There are voices in the larger evangelical world that are finding the silver lining, and even celebrating, the shift of American Christianity en masse to online worship services. Attractional church growth guru, Carey Nieuhwhof, has claimed, with much enthusiasm, that “church growth” spiked 300% last month as people began sitting on couches and around kitchen tables on Sunday mornings.

I’m highly skeptical.

In my mind, any fruitful metric of “church growth” which is exclusively tied to digital content ceases to have much legitimacy. Neiuhwhof champions the idea that online worship removes the obstacles to church attendance because “church” is simply a click away and therefore “digital church has a much lower barrier to participation”.  The problem is that “participation” of online worship lowers the bar to such an extent as to beg the question of whether this “church” is attracting consumers (to digital content) or raising up worshipers (of the Triune God).

As Mike Frost writes, “If you’re winning people to a ten or fifteen minute viewing of a prepackaged worship and teaching experience, devoid of community, mission, correction, reconciliation or justice, you’re not growing the church. You’re fostering religious consumers.”

Online Worship ≠ Church

We already live in a cultural moment where a person kayaks on the river or takes a run on the beach on a Sunday morning and posts a picture to Instagram with #church. Evangelicalism’s long confused love affair with its muddled ecclesiology seems to be at a potential tipping point during the coronavirus crisis. Tim Challies asks, “If we all stream our services, will anyone ever come back?” The fact that this is now a question reveals evangelicalism’s shaky foundation: the church’s orientation has been inverted with man at the center, as churches bend over backwards to “attract new customers” with exciting content, quick fixes for felt needs, and instant community.

You might notice from the outset that TWC has labeled its online hiatus an “online worship experience”.  No mention is made of the word “church”. Because what we are trying to simulate during these days is just that – a simulation of the real thing. We would be wise not to confuse the simulation with the real thing or believe that the simulation could ever replace the actual.

A church that worships the Triune God recognizes that humanity was made for relational connection (God is Father, Son, & Holy Spirit).  Disciples who follow the Incarnate One are meant to incarnate truth and grace in a community of real relationships. An individualized, fuzzy spirituality devoid of the body of Christ is not a recipe for church but for navel-gazing “experience-ism”, an increasingly common and cheap substitute for church in our particular moment in time.

Participation or Consumption?

From sizing up my own “participation” of online worship and hearing about the experiences of others, the axiom “the medium is the message” seems dangerously close to reality. On our TV or computers, we are accustomed to short bursts of engagement thru constantly searching for (entertaining or educational) content that suits our fancy. Our attention is minimal and the engagement is impersonal. We can hide behind a screen where we are never fully known. We pause the service as kids or pets or more exciting content (perhaps on a second device?) interrupt our disengaged participation again and again.

Sure, wearing pajamas to “church” seems like a cool idea until you filter this participation thru the prophet Isaiah’s weighty encounter with the holiness of Yahweh (in Isaiah 6) or meditate on the beloved disciple John falling down “as though dead” before the glory of God in his magnificent vision of God (Rev. 1:17).

I, for one, won’t be celebrating our pivot to online worship services but practicing lament as the body of Christ grieves a significant loss.

*****

See also: During a time of disorientation and canceled gatherings, what might God be teaching the Church during COVID-19? Leaning into these few, precious opportunities could prove immensely fruitful: “Opportunities for the Church during its Online Hiatus”.

Online church is not church.

Let’s get that straight from the get-go. (We’ll delve deeper into that reality with the next post “The Dark Side for the Church during its Online Hiatus”.) 

Yet even in the hardest of times, God is a God who habitually brings life out of death, light out of darkness, and triumph and strength out of times of conflict and weakness. So what could be the positive effects on the church during its online hiatus due to COVID-19?

PUTTING FAITH BACK INTO THE FAMILY

The church is meant to play a secondary role in the spiritual nurture and intentional discipleship of our children and students. The priority of the family in faith formation is a long-standing God-ordained way the faith is passed to the next generation.

