Can the Church of Christ Survive a Pandemic?

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In the year since I last posted, my life has entirely changed. I started a new job, my father and step-mother died, I moved, and just as I was getting settled in the new place and thinking about having a housewarming party, the COVID-19 pandemic started.

As much as I miss my dad, I keep thinking that I'm glad he's not around for this mess. Not only did he and his wife have several underlying conditions that would have made them prime targets of the virus, they both were hardcore Church of Christ members who believed that they had to attend each and every church service no matter what. I would have been living in terror every week, worried that they were going to that church and bringing home a deadly infection. Honestly, I think you would have had to post a member of the National Guard in front of my dad's door to keep him from going to church.

They were my last link to the congregation they attended, so I have no idea whether that church is continuing to meet in defiance of CDC recommendations or whether they're staying home. Given the average age of the members, I hope they're staying home. If they aren't, they may end up killing off the congregation through the virus.

If they are staying home, will they come back when the pandemic is over? I'm sure they are not having online services, because most of the members are elderly and don't have computers or smartphones. Churches like the COC rely on using fire-and-brimstone sermons to guilt-trip members into attending church. With no weekly sermons to keep people in line, will they drift away? What happens if people get a taste of sleeping in late on Sundays or they learn to enjoy the relaxed feeling of not having to race from work to church for Bible study on Wednesday nights? What happens when people realize that God isn't striking them down or punishing them in other ways for missing services? Will this distance break the spell the church has on them? I don't know, but I have a feeling that at least some people are going to decide that they are better off without all the negativity that church brings into their lives and simply not come back when the doors reopen.


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