Written by: David Hood

Last year, early on in the pandemic I wrote two posts on the kinds of Christians we don’t need in a crisis. We are now currently battling the third wave of this virus with warnings that a fourth wave is inevitable if we don’t make changes, and now we’re hearing that we will most likely see the enhanced restrictions extend another two weeks into June. This has been a long year with a lot of loss and a lot of upsets. We are all exhausted and many of us are, as the New York Times recently put it, languishing. The capital c Church has had a lot of different reactions to this moment, to lockdowns, masks, public health guidelines and restrictions for public worship, and vaccines, and the longer this goes on the more volatile things get. In this 3 part series, instead of asking what kinds of Christians don’t we need right now, I’d like to ask what kinds of Christians do we need right now in this season of ever-increasing upheaval and disruption.

I would humbly suggest we need:

Christians who keep things in perspective. Too many Christians are focused exclusively on how lockdowns are impacting churches and as a result have developed a persecution-mindset where we are unduly suffering more than others or are the targets of greater, more discriminatory restrictions that have sinister intentions. Do the lockdowns create a potentially dangerous precedent for government interference in church life? Yes. Is there potential for future abuses as a result? Yes. Is that what is currently happening? No, I don’t believe so. Churches were actually, in Ontario, able to reopen quite early on in the pandemic, and in places like Ottawa, churches have been able to be open at 30% capacity for 8 out of 14 months thus far (for some churches, 30% is still hundreds of people!). There were even delays in implementing some restrictions which permitted Christmas gatherings.

Churches have had to pivot an exhausting amount, but so has everybody else. Churches have had to operate with a lot of restrictions, but so has everybody else. Many businesses had to do curbside pickup or delivery only, for months. No one was permitted inside their storefronts. Casinos, theatres, restaurants, event venues, museums have all been severely impacted, and, therefore, people’s livelihoods have been severely impacted. Thousands of restaurants across Canada have closed their doors permanently. Everywhere you go, masks, distancing, and occupancy limits are required and there are barriers between the general public and those providing goods and services. You might disagree with a lot of this but the point is churches are not uniquely affected or even disproportionately affected. One could argue Walmart and Costco should have been more restricted, and I would agree that that’s true and that shutting down small businesses while allowing big box stores to stay open and sell everything, not just groceries and pharmaceuticals, is inconsistent and counter-productive, but a lot of people in public health and political office have argued that as well! Our leaders have not led flawlessly or with perfect consistency. They have made mistakes and at times have been contradictory and too overzealous and have overreacted or overreached and critique and protest are warranted, but all of this is not necessarily the same thing as persecution or discrimination. Also, we don’t always know what’s behind certain decisions. For instance, I have heard many people decry as discriminatory the fact that liquor stores were open when church buildings were closed. Unfortunately, the reality of our society is that so many people are addicted to alcohol that if liquor stores closed that would cause its own public health crisis as large numbers of people would go into withdrawal and need beds in our already over-burdened hospitals in the midst of a pandemic. The decision to keep LCBO’s and Beer Stores open was expedient, tragically, not a statement.

I think we need to stop crying persecution. Most of our leaders are motivated by a desire to contain the spread of a contagious virus that disproportionately kills the elderly and the immuno-compromised. Their intentions are good, even if the execution sometimes misses the mark. They are not motivated by a desire to repress religion or to target Christians. There are restrictions on how we can meet, but not on whether we can meet (we are currently holding multiple services at 10 people each). These restrictions are not because of our faith but are in response to a public health crisis (something which is not historically unprecedented). These restrictions are temporary, not permanent. These restrictions are on our forms, but not on the substance or our message. These are all significant distinctions. I have not stopped preaching repentance of sin and faith in Jesus this entire pandemic and no one has asked me to. Our message has reached more people since we went online and we have not been censored. Last year in the summer we preached Jesus in a public park with absolutely no fear of repercussions. Many churches across the country have done the same. We have religious freedoms and rights and opportunities in this country that our brothers and sisters around the world can only dream of. We are not Pakistan or Afghanistan, Nigeria or Iran, Somalia or North Korea. We are not being persecuted just because in the midst of a public health crisis we are being required to not meet in large crowds indoors. If you want to oppose lockdowns or certain restrictions by all means go right ahead, but oppose them because of their negative impacts on society at large, or because the limits being placed on everybody’s rights are not reasonable or demonstrably justifiable, but not because they are a form of religious persecution. If you want to argue for loosened restrictions on religious services go right ahead, I’m probably there with you, but don’t argue from religious persecution.