In Israel, families practiced the daily recitation of the Shema (Shema  שְׁמַ֖ע is derived from the first word “hear” of Deut. 6:4-9). The Shema begins with the confession of Yahweh alone being their God and Israel being a monotheistic people:

Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Deut. 6:4

The Shema proceeds to the central commandment to love Yahweh. (“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might” Deut. 6:5.)

Yet, quite noticeably, the context of this instruction to love Yahweh occurs not in the Tabernacle, nor in the future-built Temple, nor in the Holy City of Jerusalem but in the midst of family life. (Read Deut. 6:6-9!)

No mention is made of the priests. No mention of a sanctuary. No mention of Sunday school or youth group.

Faithful Israelites are given a holy and solemn charge: “You shall teach them [God’s words/commandments] diligently to your children.” Where? “In your house.” When? “When you lie down and when you rise.” The command implicitly charges Israel’s fathers and mothers: you need to get equipped to be the primary teachers of the faith to your children.

Not surprisingly, in the New Testament, God charges leaders in the church, including pastors and teachers, “to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ” (Eph. 4:12). Pastors and teachers are called to equip; the saints (meaning all Christians, including fathers and mothers) are called to carry out “the work of ministry”.  

If you feel ill-equipped in the discipleship of your child, then you should beat down the door of the teachers and pastors of your church so they can disciple you in the faith until you are equipped for this life-defining work. Christian parents need to get well-acquainted with the Bible (reading the Word), sound Christian doctrine (knowledge of the Word), and spiritual practices (the rhythms & habits that nurture faith) to pass on the faith onto their children. 

As COVID-19 strips away the gathered church, faith has an opportunity to flourish in its God-ordained setting – in the context of the family.[1]

Key Question: Are the spiritual rhythms and habits you are currently practicing during COVID-19 able to sustain, by the grace of God, your child’s faith into adulthood? 

EXCHANGING CONSUMER CHRISTIANITY FOR SIMPLER VERSIONS OF CHURCH

I love what Brett McCracken writes: “In the COVID-19 quarantine, the clunky, unpolished computer-church experience will decidedly not be the easiest or most comfortable option for how people spend their Sundays. It will be a countercultural choice. And that’s a good thing.” 

Even in our denomination, one of the largest churches in ECO (with a paid media team) has experienced technical problems during COVID-19 that resulted in many people not being able to participate in its Sunday morning worship.

During COVID-19, we have to remember that the Christian faith is predominantly thriving in places on our planet (like Africa & Latin America) that are most removed from the consumer-driven metrics that characterize the western church. Could it be that the simple biblical gospel does not need to be adorned by electric guitars and fast-paced activities for children and youth? 

Key Question: Are you being a consumer or a worshiper during COVID-19? What can you learn about the simplicity of the faith during these days of quarantine?

Giving “UNTO GOD” rather than for (consumer) SERVICES-RENDERED

Many churches have been scrambling to piece together emergency budgets and dramatically cut costs during a downshift of congregational giving as church services have moved online.

Will the coronavirus teach the American church that giving, first and foremost, is a God-centered activity that honors God rather than being a horizontal, transactional activity that gives for “services rendered”?  If our giving is in proportion to “how happy I am with my church” or “how wonderful the music is” or “how good the preacher performs”, then we have succumbed to a very human-centered transaction in our giving. 

Ironically, as the church moves online, online giving has the potential to depict  something beautiful about the nature of giving itself.  Whether the person is present (or not) in worship during a given weekend or whether the church is meeting face-to-face (or not) during the coronavirus, giving is primarily meant to be an expression of our worship of God.  Primarily, congregational giving is to be found on the Godward side of life, with a God-centered direction in its basic orientation.  

Key Question: Is my giving “unto the Lord” or for (consumer) “services rendered”?

A Word of Hope

The coronavirus is shaking up our world in enormous ways. Wouldn’t it be great if the church could emerge from this shake-up with more resolute father and mothers convinced of the necessity to teach the faith in the home? If the church began to be filled with Christians less beholden to and less impressed with the consumer-driven circumference of the faith and more fixed upon the Jesus as the center of the faith?  

There are positive possibilities for the church. Let those who have ears to hear and eyes to see, lean into a Jesus-centered, family-nurtured, simple gospel that awakens our hearts and prepares our souls to journey through even the hardest of times in our world.

