The COVID-19 pandemic has affected all classes of society to a certain extent and the difference is only big or small. The influence on my church is particularly great. For more than two years, even the fortunate churches were only able to open half of the time. The less fortunate churches may be closed most of the time and unable to meet.
A church located in southern Jiangsu Province has been suspended four times in the past two years, adding up to about one year. The key is that it is still in a state of suspension. Now that the pandemic is on the rise and is spreading, it is really not known when it will be reopened. Therefore, the pressure of this church is unprecedented, especially the feelings of the teachers and pastors.
Although the larger area of this church has a high net population inflow, the church is located in a remote rural area with a small population base, so it does not enjoy the offerings brought by the floating population. Moreover, there are fewer local believers in this small city, and the number of believers only accounts for a single digit of the total number. Although the local believers in this church are relatively concentrated, most of them are elderly believers.
Before the outbreak, the number of Sunday attendants in this church was about one hundred and thirty, and the annual income of tithes and offerings was about two hundred thousand RMB. However, the number of believers and offerings within this church are decreasing year by year. There are roughly two impacts of the pandemic on this church:
First, online gatherings are difficult to implement. For the outbreak of this pandemic, the remedial measures generally adopted by the church have changed from physical gatherings to online gatherings, and made full use of WeChat group, video and other ways to hold gatherings. It is in an effort to make up for the inability to hold in-person gatherings. The same is true of this church, but the development speed is relatively slow. It had been two or three weeks since other churches started before they even began to take action.
Moreover, they were not only half a beat slower at the beginning, but even the process itself was slow and unsatisfactory. There seemed to be many registered believers, but less than half of them were in the WeChat group, and even fewer believers could respond to the gathering. Because most of the believers in this church are elderly people, they only make phone calls, do not often use WeChat, and even some do not use WeChat at all. Therefore, it is unrealistic for them to get together in the WeChat group just like going to church in another city. This situation has brought great difficulties to pastoral ministry.
Second, online offerings are invisible. In fact, before the pandemic, this church followed the trend of social development, opened a QR code from a local bank, and posted it on the offering box for some believers who usually do not have cash to scan the code so that they can give. The effect was good. However, with the outbreak of the pandemic, although this church followed the example of other churches and put the offerings QR code in the WeChat group for believers to give, the effect is obviously not as good as other churches.
Every inter-church communication meeting is extremely painful for the serving team in this church. Looking at other churches’ monthly income report, and then comparing it with the income of my own church, there is a big difference. This was something that never happened or thought of before the pandemic. In this regard, there is no need for others to say anything, and I feel enormous pressure, but I can not help it.
In the face of the impact of the pandemic, the serving team of this church did not always make excuses for themselves because of the small number of church members, a large number of elderly people, and the remote location. Instead, they turned passivity into the initiative, actively looked for ways to deal with it, and tried to minimize the loss. They have successfully held online Sunday services, weekly online services, weekly online training, and strengthened small-scale family visits.
Moreover, with the recurrence of the pandemic and the suspension of church gatherings, they are constantly pressuring themselves, updating their ways, and serving harder. According to a serving team member of this church, although there were many in-person gatherings and visits before the pandemic, compared with the other two, the present service is more “substantial”, because although in-person gatherings are not available, the amount of service has instead increased a lot. There is simply no time to spare, such as online gatherings, telephone calls with believers, or family visits.
In fact, the serving team of this church deeply knows that the reason why they have no time to spare, take time to serve, and work harder than ever before is also caused by the sense of crisis. They have to stop the loss of their member base in time and try their best to minimize their losses. Otherwise, survival or existence is a problem. Staffs wages, church repairs, utilities, membership fees, etc., are all problems. After the old resources are used up, there are no new resources and the church will be in big trouble.
(This article is written by a freelance writer and also a pastor in Jiangsu.)
