Over the past few weeks, churches have had to reimagine church in order to bring the church to their congregation.

Many have wondered what will happen when we get back to “normal”.

Will congregations grow or will they diminish?

Will people realize they like watching church in their PJ’s and not return to the physical church?

As I was praying, God reminded me of a blog I had read, well actually a couple of them. I went back and did a search but couldn’t find the exact one. It was Thom Rainer’s top trends for the following year, and it said small community churches would make a comeback. 

What I did find were these blogs.

July 8, 2019

WHY SMALLER CHURCHES ARE MAKING A COMEBACK

Thom Rainer wrote:

Smaller churches are poised to make a comeback.
I’m serious. I see too many signs and indicators to believe otherwise.

December 30, 2019, Thom Rainer wrote in his blog Seven Trends for churches in 2020

So far, my prediction accuracy rate has been almost 90 percent, depending on how long you allow the trend to become a reality.
For me, three years is the timeframe by which I usually judge my accuracy.

As I continued my search for the blog I was looking for I found this one, also written by Thom Rainer, The Healthy Church in 2020: Ten major changes in ten years, dated June 10, 2019, written many months before the virus hit America.

The digital church will be clearly defined. Today, we debate about the digital church. Is the online church really a church?
By 2029, healthy churches will have settled that issue. I anticipate the digital church will be viewed as a vital and complementary component to the in-person church.

Well, I would say we are 9 years ahead of that prediction.

So when we get back to normal what have you learned and what will you change?

Is it a great time to get rid of systems that were in place because “that’s the way we have always done it”?

Last Sunday, March 22, 2020, was a test of the internet as churches everywhere scrambled to bring services into the homes of their congregations.

One pastor wrote:

“Today has been called “The day the Church broke the internet.”‬

He went on to say

‪”Here’s something else to consider. JESUS said …‬
“And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come” (Matthew 24:14).‬”

With the hashtag

‪#BeReady ‬

Right after that, I saw this posted:

“In three short months, just like He did with the plagues of Egypt, God has taken away everything we worship. God said, “you want to worship athletes, I will shut down the stadiums. You want to worship musicians, I will shut down Civic Centers.  You want to worship actors, I will shut down theaters. You want to worship money, I will shut down the economy and collapse the stock market. You don’t want to go to church and worship Me, I will make it where you can’t go to church”

“If my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.”

Maybe we don’t need a vaccine, Maybe we need to take this time of isolation from the distractions of the world and have a personal revival where we focus on the ONLY thing in the world that really matters. Jesus.”

As a church planter, but more importantly a Child of God… I think it is time to re-evaluate. God has taken away almost all the distractions of this world, (He has left us social media), so we still have a choice.  Spend time with Him or spend time with your thousands of Facebook friends who fill your head with gloom and doom?

As we spend time with family that is under roof, my prayer is that you look for God in all of this. Get out your Bible.  Read together. Talk it out. If you aren’t sure, send an email to your pastor, small group leader or trusted Godly mentor. Our church, Restoration Christian is starting to do regular online Bible Studies.

God is trying to get our attention and we have a choice as churches and people to continue with the status quo or ask God,

“You have my attention now what?”