*****

[1] As a church, TWC is providing a “Living Room Liturgy” that, quite honestly, might be more important during these days for your family than the actual online service because fathers and mothers can “incarnate” the faith in a discussion based on actual knowledge of your own children’s faith needs. You can pray with and over your children. Even the simple action of seeing mom or dad opening their Bibles intentionally at home can leave long-lasting impressions on children for the rest of their lives.

Note: “Living Room Liturgy” is found on the “Online Worship Experience” on the TWC website.

IDEA #1: Download TWC’s HOLY WEEK DEVOTION. Walk with Jesus through the final days of his earthly life. Be guided through Holy Week by daily Scriptures and meditative questions.

IDEA #2: John Piper’s NPR interview on suffering and the sovereignty of God after the devastating 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami that killed 250,000 people is one of the best pastoral responses to the problem of suffering that I’ve heard. As the coronavirus continues to grow, Christians should equip themselves now to answer this thorny theological problem that plagues both believers and non-believers alike.

IDEA #3: Watch and listen to what my friend, Dr. Kevin DeYoung, calls “one of the best sermons I’ve ever heard”. R.C. Sproul’s sermon on “The Curse Motif of the Atonement” at the Together for the Gospel conference in 2008 helps you meditate on the weighty truth of Galatians 3:13: “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree’”.

“Absolute seriousness is never without a dash of humor.”

This is one of my favorite quotes from one of my favorite theologians. Dietrich Bonhoeffer knew a thing or two about living in solemn times, spending his last days in a Nazi concentration camp before his death for trying to “drive a spoke into the wheel” of Hitler’s cruel regime.

When I arrived in Equatorial Guinea, I remember a Brazilian missionary telling me, “If you don’t learn to laugh, you’ll end up crying.” The trials and travails of living in Central Africa called forth not only the harder edges of your character (courage, grit, resiliency) but also the softer edges, particularly the ability to laugh. On the face of it, Africa, which often sits on the hot-seat of human suffering, would not seem poised to be a place of joviality and laughter. Yet visitors to Sub-Saharan Africa are consistently caught off-guard and taken aback by the joviality and laughter of its peoples, diverse as they are. 

We Floridians are peculiar people, too. We often have a birds-eye view of the most devastating effects of hurricanes, yet, at the same time, we have an ability to make endless jokes and devastatingly funny memes while the cone of uncertainty barrels its way towards our houses and communities.

What gives?

Of course, I raise the question because our nation is now mimicking the response of Floridians to hurricanes, as my social media feed bounces back and forth between absolute seriousness and light-hearted humor in response to the novel coronavirus.

What gives? 

Maybe humor is truly cathartic. It seems like humor is acting like a gigantic stress-reliever in the midst of our collective anxiety. 

Maybe humor soothes our fears.  If we can laugh at something, then perhaps we are freed from living in its shackles or in its debilitating prison of fear.

Maybe humor is hopeful, which communicates a certain type of defiance in the midst of our trials and sufferings.

From time to time, I’ve reflected on my own pilgrimage with humor. I feel like I returned at 24 years of age, after a year in Central Africa, a genuinely more jovial person. Yet, I undoubtedly saw more extreme poverty and kept my heart closer to human suffering during that year than ever before in my life.

What I do know is this: the range of our human emotions is a gift from God. 

A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones. ~ Proverbs 17:22

Even in laughter the heart may ache,
    and the end of joy may be grief.~ Proverbs 14:13

A happy heart makes the face cheerful,
    but heartache crushes the spirit. ~ Proverbs 15:13

All the days of the oppressed are wretched,
    but the cheerful heart has a continual feast. ~ Prov. 15:15

The Counsel of Jesus for Anxiety (Matthew 6:25-34)

The following is a highly redacted blog based on Sunday’s sermon on March 22, 2020

The date was September 13, 1541 – dangerous and chaotic times for a Protestant Reformer. After an exiled absence of three and a half long years from the city of Geneva, John Calvin resumed his pastorate by opening up the Scriptures – picking up in exactly the place he had left off in the book of Psalms – before being exiled.

