Five Modest Proposals for Post-Covid Churches - Introduction

This is the introduction to a five-part blog series.

Five Modest Proposals for Post-Covid Churches

Some day this pandemic will end. Some day we will go back to "normal." And if we do go back to "normal," then we’ve failed. We don’t need "normal." We need new. New social safety nets, new healthcare systems, new political structures, new communal leaders, new respect for science, new relationships with each other, new economic realities, and more.

I think schools will change. I think office cultures will change. I think fashion will change. I think how we use our time will change. I think a lot will change after this virus. Again, if we don’t change, we’ve failed.

I’m the pastor of a church. A good liberal, caring, smart church. And sometimes we get stuck in our ways. So I’ve been thinking about how church should change. (Again, if we don’t change we’ve failed.) I’ve got lots of ideas on how churches may change. Big ideas, small ideas. Ideas for my local congregation, Ideas for communities of faith that are like mine—regular, white-columned, red-bricked, solid, choir-in-the-loft, flowers-on-Easter, do-good-in-the-world kind of churches. I'm sharing five ideas.

These ideas may also work for evangelical mega-churches or for tiny rural churches. These changes may work for synagogues, temples, and mosques as well. You can probably stretch out these changes for PTAs, neighborhood groups, and some businesses. I’m saying these are proposals for churches, but if these changes make sense for your group, then have at it.

Each proposal is about one-page (or 450 words) long. You can click on the links below to read the five proposals. Or if your attention span is really short (like mine is) these days, here’s a one-sentence summary for each modest proposal.

ModestProposal #1. Quit preaching. Start praying. 

• Sermons as one-way lectures need to die (or shrink), and people need to have more time for really sharing life together. 

ModestProposal #2. Quit preaching crap. Start preaching real shit.

• Whiny sermons and over-smart sermons need to die and churches need to wrestle--in real language--with real problems.

ModestProposal #3. Burn the pews for firewood.

• People need to see each other's faces faces and be able to hear each other's voices, not sit on lines where they only see the backs of other people's heads.

ModestProposal #4. Stop begging for Sunday School teachers. Start training farmers.

• Churches should start using lawns, window sills, and container garden to grow vegetables. 

ModestProposal #5. Don’t get married. Just live together.

• Churches should give up their individual buildings and share space with other congregations.