For the rest of our lives we will almost certainly be reckoning time in terms of “Pre” and “Post” Pandemic. Regardless of what you think about the severity of the virus itself or the wisdom and efficacy of the various health and safety protocols enacted by the government, it cannot be denied that the world has changed and life will never be the same for any of us. As Christians, we believe that God is Sovereign, so whatever secondary causes we may identify, it remains true that the Lord has rattled our cage; he has authored an earthquake; he has blown down the house and it is up to us now to be faithful, joyful and resolved as we minister together in this season.
This past ministry year (June 1st 2021 – May 30th 2022) has been a time of transition. For most of the last 12 months we have been slowly but surely exiting the long, deep valley of COVID19. Lockdowns were eased, restrictions were gradually lifted, and little by little life began returning to “normal”. Like homeowners would do after the passing of a significant storm, church leaders began assessing their congregations so as to survey for damage, loss and disruption. Plans were made to rebuild. Lessons were learned and resolutions made.
Through my involvement with TGC Canada and the national Pastors’ Forum that I facilitate, I have been blessed with a sense of the wider picture in Canada, and to a lesser extent, the United States of America. I can say with confidence that, relatively speaking, our house was spared the worst damage and devastation of this once in a generation storm. Like all congregations we have seen some scattering and some division and we have certainly experienced wide spread disruption, but the Lord has been very kind to us, the damage has been minimal and I even dare to believe that 5 years from now, we will all look back and agree that we are stronger, humbler and healthier as a result of the difficulties we have endured.
Given the unusual nature of this particular moment we are experiencing, my intention for this report is to be more “big picture focused” than in a typical year. That being said, a brief review of the basic facts and statistics may provide some useful orientation.
Statistical Overview:
After the plague, the LORD said to Moses and to Eleazar the son of Aaron, the priest, “Take a census of all the congregation of the people of Israel, from twenty years old and upward, by their fathers’ houses, all in Israel who are able to go to war.” (Numbers 26:1–2 ESV)
After a major upheaval or catastrophe it is pretty standard practice to conduct a thorough survey of your flock. The following statistical survey is intended to give you access to some of the shepherding metrics we use as a leadership team to make decisions and to plan our ministries of outreach and care.
Main Service Data:
- Phase 7: June 13 2021- July 3rd 2021: This was our first phase after having released RCC into full independence; as such all attendance data from this point forward represents the CBC campus only. As of June 13th we were permitted 15% capacity for worship services. We were on full lockdown prior to that. Average LIVE attendance during this time was 262 over two services with 383 engaging online.
- Phase 8: July 4th 2021 – July 17th 2021: During this phase we were permitted 25% of our sanctuary capacity for worship services. We conducted two Sunday morning services per week during this phase. Average LIVE attendance during this time was 328 over two services with 325 engaging online.
- Phase 9: July 18th 2021 – March 5th 2022: During this phase we were permitted to hold worship gatherings limited only by 6 foot spacing, which works out to about 30% of sanctuary capacity. We conducted two Sunday morning services per week during this phase. Average LIVE attendance during this time was 384 with an average of 206 watching online. However, for 10 weeks running from late August through to late October we were not able to livestream due to internet issues. If you subtract those weeks, the average online audience when we had properly functioning internet was 249.
- Phase 10: March 6th – May 22nd 2022: The church was finally able to meet without capacity restrictions as of March 6th 2022. March 27th was the first Sunday without the mask requirement. Average LIVE attendance during this first phase of “new normal” was 399 with 197 engaging online.
Summary:
A quick survey of the data presented above will indicate that as restrictions began to ease, so too our congregation began to transition back to live gatherings. With each increase in permission, there was a commensurate increase in “in person” engagement. I’m sure Noah felt something vaguely similar as he watched the flood waters recede and the landscape of the old world slowly but surely re-emerging.
Like most churches in Canada, we are currently experiencing a fairly high rate of temporary absenteeism due to caution around illness, isolation requirements and a backlog of vacation time for individuals and families. Most churches in Canada are reporting a 20-30% rate of weekly absenteeism due to these temporary factors, however the trend is toward recovery and restoration. I suspect that this post-pandemic adjustment phase will continue through the summer and into the fall. In the meantime our priority is on regathering and rebuilding what the storm blew down. It is a good time to revisit priorities and values and to be reminded of our smallness and our total and utter dependence upon the provision and protection of the Lord.
The Big Picture:
As mentioned above, my intention is for this report to focus more on the big picture than would be typical in most years. The last two years brought tremendous change to our congregation. We gave birth to a wonderful, magnificent, healthy and self-sustaining plant in Redeemer City Church – praise the Lord! We also saw staff transitioning into new opportunities and into retirement. New people came into the church and dear friends went out. That will always happen over any two year stretch of time, that it happened when so many of us were isolated and disconnected creates a heightened sense of dislocation. The world feels different. The church feels different – because it is!