For Calvin, it was bold statement that no matter the times, no matter the trials, no matter the challenging exile and persecution that he faced, the expositional preaching of the Word of God verse-by-verse would be the foundation of his ministry.  Why?  Calvin was convinced that people needed a verse-by-verse exposition of the Word of God for their faith, to face the trying times in which they lived, and for their own spiritual growth & building up in the gospel of Christ.

Since early December, our church has been journeying through a verse-by-verse exposition of the Sermon on the Mount. For our text, we picked up yesterday -- not in exactly the same place  -- but in the same sermon of Jesus in Matthew 6:25-34.

Consider the following:

Anxiety disorders are now the most common mental illness in the U.S., affecting 18% of the population every year – 40 million adults.

Recent studies have shown that Anxiety disorders affect 25.1% of children between 13 and 18 years of age.

It is estimated that 15% of the adult US population will experience a depression at some point in their lifetime.

Depression is the leading cause of suicide about every 12 minutes; over 41,000 people every year commit suicide in the U.S. alone.

As Soren Kirkegaard put it, “No grand inquisitor has in readiness such terrible tortures as anxiety.”  Max Lucado pinpoints accurately the challenge facing all of us during the coronavirus: “Feed your fears and your faith will starve. Feed your faith, and your fears will starve.”  Friends, what are you feeding on during the coronavirus?  Are you feeding your fears or are you feeding your faith? 

In his Sermon on the Mount, Jesus commands us three times against anxiety:

Vs. 25:  Therefore, I tell you, do not be anxious about your life.

Vs. 31: Therefore, do not be anxious.

Vs. 34: Therefore, do not be anxious about tomorrow.

In Matthew 6:25-34, Jesus gives us practical counsel for overcoming anxiety; beginning at the end of the passage and working backwards through the passage, let’s delve into three ideas from the text:

1.    Overcome worry by a relentlessly enjoying TODAY (vs. 34).

Vs. 34: Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.

WORRY arises in your life when MENTALLY you are PARKED in the WRONG TIME ZONE. 

Friends, imaginary burdens are the toughest burdens to carry.  If you are trying to carry the imaginary and impossible burdens of tomorrow, that is a weight you can never bear. In fact, the energy and mental exertion that comes into your life when you try to carry tomorrow’s imaginary burdens only serve to diminish your strength for today. Anxiety often tries to carry “imaginary burdens” — burdens that do not yet exist because they have not yet arisen in time!

As George McDonald wrote:  “No man ever sank under the burden of the day. It is when tomorrow’s burden is added to the burden of today, that the weight is more than a man can bear.”

So it’s a paradox: you think your worry is helping yourself tomorrow, but what you are really doing is crushing yourself today. You may need to practice a mantra based on vs. 34: “Sufficient for the day…sufficient for the day…sufficient for the day” whenever your mind begins to worry or your heart begins to beat with anxiety.

2.    Overcome worry by relentlessly pursing RIGHTEOUSNESS (vs. 31-33).

Worry arises in your life when you love the wrong things in the wrong order. It’s that simple.  Human beings were designed by the Creator to prioritize certain pursuits as central to our lives.

So if a human being is running off the track designed by God – with priorities and pursuits that are out of whack – don’t you think that driving a train off a cliff or barreling a train into a forest would produce worry and anxiety for the conductor?

The pivotal question that Jesus is setting up for you to ponder is this:  Are you primarily concerned about “seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness”? Or, you concerned primarily about secondary concerns in life? 

Our lives get off track when we begin to say things like “I can have it all,” or “I can be double-minded in my pursuits”, as if we alone are capable of living a “super-human” life without boundaries or rightly ordered priorities and pursuits.

Worry arises in your life when you love the wrong things in the wrong order.

3.    Overcome worry by relentlessly resting in God’s Sovereign Care (vs. 25-30).

Worry arises in your life is when you rely on the WRONG TYPE of CARE and CONTROL – namely YOURS. Worry is a control issue.  Worry is a trust issue.  

