After COVID-19, Will They Return to Church?

I’ve been thinking about the imminent reality that there will be a time that each one of us asks ourselves, “When the time is right, will I return to church?” Sure there are a significant number, possibly yourself, who never left. Maybe you are a clergy member, a church employee, or fearless faithful who simply would not stop going, pandemic, or no pandemic. But I am not addressing this group. I am thinking of those who have not regularly attended in-person worship, meeting or class, since the beginning of the pandemic. After COVID-19, will they return to church?

What does “safe” mean?

On one hand, it’s easy to assume that when it’s “safe,” everyone should resume normal activity, including church activities. If we did it before the interruption, we will go back to our normal activities after the pandemic. But is that really an assumption that we should make?

The word “safe” should be explored. Safe to return will not be the same for everyone, just as going into public is not. There are many factors that come into play when one considers what safe means to them, including fear of infection, lost work due to absence, elderly or other at risk family members, and the list goes on. 

Those considering returning to church will also include church safety protocols that have been implemented, or better, what are being perceived by church members. If anyone feels that their church is not practicing appropriate safety measures, they will be hesitant to return.

The day will come.

But there will come a day for each of us when vaccinations have been tested and proven safe, widely distributed, the infection rates drops to a rate equal or less to that of influenza, and we cannot logically live in extreme fear. That is the day, and will be different for everyone, when the question arises, “Will I return to church?”

Why should people return?

On the other hand, why should people come back to church? There may be many logical reasons, but how will they hold up post-COVID.

• Because they went pre-COVID? This seems logical enough. Like a rubber band will snap back to its original form many may be inclined to snap back to previous routines.
• Because we want them to? Despite the desire for others to do the “right thing,” people will do what they want and what they feel is in their best interest.
• Because we need them to? Let’s face it, without church membership, our churches will lose the opportunity to reach and impact lives. Without tithing, our infrastructures will become unstable.
• Because if they can partake in other activities outside the house, they can attend mass and other church activities? Logical, yes, but is it appropriate to make someone feel guilty about their decisions as an incentive for them to do what we want them to do?
• Because they find values in their relationship with God and feel they are part of a community? We hope and pray this is the case, but after a pandemic, what evidence have they seen to support the presence of God and community in their lives?
• Because during the pandemic we loved them enough? Have we let each parishioner know that we love them and they matter to our church community? Or, as we prepare to welcome our parishioners back to church, will their experience be that we have not successfully let them know that we love and care for them and have proven that sufficiently along the way? After COVID-19, Will They Return to Church?

What can we do to encourage return?

My feelings are that we as church workers, the group who responded to a vocational call to promote the Gospel of Jesus Christ, have had and still have an opportunity to love our communities back to church. 

Think about it. If when the mainstream opinion is that the pandemic is under control and it is safe to resume normal activities (likey under altered post-covid conditions such as sustained cleaning, sanitization, and some degree of PPE and social distancing), will we simply expect people to return if they haven’t heard from us during the pandemic? Do we say it’s safe to return and expect them to? Do we guilt trip or rationalize them into coming? Or have we accompanied them through the isolation, not simply streaming mass or sending blanket emails to the community as our temporary relationship with them?

To be fair, I know that many of us have reached out to individuals from our congregations. From personal phone calls to postcards, letters, mailing weekly bulletins and the like. And it can certainly be overwhelming in smaller and especially larger congregations to execute such activities. But have we kept so busy with activities, programming, and isolated responses that we have missed the forest for the trees? 

Isolation equals opportunity.

Yes, we have an opportunity to show our members that we care. And it’s not too late for us to practice what we preach. The day is coming, and when people consider why they would come back to church, let’s give them a good reason. The best reason is because we cared and we loved them. Let’s love them back so that we do not have to fear the question. After COVID-19, will they return to church?