Once again, COVID stripped away the non-essentials. Today’s church attenders need staff who have a real and authentic relationship with Jesus and can easily see through those whose relationship is less than vibrant.
Growing churches value obedience over opulence. Who you are is more important than what you do.
Now preferably you want both—calling and skill. But growing churches would rather have an average person with great calling over someone with great skill and questionable calling.
4. Post-Pandemic Churches With Growing In-Person Attendance Are Seeker Aware, Not Seeker Sensitive
This will be tough for some to hear but the church is for Christians to collectively come together for encouragement and equipping, and then they go out into a lost and dying world to serve others and tell them about Jesus. The church is not for lost people and therefore, not primary in the organizational decision-making process.
Are non-Christians welcome at church? Absolutely! Do we want to intentionally be offensive to them? Absolutely not! Should the church be an attractive alternative to what people face on daily basis? Absolutely!
In fact, that is how I became a Christian. I wanted what the people at Acworth United Methodist Church had so bad I could taste it. May unchurched people should say the same thing when they visit our churches. But this can only be done if the people of the church are equipped for righteous living and holiness.
Growing churches prioritize personal holiness over programming and performance. Who you are is more important than what you do.
Once again, post-pandemic churches are aware non-Christians attend but are primarily focused on equipping their members to reach those who don’t know Christ yet.
5. Post-Pandemic Churches With Growing In-Person Attendance Are Aggressively Evangelistic And Elevate Jesus Above All Else
A common thought-process pre-COVID was Jesus harms trust. Therefore, we need to host events and services where He is rarely, if ever, mentioned. Once the people trust us, then we can talk about Him.
This approach is misguided and faulty at best, heretical at worst.
People need Jesus and do not be confused, they know it. When Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin collapsed on the field last year, people dropped to their knees in prayer. Both teams were praying. The entire nation was called to pray for this young man. Even ESPN’s Dan Orlovsky prayed to Jesus for his healing power on national television. For a full transcript, click ESPN’s Dan Orlovsky’s On-Air Prayer For Damar Hamlin (Full Transcript Included).
Here’s the thing, there was no outrage. No one got angry. The ACLU was not crying out about these overt prayers to Jesus. No Muslims, agnostics, and other streams of thought were upset. No advertising boycotts were called for. No one felt infringed upon. My heavens, even the Twitterverse supported praying for Damar Hamlin.