In the following paragraphs I intend to assess the new landscape of our post pandemic world – both in terms of the world “out there” and the world “in here”. I will attempt to summarize the challenges we face, the assets at our disposal and the opportunities presented to us in the world opening up on the other side.
Challenges, Assets And Opportunities:
The challenges that we face as Cornerstone Baptist Church, Orillia are the same challenges being faced by almost every other evangelical church in Canada at this particular moment in history. Chief among them would be the following:
Challenge #1: Bad habits
The last two years have forced all of us into some unusual patterns of behaviour. We stopped shaking hands. We started standing 6 feet apart from the people we were talking to. We stopped having friends over for meals. We started “watching church on TV”. Most of these adjustments were necessary as part of our efforts to love our neighbours by controlling the spread of a highly infectious disease. But habits, once formed, become very resistant to change. If the church is going to be all that it is supposed to be and can be moving forward we are all going to need to rebuke some of our new inner expectations and tendencies. We are going to have to force ourselves to get out of bed and get to church. Every Sunday. 9 Sundays out of 10 needs to be normal again. Physical contact needs to be normal again. Turning your electronics off to read the Bible and talk to friends needs to be normal again. Sharing a meal with a newcomer needs to be normal again.
We need to commit to these “disciplines” until they aren’t disciplines anymore, but rather new and natural habits. That will be a challenge for all of us, but we need to do it.
Challenge #2: New distractions
We all spent too much time online and too much time worrying about the government over the last two years. We all tried to become experts in immunology, virology and public policy. Some of us read books about totalitarianism. Many of us became obsessed with American politics. None of these things are “bad” in and of themselves, but the sheer volume of attention given to these things comes very close to the definition of idolatry.
We need to dial down on all these new distractions if we are to be salt and light in this world. We need to be people of the book again, not people of the internet or people of cable news. It is the Word of God before our eyes and the Spirit of God within our hearts that makes us special and unique. Those are the things that give us perspective, power and persuasiveness, but those things require attention and attention right now, has been largely directed elsewhere. That is a challenge we must address immediately.
Challenge #3: Fractured unity
Before the pandemic there were already many indicators of a coming evangelical disintegration. Evangelicalism has always been a rather loose association of a variety of churches and denominations that were connected by shared values around the authority of Scripture, the necessity of conversion, the importance of personal activism and the centrality of the cross of Christ. However, over the last several decades the evangelical armada has begun to drift apart. Different opinions about the authority of Scripture are identified by many observers as the root cause of this loss of cohesion.
Under the pressure of the pandemic, and the stresses of American political fracturing, what was once a slow drift has become a rapid disintegration. There really is no such thing as “evangelicalism” anymore, there is only an ideal and a memory of former unity. The last “T4G” conference (Together For The Gospel) will represent the end of an era in the minds of many. The sad truth is that it is now extraordinarily difficult for people to be “together for the Gospel” because they are apart on so many other things. They are apart on politics, they are apart on race, they are apart on science, they are apart on sexuality, they are apart on government. One might say: “But none of those things have to do with the Gospel!” But they do. The truth is that as we begin to believe different things about the Gospel we begin to relate differently to other social and political issues. Differences at the core create a lack of cohesion at the margins.
Moving forward, churches will likely have to partner in smaller, more tightly defined working units. We won’t simply be able to invest in a mission partner because they have the word “evangelical” in their organizational name. We will have to do our homework, we will have to build relationships, we will have to conduct our due diligence. This is the new landscape and it will make things significantly more complicated for all of us moving forward.
Challenge #4: Heightened opposition
Most of the challenges we face are internal, as evidenced by the list above. However, it is true, that we will also likely be facing greater opposition from the culture and potentially from the government in the coming years. In a recent Angus Reid survey 22% of Canadians said that they believe that religion was a negative factor in Canadian life, up from 14% in 2017. When asked which religion they thought was most damaging, the number one answer given was Evangelical Christianity. [1] Evangelical support for Trump in the US and the media coverage of evangelical churches in noncompliance to COVID measures are commonly cited as contributing factors for this sudden shift. The recent revelations about widespread sexual abuse and the mismanagement of abuse reports within the Southern Baptist Convention will likely add fuel to this gathering fire.
Regardless of what you personally think about any of those things, what matters is what the average Canadian thinks, at least in terms of the mission environment we will be facing in the coming years. We used to assume a measure of good will toward Christianity in this culture; after all, most of our grandparents were Christians, most of the founders of confederation were Christian – even if our neighbours today were not practicing, surely they were not overtly hostile to the religion that so much of our national and personal identities are associated with. But of course, increasingly now, they are.