- Translated by Charlie Li
疫情对社会各个层面都带来了一定程度的影响，区别只是大或小。教会作为社会中的一份子，由于教会的聚集属性，影响尤其大。两年多以来，比较幸运的教会能够开门聚会的时间可能也只有其中一半；而不太幸运的教会可能大部分时间都在关门，无法聚会。
位于苏南地区的一间教会，两年多以来总共被暂停了四次聚会，前后加起来约有一年时间。关键是现在还处于暂停的状态。在当下疫情抬头且不断蔓延的情况下，还真不知道何时能够重新再次开放。因此，这间教会的压力空前大，尤其是教牧同工的感受更为深刻。
因为这间教会虽然处于人口净流入之地，但本身处于较为偏远的农村地区，周围人口基数小，加之教堂更不是位于人口聚集地，所以并没有享受到外来人口所带来的红利；而且，这个小城市的本地信徒比较少，信徒量只占总数的个位数，虽然这间教会的本地信徒相对集中些，但大都是以老年信徒为主。
疫情发生之前，这间教会的主日聚会人数约在一百三十人左右，年奉献量二十万左右；但是，这间教会信徒人数及奉献量皆在逐年减少。疫情对这间教会的冲击大致有两个：
一是网络聚会难以开展。这次疫情的发生，教会普遍采取的补救措施是由实体聚会转到网络聚会，充分利用微信群、视频等多种方式开展聚会，努力弥补线下无法开展聚会的损失。这间教会也是如此，只是开展的速度相对较慢，别的教会都开始都有两三个礼拜了，他们才开始行动起来。
而且，他们不仅在起初就慢了半拍，就连过程也慢，不尽如人意，登记信徒看似多，但在微信群里面的信徒，不到一半，聚会能够响应的信徒更少。因为这间教会的多数信徒为老年人，平时只打电话，不常用微信，甚至有些根本不会使用微信。所以，对他们而言在微信群里面聚会，犹如去另外一个城市教会聚会一样，不现实。这种情况给牧养带来了极大的难处。
二是线上奉献看不见。其实这间教会在疫情之前，就顺应社会发展的趋势，从当地银行开了二维码，贴在奉献箱上面，供一些平时不带现金的信徒扫码奉献，效果不错。可是，随着疫情的发生，这间教会虽然也效仿其他教会把奉献二维码放在微信群里面，供信徒扫码奉献，但效果显然不如其他教会。
每次召开教会间的交流会议，对这间教会同工来说都是异常的煎熬。看着兄弟教会汇报每月的收入情况，再对照自己教会的收入情况，差别很大，这在疫情之前是根本不会发生、也没有想到的事。对此，根本无需别人怎么说，自身就感觉到了无比的压力，却无可奈何。
面对疫情带来的这番冲击，这间教会同工并没有老是拿教会信徒基数小、老人多、位置偏僻等理由为自己找借口，乃是化被动为主动，积极寻找应对的方法，努力把损失的程度降到最低。他们先后开展了线上主日聚会、周间线上聚会、周间线上培训，加强小规模的家庭探访等。
而且，随着疫情的反复，教会聚会不断被暂停的情况下，他们不断自我加压，更新方式，服侍也更为卖力。据这间教会的一位同工介绍，疫情之前虽然线下聚会、探访等形式的聚会有很多，但两相比较而言，还是现在的服侍更为“充实”，因为虽然不能线下聚会，但服侍的量却增加了很多，不是线上聚会，就是与信徒电话交通，或者就是实地探访等，简直一刻都没得闲。
其实，这间教会的同工们深刻地知道，他们之所以一刻不得闲，抓紧时间服侍，比以往任何时候都更为努力，也是由危机感所导致，他们要及时止损，尽全力把损失降到最低。不然的话，小到他们的生存，大到教会能否继续存在都是个问题。工人工价、教堂修缮、水电费、会费等，都是个问题，老本吃完了之后，却无新来源，就麻烦大了。
注：本文为特约/自由撰稿人文章，作者系江苏一名传道人
疫情给某间教会带来的冲击！
The COVID-19 pandemic has affected all classes of society to a certain extent and the difference is only big or small. The influence on my church is particularly great. For more than two years, even the fortunate churches were only able to open half of the time. The less fortunate churches may be closed most of the time and unable to meet.
