April 29, 2020

Christian Standard

Ministers Sharing Knowledge Amid COVID-19 Outbreak (Plus News Briefs)

Compiled by Jim Nieman and Chris Moon The Intentional Churches website is a good source of helpful information on various strategies and initiatives churches are employing during the COVID-19 crisis. Video discussions featuring ministers from across the country are being posted about every week at the IC website. Here’s a sampling of thoughts from the April 17 conference: “We’re taking our . . . folks who worked in the lobby as greeters . . . and inviting them to be online greeters. . . . Not giving them a lot of moderating responsibilities, but really just looking to reengage them

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