The Church and the Pandemic - Part 2
It’s been a little over a year since we spoke to three pastors about their response to the pandemic and how it has affected their churches. I had the privilege of speaking with Pastors David Kim from Goodhope Adventist Church, Jimmy Kim from Marietta Church and Beett Kwon from Lombard Church. Their perspectives and observations on how Covid-19 has changed the landscape of ministry in the pandemic era have been revelatory and surprisingly hopeful.
Question: How have things changed at your church since last year?
Jimmy Kim answered that after the initial interest of having previous members visit their Zoom worship services waned, the pandemic had the effect of being a “catalyst” for people’s faith walk. That is, people who were truly engaged became even more so during the past year and those who were more “passive” became more disengaged. These qualities manifested itself even after services met in-person. Those who used to be tardy to church arrived even later when in-person services started up.
For Beett Kwon’s church, meeting in person was a priority and they met in person earlier than most churches. Some positives that he noticed that there was more active recruiting of non-Adventists by his church members. And that online technology of Lombard improved so that relevant information can be gleaned from its views. Online tools such as tracking viewership helped them gain insight into their audience. Pastor Kwon has also noted that Covid-19 has shaken things up for his church for good and bad.
Question: Do you sense that people are ready to attend multi-church gatherings such as ECKCM and GYC? Or is there still too much fear and anxiety among potential attendees?
Pastor David observed that people will attend events that they feel are important. But if the event didn’t have that much relevance for them, they would not attend. A lot of people with children didn’t come to church but that didn’t mean that they isolated themselves from everything. Parents would support events that facilitated social networking and plenty of people went on vacations during the pandemic. The pandemic revealed where people's true goals were for themselves and their families.
David Kim shared how shocked he was when their church had a summer day camp last year and they had a record number of children attend. Furthermore, the pandemic is allowing people to explore interests that they had not pursued. He saw a constant stream of visitors to his church. He suggested that this may be the time to make our events more inviting for non-Koreans.
Question: Has the Covid-19 crisis changed how we will attend big group gatherings for the future? Will we keep on doing online programs for multi-church programs?
Pastor Beett commented that the crisis has made all our church leadership question what is essential in our churches, how to manage our message to make it inviting for all age groups.
Pastor Jimmy noted that the pandemic is revealing a difference in how KM (Korean Ministry) worship and how EM (English Ministry) does it. KM is more “message” centered and does not need as much interaction in their services. The EM seem to need more engagement, discussion and relationship to find their services more meaningful.
When the Maryland conference developed and invested in an on-line summer event for the children, there was very little interest. There was more interest for adults but when a neighboring conference had an in-person event, people were willing to drive hours to attend that.
The pastors’ observations reveal a deep need for personal connection and relating that a Zoom meeting cannot meet.
Question: Do you notice any age groups that have been especially hurt by the pandemic?
Pastor Beett answered that doing online ministry for children has been a struggle for their church. But currently, a devoted teacher was making a big difference for them in the children’s program.
David Kim’s wife is a principal of an Adventist Academy and has observed profound and disturbing developments in young children. Young children from about ages 3 to 6 seem to have stunted social development. Kids 3 and under don’t seem to know how to interact without masks. Parents and their children seem to have a lot of anxiety and fear when their kids interact for fear of catching Covid and acting appropriately with each other.
Even for older children, their academic growth seems to be stunted as well. Pastor David’s daughter will be going off to college next year and he said that the amount of learning done the past few years has been a fraction of what it should have been. He fears that we will see the ripple effects of the pandemic reverberate for years to come.
Questions: Are there any silver linings from this past year for you and your churches?
For Pastor David, the pandemic has forced their church to direct its energies on serving the local community. They are supporting and feeding the Afghanistani refugees. The Goodhope church members are uniting their efforts to help this vulnerable community. In doing so, this has given them a sense of purpose and meaning.
All periods of growth follow a time of crisis, observed Pastor Jimmy. This is a time of shaking and the church has been knocked out of its comfort zone. No one likes going through pain, but growth will come from it. Great opportunities will come out of this pandemic. He says that this crisis is forcing us to think about our mission, that we need to rise to our calling. We are finished with the era of having passive church attendees. They will be shaken out to be replaced by those who see value in the mission of the church.
Pastor Beett said that the silver lining for him is to really focus on the essence of the church. Focusing on the fundamentals and cutting out the fat is what is needed. We need a purer and better equipped church.
Conclusion:
Through this interview, we were collectively able to come to some conclusions about how the Covid-19 pandemic has affected our churches. For good and bad, it seems to have accentuated the tendencies already present in church-goers. Half-hearted attendees seem to show even less interest. But for those who were truly passionate about the ministry, this time seemed to make their fire of faith shine even brighter. And while the detrimental effects of this time will certainly manifest itself in all facets of society, we are hopeful that this time of shaking will portend a great awakening. That the time of pain will cause us to refine our message so the true message of the gospel will be shared around the world.