An age old conundrum has been which came first, the chicken or the egg? Recently, as churches begin to re-open their doors and try to figure out how or if to move all that has been learned in the three years of pandemic into our new normal, I find another kind of conundrum. I am hearing congregants question the safety and necessity of having in-person worship experiences and how to hold such services The arguments run the gamut from not feeling comfortable in close proximity to other congregants to those who will come out, complain that the churches will never be the same because we have made worshipping at home too easy and provided an excuse for their fellow congregants to not participate anymore. On the flip side, I hear pastors and ministers complain that managing all the technology has become too dry, they need to have people to preach to or that they can’t get people to come back into the churches but they see their congregants wandering freely in grocery stores and restaurants. After having such a conversation with someone not too long ago, I walked away and asked myself the question, “Are the people crippling the preachers or are the preachers crippling the people?”

My concern is that as a people of God, we may not be exercising enough faith to trust that God is working in all that has transpired. Pandemic made us look at doing church differently, expanding our reach and utilizing other means of communication than face-to-face meetings and in-person worship. For a few progressive churches, the transition was easy as they had already begun to utilize the various technology platforms that have been available for some time. But for many, the transition was bumpy and awkward, but it was done and a whole new world of ministry opened up for many churches. Sadly, there were many churches that failed to make any transition, refusing to practice safety protocols endangering the lives of their congregations or refusing to do anything at all. When the doors were closed, the church was closed also.

In some cases, the failure to transition fell squarely on the congregants who refused to accept that God might be doing a new thing, and in other cases, it was the preachers who refused to accept that God might be doing a new thing and perhaps in some cases, everyone, congregation and leadership just refused. Now that we are coming out of the pandemic, fingers get pointed back and forth using the excuses listed above, stymying the possibilities of growth God has laid before us. Then it occurred to me, pandemic is just the latest excuse we are using for losing the relevancy of the Church. It has been a known problem pre-pandemic that church growth was on the decline. In those years, discussions and conferences were devoted on how to revive the church, how to make it relevant for the present age. Denominations made changes to their practices and their doctrines in the hopes that they would attract more people back into the church. The focus for years has been on how to build up the church and not how to lift up Jesus, who declared, “that if I be lifted up, I’ll draw all men unto me.” (John 12:32).

In fact, it was Jesus who declared the foundation of the church before the church existed (Matt. 16:18) and the entire book of Acts demonstrates that the church was not confined to a building alone. Church happened where ever the Christians exercised their faith; on desert roads, by riversides, in prison cells and in houses. The leaders trusted God to take them to the places that He needed them to be by whatever means He needed to work. The people trusted God to endure hardships and to pray for their leaders and to let the Spirit work in them to spread the Gospel.

Fast forward to today – when congregations can learn to let go of “what it used to be” and have faith that God is doing a new thing and when pastors and leaders can learn to exercise their gifts and resources to do what they have never done before to obtain a new thing, that is the essence of faith with works and works with faith. It may not mean that more people will be in the pews or that more money will come in the collection pans, but it does mean that the relevancy of the Gospel will reach new places and touch new lives and isn’t that really the essence of the Church?

So again I ask, are the people crippling the preachers or are the preachers crippling the people? Which came first, the chicken or the egg?