Will churches stop in-person worship once again as the Delta variant of COVID-19 roars across the country? Will those churches that continue to meet in person return to requiring masks and social distancing? These are the urgent questions facing church…
Four common approaches to church after COVID separation
If you are re-evaluating your relationship with church, you are not alone. As we move from online worship and distanced activities to in-person church life, many decision moments come our way. This return to in-person church activities is a major…
I’m an infectious disease doctor: Here’s why pastors need to lead their flocks to be vaccinated
A local church is experiencing an outbreak of COVID-19. This in and of itself is not rant-worthy; it’s sad, but it hardly sets them apart. Except, as with most of the patients hospitalized nationwide with COVID, these patients are not…
Churches adapted rapidly to the pandemic, but there’s a mental health cost to that success
The rapid and creative responses churches made to address the COVID-19 pandemic created significant stresses on church leadership and laity both, one of the nation’s leading religion researchers said in a recent webinar. “The staggering amount of change that (occurred…
Letter to the Editor: We need churches that always speak of love, unity and mutual respect
July 6, 2021 Letter to the Editor Dear Editor: Bill Leonard recently wrote about Samuel S. Hill Jr., who in 1960 wrote: “The heart of the matter is that the ministry of the churches is ever more irrelevant to persons…
Less than half of American adults have a will, and few are reminded by their churches of why this is important
New research showing that 46% of U.S. adults have wills directing the distribution of their estates after death hardly came as a surprise to David King, director of the Lake Institute on Faith and Giving at Indiana University. “That percentage…
What to do if you unearth a history of slavery in your church, college or institution?
With increasing attention to the roots of American slavery in religious life, more churches and faith-based ministries that existed prior to the Civil War are unearthing truths they wish weren’t true. Then the hard questions arise: How should a church,…
More churches plan reopenings cautiously, joyfully and with flexibility
New CDC guidelines and a growing number of church members being vaccinated are suddenly opening new possibilities for churches that have been closed to in-person gatherings for 14 months. “The arrival and availability of the vaccine has been a welcomed…
Finding charity amidst the chaos one year into the coronavirus pandemic
One year ago in The Christian Citizen, we published the first in a series of articles on ministry responses to the coronavirus pandemic. “Charity amidst the chaos—When coronavirus comes to your neighborhood,” is Bryan Jackson’s firsthand account of the arrival…
One year later: Some musings on post-COVID culture and social ethics
When this column appears, it will be exactly one year since my last trip to the airport. One year since I lectured outside my own home or university. Just under one year since my Mercer classes went to Zoom for…
Religious communities can offer more to the coronavirus vaccination effort
As religious leaders of different traditions pose while receiving their initial injections of the coronavirus vaccine and even livestream their jab for congregants to see, I can’t help but think that we could do even more. Of course, talking positively…
What we’ve lost
The losses we’ve experienced due to coronavirus are both horribly easy to count — 465,000 dead in the United States alone — and yet invisibly painful. Especially for communities of faith, the relational losses often go unreported. Yet in conversation…