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• I have been contacting pastors from around the country who have returned to onsite worship. The percentage of post-COVID attendance is astoundingly the same. Uniformly the pastors report around 30% of post vs. pre-virus attendance with the noticeable absence of young families with children and those adults in the most at risk groups. The virus is not going away any time soon.

• Produced worship intentionally designed for those worshiping at home will become the new norm as the alternative to livestreamed worship from the in-house celebration. This means that you and I will be working on two different presentations and worship designs each week.

• Shorter messages for those worshiping at home. (Check out my 14-minute message that I taped for First UMC Gulfport, Miss., for their online worship. This format will also give the opportunity to invite guest speakers from around the globe at nominal cost.)

• Less is more – especially in the area of music. Much of the praise music sung in our churches is in a range too high for many of us, and it goes on way too long with multiple repeats. I have noticed that the best music, specifically created for those sitting on their couches at home, is much more acoustic in nature, almost coffee house in experience. I can sit with my cup of dark roast and take the music into my soul, and I don’t have to stand and sing! (Am I revealing a personal prejudice?)

• Missional stories and connections are critical. We must find ways to move people from their couches to the places and people with the greatest needs. I recently stopped at one of Ginghamsburg Church’s food pantries to thank those serving people who have been unemployed and still haven’t received their unemployment checks. North Star Church in Cincinnati is doing an incredible job in engaging people to serve in their drive-through food pantries.  Other churches are connecting with elderly people in their neighborhoods, asking if they need items from the grocery store.

• Creative Children’s Ministry online alternatives will become essential as young families may be more reluctant to return. Many churches have already discovered this and are doing virtual Vacation Bible School and virtual camps.

• Small home groups will become the nucleus of the missional movement. My home group has continued to meet by Zoom on Thursday evenings at seven. It has been great to see each other’s faces, share prayer requests and hear updates on each other’s families. Last Thursday evening we met face to face for the first time in three months in our leaders’ back yard – s’mores included!  

This pandemic has given the church a timeout to reimagine God’s promised future. We can’t put the new wine of the Spirit into old wineskins!

Mike Slaughter, pastor emeritus and global church ambassador for Ginghamsburg Church, served for nearly four decades as the lead pastor and chief dreamer of Ginghamsburg and the spiritual entrepreneur of ministry marketplace innovations. Mike is also the founder and chief strategist of Passionate Churches, LLC, which specializes in developing pastors, church staff and church lay leaders through coaching, training, consulting and facilitation services. Mike’s call to “afflict the comfortable” challenges Christians to wrestle with God and their God-destinies. Mike’s latest book Revolutionary Kingdom: following the Rebel Jesus is available on Amazon and Cokesbury.