He's more concerned with how we do it
Over the course of the last eight weeks, I have had a ton of conversations with pastors who are wrestling through what reopening their building looks like. In some ways, the conversations are encouraging: pastors are leaning into the hard work and thinking well through this process. In other ways, these calls are heartbreaking: the divided state of our nation has forced pastors into a no-win situation where regardless of what they decide, someone will let them know how stupid they are being.
On Sunday morning I watched Pastor Kevin Myers of 12Stone Church walk through how they are approaching reopening their building. Kevin used the metaphor of a traffic light to describe three types of people right now: red light people are not ready to go back out, yellow light people are being cautious, and green light people have been back to normal for weeks. He then said something that describes where the Church needs to be better than anything I have heard so far:
"We are not a green, yellow or red light church. We are a Traffic Light Church with all lights on. We should honor one another's opinions."
Let that sink in.
Regardless of when we go back, I am pretty convinced that God cares more about how we go back, how we treat people as we think through this, and how we care for those whose opinions differ from ours.
I think the world around us cares about this too.
You can see the whole service here or you can watch below, it is well worth your time:
As you wrestle through these decisions and shepherd your people, I am praying for you.
Matt
PS. It's not too late to sign up for tomorrow's Now What? Webinar. We know that the current pandemic is changing everything about the church, at least temporarily. Join Darrell Roland, Caleb Smith, Matt Steen and Todd Rhoades as we talk about what Chemistry Staffing is learning during this time, and what long-term changes we think COVID-19 will bring to the way that you staff your church in the future. This will be a great conversation... click here to register!
