Actscelerate.com

In reality, what do you expect your first service back...

Acts Mod Posts: 25305 **3/31/20 7:51 am**

To br like?
An Easter with decline to follow?
Steady upturn?
Any predictions?
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Doctor of Bovinamodulation

[Insert Acts Pun Here] Posts: 13654 **3/31/20 8:09 am**

A raucous celebration.

Our church is glad to be loving our neighbors through the suspension of our public gatherings, but on Facebook and in online community group meetings there is such a growing hunger for the physical gathering and fellowship of the saints. It is something you take for granted when you have open-ended access to it.

We are expecting to explode with joy when we are able to enjoy that grace once more.

Acts Enthusiast Posts: 1865 **3/31/20 9:08 am**

I anticipate a time of great rejoicing. I think we will see a surge in attendance initially. Some of that will remain after things return to normal. But many will return to business as usual just like after 9/11.

Site Admin Posts: 3222 **3/31/20 10:31 am**

This is a great, forward-thinking question! Thanks for asking it.

Along these same lines, I can imagine an end to the "stay at home" orders, "safer at home" policies, and curfews causing the country's many extraverts to just spend as much time as possible around people for a while. If I was a pastor, I think I would assume that the first day of the end of quarantine will not be on a Sunday. If that is the case, I would be planning now with the church staff to have a time of fellowship, celebration, and thanksgiving before the first Sunday back.

For the sake of discussion, let's assume that quarantine ends for sections of the country on April 30. (I do not think this is realistic, but it's how long the federal guidelines are suggesting for now.) I would be planning now to announce a two or three hour time of fellowship at church on Saturday, May 2. The focus would be purely celebrational and would include a prayer of thanksgiving but not a sermon. This lets the extraverts "get their wiggles out" before Sunday morning. Not everyone will choose to come, but I think those who God has created to need lots of interpersonal interaction will really be ministered to. These people are going to find a way to just spend time with other people one way or another, and if the church community does not offer it, they are likely to spend the weekend with friends rather than going to church on Sunday. No judgment here; this is how God made them. But perhaps the church can facilitate this time of reconnecting with one's community from which they have been separated for so long.

I do think the resumption of community life will be slower for others. Some will see the death and destruction that took place as a result of normal interaction with society and will likely want to remain cautious for a while before resuming social interaction. No judgment of those people either. As a result, I would not expect an explosion of church attendance because I think some will taper back in only after they are convinced this wave of COVID-19 has passed. This disease will not stop suddenly; it will taper out along "the curve" we've heard so much about. I think things are going to become a lot more like NYC for the rest of our nation in the next 2-3 weeks, and many will be traumatized by the experience. So much death and lifelong bodily destruction caused by a virus that gets passed around for so many days before symptoms appear or without symptoms appearing. There is likely also going to be a time of mass-grieving as the public recovers from its adrenaline high of survival mode and for the first time has the chance to really grieve those who have lost their lives and the incredible damage to the economy. (Keep in mind that where the virus hits hardest, public funerals will not be allowed, and this will be the first chance some have to grieve the loss of loved ones as a community.) In the same way that the Great Depression scarred many people for their entire lives, many will be scarred by this event.
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Acts-perienced Poster Posts: 11849 **3/31/20 9:16 pm**

My guess is there will be a trickle back.
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[Insert Acts Pun Here] Posts: 12817 **3/31/20 10:28 pm**

So far, I am very much enjoying drive-in church and broadcasting via Facebook live. Iâ€™m expecting to be doing this until midsummer. It will be great to shake hands and hug necks again, but Iâ€™m enjoying the big change of pace with drive-in church.

Living in Florida...

Hon. Dr. in Acts-celeratology Posts: 6042 **4/1/20 8:35 am**

I am ALL for doing Facebook church during the torrid summers. Or, if not that, then move to Canada for the summer.

Other than that, let's have church!