Is that rational?
No.
Is that sustainable?
No.
Nevertheless, it is here, it is real and it must be dealt with. We will be working against stiffer headwinds from the culture, and potentially from the government over the next 5-10 years. Our views on marriage, gender and sexuality in particular, are likely to come under heavy fire.
These challenges will be faced by every bible-believing, Gospel-preaching church in Canada, but all is not gloom and doom. Far from it. The Lord has equipped us and prepared us for faithfulness and fruitfulness in the season ahead.
Asset #1: The indwelling Holy Spirit
The church of Jesus Christ is made of living stones. A church consists of truly saved, Spirit filled individuals who allow themselves to be built into a spiritual house. In that sense, the church is the temple of the Holy Spirit. He lives in each of us individually (1 Corinthians 6:19) and he lives in us collectively (1 Corinthians 3:16) and that means we have the power to change. The Holy Spirit is the agent of progressive sanctification, that is to say, his main job is to make us more like Jesus, by one degree of glory to the next (2 Corinthians 3:18). He gives us the power to overcome lust, he gives us the power to overcome fear, he gives us the power to show love, he gives us the power to forgive enemies and abusers, he gives us the power to become selfless, kind, merciful and wise.
“His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness” (2 Peter 1:3 ESV)
What that means is that in the power of the Holy Spirit, we are more than adequately equipped to face whatever the world, the flesh and the devil may bring to bear. As long as Cornerstone Baptist Church is a living house – a house that treats regeneration and conversion as serious concerns; a house that practices regenerate church membership; a house that does the hard work of discipline when it is required and a house that seeks, welcomes and responds to the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit, then we can and we will recover from every setback; we can and we will heal from every injury; we can and we will overcome every attack and temptation; we can and we will seize every opportunity for witness and ministry; we can and we will accomplish all his will and good pleasure; thanks be to God!
Asset #2: The inerrant and infallible Word of God
The Word of God does the work of God. It is sharp, piercing, relevant, timeless and true. It never fails to accomplish that which it was sent out to accomplish. By the grace of God, Cornerstone Baptist Church has an unusual hunger for the ministry and teaching of God’s Word. As long as we keep that; as long as we encourage and protect that, this church will grow, strengthen and thrive. If we teach the Bible to our children, if we teach it to our young people, if we teach it to moms and dads, grandmas and grandpas and everyone in between, then this church will be fine. The word of God is powerful.
It cannot fail, it does not fail, it will not fail.
The Word of God will do all that God intends it to do in our generation. Therefore, we just need to keep putting one foot in front of the other, doing the things he has told us to do, each of us supporting and contributing in our own way, and God will bring about the results. As the Apostle Paul said:
“I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth.” (1 Corinthians 3:6 ESV)
The ministry of the Word works – thanks be to God!
Asset #3: The promise of a victorious church
If we focus too much on the immediate situation, we can easily become discouraged. We’ve just endured a once in a generation storm. Yes, we need to clean up the yard. Yes, there is some broken glass on the driveway. Yes!
But.
The good news is that we know how this story ends! The Bible says:
It shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the house of the LORD shall be established as the highest of the mountains, and shall be lifted up above the hills; and all the nations shall flow to it, and many peoples shall come, and say: “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob, that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths.” (Isaiah 2:2–3 ESV)
Jesus says:
“I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” (Matthew 16:18 ESV)
So YES, we have some work to do and YES, the next 6 months are going to be busy, and hard but the big picture for the church of Jesus Christ in this world is remarkably positive.
We win!
The church will grow! Like the tiny mustard seed that becomes the biggest plant in the garden, with the birds of the field building nests in its branches, so too we have the promise of gradual growth, increasing influence and ultimate victory. Are their twists and turns to that story? Absolutely! Can I predict them? Absolutely not! But I do know how this story finally ends. It ends with Christ on the throne and people from every tribe, tongue and nation bowing in glad and joyful worship before him. Seeing that picture, and knowing that to a Sovereign, all powerful God the future is as certain as the past, ought to give us courage. The next 5 years might be difficult, but looking a little further out, our prospects seem bright indeed.
Asset #4: The power of a compelling community
Jesus said that we are the light of the world and that a city on a hill could not be hid. If the church is the church, if she avoids being corrupted and co-opted by the world, then she will shine. And as the world gets darker, the church will shine all the brighter! The power of our witness is directly related to the contrast with our community. When the world is dark and the church is bright then evangelism becomes a great deal easier. If we are careful to safeguard and protect our doctrine and if we are diligent and committed to the health of our community, by God’s grace we will provide a compelling and attractive alternative to the surrounding culture. There really is nothing like the church, when it works - thanks be to God!