I shudder to think what will happen to the Church in North America when real persecution actually comes, and it is coming but not on this front, I don’t think. In many ways, I feel all of this has been a distraction that has kept us fighting the wrong battles. When real persecution comes will we be divided and polarized, already war-weary and exhausted, and with almost all of our social capital, and perhaps even our financial capital, spent?

Christians who advocate for more than just their rights- We absolutely can advocate for the right to gather in person back at 15 or 30% with an increase for every colour code we get closer to green, especially since churches have been some of the safest environments for months now. Despite a couple of headline-making churches out west, most churches have reopened with great respect for public health protocols. Here is a petition initialized by Hope Bible Church in Oakdale and a letter written by the Canadian chapter of The Gospel Coalition that I think are well-worded, succinct, respectful, factual, and realistic (i.e. they aren’t demanding the removal of all restrictions for churches). But please, let’s not advocate only for our right to meet. This is where I think a lot of Christians are getting it wrong. We need to advocate beyond ourselves. What if Christians were known for advocating, not just for their religious rights and freedoms, but also for paid sick leave for essential workers, for more affordable housing, for a moratorium on evictions for those unable to pay rent, for affordable and accessible internet for everyone who needs it (telling people to just “go online” is useless if you have to choose between rent or food and an internet connection; quarantining well is a privilege). For better wages and benefits for those workers that our society has often taken for granted, but we now realize we can’t function without. For better, more accessible, and more holistic supports for people suffering from mental illness, addictions, or who are in the midst of a mental health crisis. For solutions to our unacceptable food insecurity problem (something that should not be a thing in the affluent West, where food waste is also a massive issue), and for fixes to mend our broken healthcare, long-term care, and prison systems (COVID has only exacerbated an already existing crisis in these places). This pandemic has exposed so many social disparities and has brought to the surface just how fragile and inadequate so many of our systems are. As Christians, we need to be advocating for all of this. I’m worried that too many of us are almost exclusively focused on the fight for our right to gather a certain way on Sundays. I think we’re missing our moment here.

In terms of when and whether to civilly disobey, I have found these articles here and here to be very helpful for me in navigating this question. There may come a time when civil disobedience is necessary, whether it be done publicly or more subtly and subversively. For instance, if casinos and theatres and strip clubs and restaurants were allowed to open up, and even mosques and synagogues, but churches had to stay closed, that would be manifestly unfair, unreasonable, unjustifiable, and discriminatory. That is not what is happening though.

In all of this, my heart is that I don’t want churches to be known for lawsuits and legal battles in a season where our society is fracturing and polarizing, and many of our neighbours are exhausted and languishing. I don’t want to see church budgets and reserves spent in courts when years of economic disruption, which will as always disproportionately affect the poor, are ahead of us. I don’t want to see us distracted from service and mission and neighbour-love as we fight for our rights. If we focus too much on getting Sundays as we knew them back right now, we might miss the bigger picture and unique opportunities. We might miss our neighbour. We might miss each other. And this expenditure of time and energy and resources to me feels especially unnecessary when most of the restrictions we’re opposing will probably not be there in 6 months time anyway and are not, as I’ve argued, about persecution. Maybe our rights are not what is of pre-eminent importance right now. This is not to say they don’t matter at all, they do, but as Christians, we need to take seriously that we worship and follow a guy who laid aside His rights to serve.

In my next post, I will continue to explore what kinds of Christians we need right now. Make no mistake, this could be a moment in history for the church, our moment. May Jesus give us wisdom.