Recently I heard Mark Batterson, author of The Circle Maker, cite some interesting information. He shared that the brain processes 100 bits of spoken information a second while the brain can process pictures at 1 billion bits per second. Isn’t that amazing? Now, how does this apply to the church? In Medieval times, the pictures in stained glass were used to preach and teach the Biblical stories. In this current time of a pandemic, we were thrown into a time of moving to online worship. With that shift, we went from mostly onsite spoken worship to online streaming video of worship. Video is the modern stain glass! In other words, this pandemic has caused us to move more to a worship medium that allows us to process information much more quickly. In addition, people remember pictures much more so than words. We have the opportunity to present the gospel in a new way that is fresh, innovative, and most importantly – memorable!
Back in March and April I had been sharing with anyone that would listen that we are in a time of opportunity. As the church has moved into an unprecedented time, there is so much opportunity. As Albert Einstein said, “In every crisis there is an opportunity.” My concern is that churches are not going to take advantage of this time of crisis. Instead, so many churches are just trying to get back to normal. The opportunity before us is to go forward in this crisis or even think about relaunching or restarting the church. Move forward! Do not go back!
This is a time to rethink church in every way possible. What does it mean to be the church in 2020 and beyond? What methods are we stuck in that are no longer missionally effective? If you were planting a church today, what kind of church would you plant to reach your neighborhood? This is not a time to tweak. This is a time to completely reimagine! How much time have you spent with your church leaders in prayer discerning what God’s preferred future for your church is? Not our preference – God’s preference!
This is a horrific time in history with many people have had a health crisis and/or even the death of loved ones. Yet, God makes all things new. Do not miss out on this opportunity! Do not waste this crisis without discerning how this time of disruption is leaving an open window of opportunity for the church and its mission to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world.