A church located in southern Jiangsu Province has been suspended four times in the past two years, adding up to about one year. The key is that it is still in a state of suspension. Now that the pandemic is on the rise and is spreading, it is really not known when it will be reopened. Therefore, the pressure of this church is unprecedented, especially the feelings of the teachers and pastors.
Although the larger area of this church has a high net population inflow, the church is located in a remote rural area with a small population base, so it does not enjoy the offerings brought by the floating population. Moreover, there are fewer local believers in this small city, and the number of believers only accounts for a single digit of the total number. Although the local believers in this church are relatively concentrated, most of them are elderly believers.
Before the outbreak, the number of Sunday attendants in this church was about one hundred and thirty, and the annual income of tithes and offerings was about two hundred thousand RMB. However, the number of believers and offerings within this church are decreasing year by year. There are roughly two impacts of the pandemic on this church:
First, online gatherings are difficult to implement. For the outbreak of this pandemic, the remedial measures generally adopted by the church have changed from physical gatherings to online gatherings, and made full use of WeChat group, video and other ways to hold gatherings. It is in an effort to make up for the inability to hold in-person gatherings. The same is true of this church, but the development speed is relatively slow. It had been two or three weeks since other churches started before they even began to take action.
Moreover, they were not only half a beat slower at the beginning, but even the process itself was slow and unsatisfactory. There seemed to be many registered believers, but less than half of them were in the WeChat group, and even fewer believers could respond to the gathering. Because most of the believers in this church are elderly people, they only make phone calls, do not often use WeChat, and even some do not use WeChat at all. Therefore, it is unrealistic for them to get together in the WeChat group just like going to church in another city. This situation has brought great difficulties to pastoral ministry.
Second, online offerings are invisible. In fact, before the pandemic, this church followed the trend of social development, opened a QR code from a local bank, and posted it on the offering box for some believers who usually do not have cash to scan the code so that they can give. The effect was good. However, with the outbreak of the pandemic, although this church followed the example of other churches and put the offerings QR code in the WeChat group for believers to give, the effect is obviously not as good as other churches.
Every inter-church communication meeting is extremely painful for the serving team in this church. Looking at other churches’ monthly income report, and then comparing it with the income of my own church, there is a big difference. This was something that never happened or thought of before the pandemic. In this regard, there is no need for others to say anything, and I feel enormous pressure, but I can not help it.
In the face of the impact of the pandemic, the serving team of this church did not always make excuses for themselves because of the small number of church members, a large number of elderly people, and the remote location. Instead, they turned passivity into the initiative, actively looked for ways to deal with it, and tried to minimize the loss. They have successfully held online Sunday services, weekly online services, weekly online training, and strengthened small-scale family visits.
Moreover, with the recurrence of the pandemic and the suspension of church gatherings, they are constantly pressuring themselves, updating their ways, and serving harder. According to a serving team member of this church, although there were many in-person gatherings and visits before the pandemic, compared with the other two, the present service is more “substantial”, because although in-person gatherings are not available, the amount of service has instead increased a lot. There is simply no time to spare, such as online gatherings, telephone calls with believers, or family visits.
In fact, the serving team of this church deeply knows that the reason why they have no time to spare, take time to serve, and work harder than ever before is also caused by the sense of crisis. They have to stop the loss of their member base in time and try their best to minimize their losses. Otherwise, survival or existence is a problem. Staffs wages, church repairs, utilities, membership fees, etc., are all problems. After the old resources are used up, there are no new resources and the church will be in big trouble.
(This article is written by a freelance writer and also a pastor in Jiangsu.)
- Translated by Charlie Li
The Impact of COVI-19 Pandemic on a Specific Church
