The last several months have been extremely challenging for the church. Since March churches and church leaders have had to find ways to creatively navigate the storm caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. All across the globe, churches have been using ingenuity to engage their congregants that are unable to attend worship gatherings in a centralized physical location.
There is an old proverb that says, “If you want to go fast go alone, but if you want to go far go together.” In this season of social distancing, the Church is learning a valuable lesson about the importance of access to a local of gathering of believers.
The writer of Hebrews makes this point clear. Hebrews is a unique letter written to second generation Christians. Apparently they struggled with practicing the faith handed to them by the early Church, and many of them were strongly considering abandoning the faith all together.
The writer of Hebrews writes to encourage this new generation of believers by encouraging them with three main points.
Jesus is better than the prophets
Jesus is better than the priests
Jesus is the high priest and the sacrifice for our sins.
After making these three important points, the writer then moves to address the most critical issue that the church was facing:
“So let’s do it—full of belief, confident that we’re presentable inside and out. Let’s keep a firm grip on the promises that keep us going. He always keeps his word. Let’s see how inventive we can be in encouraging love and helping out, not avoiding worshiping together as some do but spurring each other on, especially as we see the big Day approaching.” (Hebrews 10:22-25 MSG).
When trying to encourage a group of believers that were losing their faith, the writer of Hebrews demonstrates that belonging to a local community of fellow believers may very well be the one thing that serves as a buffer between their faith and their doubts. Community is a really big deal in the Christian faith.
A few years ago, our middle son asked me about baptism. When I had the discussion with him about the importance, he asked me if all of the people from the church had to be present when he got baptized. Being a reserved and introverted child, much like his father, he had determined that he did not necessarily want a lot of people present. When I explained to him that baptism is meant to be a communal celebration, he asked if it was okay if he could just baptize himself.
The COVID-19 pandemic has perhaps reminded the Church about the importance of belonging to a community of faith. Not being able to meet has increased our sensitivity to the need for the Church. We are baptized into a family, a family that we all desperately need. We know this because we have missed our time together and it has begun to show.
This is why this moment, this pandemic, is the perfect opportunity for the Church to take inventory of its efforts to include a population of people who have been missing from our weekly gatherings.
The disability community has largely been left behind, when it comes to engagement in the local church. Now, with churches and church leaders exercising creative ways to engage their congregations, one can’t help but to think of the awakening that must take place in the Church as it relates to spending more time, resources, and energy in reaching those who were already absent from our churches prior to the pandemic.
Photo credit: Chris Montgomery on Unsplash.com.
If there is anything for the Church to learn during this crisis, it is that we are capable of creating churches that serve the disability community better.
Here are just a few ways to get started:
Create online support groups for families impacted by disability
Create dedicated social media pages, and video channels for disability related content and communication
Offer drive by parades for families with disabilities who are celebrating birthdays and other milestones
Create special audio mixes of prerecorded services for children or individuals with sensory challenges.
Provide closed captioned pre-recorded services for individuals/families impacted by hearing impairments
Offer new service times with watch parties of pre-recorded services for families impacted by disabilities.
As we continue to pray for all those directly impacted by this widespread pandemic, let us also take this time to leverage what we are learning so that the church can become more intentionally inclusive of the disability community.
“If we give up and turn our backs on all we’ve learned, all we’ve been given, all the truth we now know, we repudiate Christ’s sacrifice…” (Hebrews 10:26MSG)
Lamar Hardwick is the lead pastor of Tri-Cities Church in Atlanta, GA. Visit his website www.autismpastor.com for more information.