Opportunity #1: A culture in crisis
Our culture has been described as a “cut flower culture”, meaning, it continues to enjoy and celebrate the beautiful outcomes of a certain worldview while simultaneously having cut itself off from the original root system. The implication being, that we are living on borrowed time. There is absolutely no track record for a culture that tries to do sex, gender and family the way our culture is. There is absolutely no track record for a society that rejects its foundations and rewrites its history to the extent that ours is attempting to do. There is absolutely no track record for a culture as afflicted with cognitive dissonance as our culture currently is.
Where does all this lead?
No one knows, but one thing is certain: a culture without foundations will eventually begin to crumble.
As that process continues, we will have an incredible opportunity to speak winsomely and convictionally about the eternal truths of God.
Opportunity #2: An epidemic of loneliness
Even before COVID the western world was wrestling with what can only be describes as an epidemic of loneliness. Books like “Bowling Alone” by Robert Putnam, (published in 2000!) had already begun to explore this phenomenon. In 2018 Great Britain appointed a “Minister of Loneliness” to attempt to address the issue. The bottom line is that our modern world does not equip people for community. It conditions them to live in tiny spaces, to watch tiny screens and to live tiny lives. The pandemic caused by COVID19 pressed them deeper and deeper into that confinement. As people increasingly begin to feel trapped they will naturally begin to seek out compelling alternatives.
A church that offers deep, multi-generational, authentic community, such as I believe ours does, will be well positioned for outreach and growth in the coming season. We need to understand that building our community is not “selfish”, it is “strategic”. When we invest in Deacon Care, for example, we are investing in our witness. If the world sees a place where hurting people are supported and lonely people are loved and older people are valued, they will want to be a part of it.
Opportunity #3: A shift in global missions
The pandemic made travel significantly more difficult for everyone but particularly so for those trying to get in or out of the developing world. It made short term missions impossible for two entire years. It made sending experts from here to there impossible for two entire years. The upside of this is that it allowed local, on the ground leaders to assume primary responsibility for the work being done in their fields. This is a very healthy development and we won’t – and we should not – go back to the old model in the future.
As more and more countries make cross border travel increasingly cumbersome, even after the pandemic, and as more and more countries close their borders permanently to foreign missionaries, the entire nature and focus of global missions is permanently shifting. From this point forward the most valuable commodity in the world, humanly speaking, will be trusted and reliable partners on the field. By the grace of God, we have been developing these kinds of partners in all our theatres of operation. We have trusted partners here in Orillia (101), trusted partners in Newfoundland (201), trusted partners in the Dominican Republic (301), trusted partners in India (401) and trusted partners in South Africa (401) – praise the Lord! We are extraordinarily well positioned to push forward and to increase our investment in this next great cycle of the Great Commission – thanks be to God!
Opportunity #4: A collapse in social capacity
No matter where you go or who you talk to it appears nearly unanimous that we are entering an era where the capacity of the government to provide cradle to grave social care is coming to an end. COVID revealed deep cracks in our medical system and our Long Term Care strategy. There has been a tidal wave of retirement within the medical community. Wait times are higher than ever and specialist appointments increasingly difficult to secure. There is a dangerous shortage of Personal Support Workers. Many disabled people in our community are having to make do with a fraction of the in-home care they use to receive. This is tragic but it also provides an opportunity to step back into some aspects of social life we were squeezed out of almost a century ago. Our Deacon program, developed over the last 3 years, feels suddenly Providential in nature. We will need to continue to build on to this base in the future, but the heart is there and the willingness to roll up our sleeves to serve the humble and lowly in Jesus’ name. A church that is prepared and positioned to do this type of work will have no lack of opportunities for fruitful ministry in the years and decades ahead.
Conclusion:
This has been a longer than normal report. If you read this far, thank you. In one sense, it is a 2 year report, reflecting back on all that is happened over the course of this pandemic. In another sense, however, it is a 7 year report, looking forward 5 years into the future so as to consider the likely ministry environment we will be facing as a congregation. The long and the short of it is this: we have been through a significant, culture shaking, world upending, church refining event, but the Lord has been with us through it all. We have been affected, but overall, I believe, in a positive way. We are different, but if anything, I believe we are better positioned for the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead. A lot has changed, but all the important things remain the same: God is still good, the Word still works, the Gospel still saves and the Spirit still shapes and transforms. Therefore, I am eager and excited for the future. I expect it to be harder in the short term, better in the long term and glorious beyond description in the end – thanks be to God!
In His Service,
Pastor Paul Carter
May 2022