Do yourself a favor and take some time to read every word our friend Susannah wrote. Literally the best thing I’ve read in 2020. - Ken

Please forgive the intensity of my writing this time. And to be clear, this is not written to church leaders but to leaders and members alike who, like all of us, feel anxiety and fear at all 2020 has brought us.

_______

When I think about how quarantine has affected the American Church, I want to consider what God could be trying to teach us or what he could be trying to rearrange during this time. Since March of 2020, by and large, churches across America have not been able to meet together. Services have been cancelled, events postponed, and staff downsized. It’s scary to think about all of the effects of this. What is going to happen? Can the “business” of the Church survive this financial crisis? Can the ministers of the Church pivot enough to continue providing outreach and community to its members? Can technology save the lack of real, in-person services?

However, I wonder if in the midst of this mess, we have truly stopped and listened to the direction of God? When Covid hit, it was like a punch in the gut. All of the implications brought about so much fear, chaos and scrambling. Naturally, we fear and scramble. But what comes after our fear, I believe, makes all the difference. If I could critique one thing about our response, it is the lack of pause. I fear we have skipped a crucial step as a whole congregation. We have forgotten to pause before the King, and listen.

What is he saying?

Where is he leading?

What are our next steps as local churches as we follow his leadership?

By and large, we have jumped straight to action: Zoom meetings, Zoom bible studies, Zoom community groups, park gatherings, parking lot services, drive by services, outdoor services, meeting in smaller numbers while socially distanced, and the list goes on. I want to be clear, none of these things are bad in and of themselves. I have personally been blessed by many of them. My question, however, is, were these ideas born out of the quiet of the presence of the Lord, or were they born out of a board meeting? Were they God-inspired and ordained, or driven out of anxiety and a desire to “keep things up”?

As we see in scripture, time and time again, God regularly does things that no one thinks of or, honestly, even advises. When is it advisable to tell half of your army to go home because they drank water from a stream in a different way than other men? Who would tell their people that instead of preparing for battle they must prepare their instruments and march around a city wall? When would it be a good idea to step out into the Jordan River with the Ark of the Covenant instead of building a boat? How would you feel if the warrior leader you had been waiting for told you his battle plan included ending his life at the age of 33 while you finish out your days under Roman rule and oppression?

I wonder, what radical, upside down, backwards, and terrifying ideas this King would give to his American bride that he so cherishes? I don’t pretend to know the answer to that question but I believe it’s one we should be asking.

What if he said that, through Covid, he is redirecting the way the American church meets? What if he never intends for us to meet in groups larger than 50 ever again? What if he is completely reforming the structure of the way we see life, church, and community? I’m not necessarily saying he is directing us in this specific way, but would we even recognize his directing? Would we even hear him?

I am afraid that we are too determined and too in love with our current structure to allow for even God himself to completely dismantle it. If he did, would we trust him? If it became the norm for there to be no large gatherings for the next 5 years, would we trust that the Church is a living, shape-shifting being that will survive?

Or, do we so love our traditions and our “American freedoms” that we are absolutely determined to fight for our rights as Christian citizens of America to meet together? Even when the man we worship refused to fight for his rights? Even when he could have presented a rock solid case for himself and yet did not because he was doing something more important? I believe we also have something more important to do.

Why are we fighting for our rights as American Christians? Throughout history, in every society, Christians have never come out on top. Why do we think we are different? Because of the Constitution? Because of the Founding Fathers? How much longer until people don’t abide by those anymore? How much longer until, like every society in history, Christians are demonized and thrown to the lions? Are we prepared for that, or are we continually fighting for the right to meet in a building together and sing a few songs and listen to someone talk for an hour? There is so much more at stake.

Maybe there will be another American Christian revival. I pray that there is. I want one. I just don’t want to live under the delusion that I should fight for my right to not be persecuted, when it is promised that I will be and should count it as an honor. If there is a revival in America, I want to be on the front lines and live in the bliss and favor of the Lord. But if there is not, and America turns against Christians, (which it eventually will, if not in the next 10 years then at least sometime in the next 500), I pray we are ready to stand and face the persecution promised to us. I pray that at the point of facing the lions to the cheering crowds we are not still shouting about our “rights.” Dear God. We have discipled weakness. We have not discipled strength in the face of persecution. We have not discipled fortitude in the face of slander. We have not discipled a stronghold in the face of suffering.

We have discipled comfort.

We have discipled pew sleeping, itching ear preaching, grand hotel church gathering Christians that will not stand in the face of persecution.

God is shaking the Church in America and I pray we choose to listen to his instruction. The tides are turning and God is saying something. We are not able to have church as “normal” or as we like it, and may not be able to for the foreseeable future. That. is. okay. What is God saying? What could God be preparing us for? What could he be restructuring us for? And are we trying to keep together the American way of church when God is trying to reform it? Let’s take the painstaking time to listen, rather than to try to “keep up” a structure God may be trying to reshape.

Is there fear involved in this? Yes! Will we lose members, funding, and friends? Yes. And will people walk away from faith? Yes. This is a road we have never walked and it would be inhuman not to feel fear and anxiety about it. But our great joy is we get to walk it with our King and Friend. And just like in the stories of old, when he directed his people in a counter-intuitive way, the wall fell, the water parted, the battle was won, and the grave defeated. Though not without suffering and sacrifice, we will inherit the joy and the peace of the Kingdom as we walk the unknown roads with the King.

Susannah Storie and her husband, Joel, live in Fayetteville, Arkansas with their two young children. They are passionate about God’s heart for all peoples and love joining Jesus in making disciples.