Worry comes down to this: “I am the only one that I trust.” That’s what you are saying to God when you worry.  “God I don’t trust you, I must be in control.” “God, I don’t have any desire to release control to you.”  Worry is a control issue and a trust issue; and, therefore, it’s a heart issue.

Jesus makes a classic rabbinic argument, arguing from the lesser (birds, lilies of the field) to the greater (to human beings made in the image of God, the crown of the creation). Jesus asks rhetorically: “Are you not of more value than they?” (vs. 26).

Can you ponder the lower parts of creation and learn to rest in God’s sovereign care over your life?  God longs for you to live a worry-free, anxious-free life.  Learn to rest in God’s sovereign care for your life and see the worry and anxiety begin to evaporate from your life.

Follow-Up Guest Post by Lisa Carter

A Song to Calm an Anxious Heart


Scriptures to Calm an Anxious Heart

Joshua 1:9   

Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.

John 14:27   

Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.

Psalm 112:6-7

6 For the righteous will never be moved;
    he will be remembered forever.
7 He is not afraid of bad news;
    his heart is firm, trusting in the Lord.

Isaiah 41:10

fear not, for I am with you;
    be not dismayed, for I am your God;
I will strengthen you, I will help you,
    I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.

Psalm 34:4

 I sought the Lord, and he answered me
    and delivered me from all my fears.

2 Timothy 1:7

7 for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.

Deuteronomy 31:6

6 Be strong and courageous. Do not fear or be in dread of them, for it is the Lord your God who goes with you. He will not leave you or forsake you.”

Matthew 11:28-30

Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

Philippians 4:6-7

do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.  And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Isaiah 12:2

 “Behold, God is my salvation;
    I will trust, and will not be afraid;
for the Lord God is my strength and my song,
    and he has become my salvation.”

Isaiah 43:1-2

   But now thus says the Lord,
he who created you, O Jacob,
    he who formed you, O Israel:
“Fear not, for I have redeemed you;
    I have called you by name, you are mine.
 When you pass through the waters, I will be with you;
    and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you;
when you walk through fire you shall not be burned,
    and the flame shall not consume you.

Zephaniah 3:17

  The Lord your God is in your midst,
    a mighty one who will save;
he will rejoice over you with gladness;
    he will quiet you by his love;
he will exult over you with loud singing.

Romans 8:39

 nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Psalm 42:5

 Why are you cast down, O my soul,
    and why are you in turmoil within me?
Hope in God; for I shall again praise him,
    my salvation.

Psalm 46:1

 God is our refuge and strength,
    a very present help in trouble.

Psalm 56:3

 When I am afraid,
    I put my trust in you.

Psalm 62:8

 Trust in him at all times, O people;
    pour out your heart before him;
    God is a refuge for us.

Psalm 4:8

 In peace I will both lie down and sleep;
    for you alone, O Lord, make me dwell in safety.

Psalm 27:14

 Wait for the Lord;
    be strong, and let your heart take courage;
    wait for the Lord!

Psalm 9:10

 And those who know your name put their trust in you,
for you, O Lord, have not forsaken those who seek you.

Psalm 40:11

 As for you, O Lord, you will not restrain
    your mercy from me;
your steadfast love and your faithfulness will
    ever preserve me!

Psalm 119:50

This is my comfort in my affliction,
    that your promise gives me life.

Psalm 143:8

 Let me hear in the morning of your steadfast love,
    for in you I trust.
Make me know the way I should go,
    for to you I lift up my soul.

Isaiah 26:3

 You keep him in perfect peace
    whose mind is stayed on you,
    because he trusts in you.

Matthew 6:34

Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.

Philippians 4:6

do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.

1 Peter 5:10

 And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you.

Isaiah 40:11

 He will tend his flock like a shepherd;
    he will gather the lambs in his arms;
he will carry them in his bosom,
    and gently lead those that are with young.

Isaiah 54:10

 For the mountains may depart
    and the hills be removed,
but my steadfast love shall not depart from you,
    and my covenant of peace shall not be removed,”
    says the Lord, who has compassion on you.

2 Corinthians 12:9-10

 But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

1 Peter 5:7

casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.

Philippians 4:8

Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.