A Case Study for Reopening Churches
At the time of this posting, pastors everywhere are looking at reopening churches following COVID-19. They’ve spent the last two months doing everything possible to keep the Body connected. And from the contacts I’ve had, these pastors have done an amazing job.
Now, it’s time to get back to meeting in person. The Church has remained the Church throughout this time. In fact, most churches have increased visibility and service to the community by meeting physical and spiritual needs in and out of the church.
Zoom calls have become the norm for most churches. But as good as video conferencing is, there is nothing like meeting in person to worship together, being challenged from the Word and enjoying the fellowship of other believers. These are the types of things that get church leaders so excited about reopening churches.
Generation Church Reopening
We met up with Lead Pastor Ryan Visconti of Generation Church in Mesa, Arizona. In this 15:34 interview he talked with us about the things going through his mind as he prepared to reopen the church two weeks ago on Sunday, May 17th.
One of Generation Church team members flew to Fellowship Church in Dallas to learn how they were navigating the re-gathering of the physical body of the church. Ideas like putting smiles on face masks or with words like “I’m smiling” written on the mask helped put some fun into the reopening.
I think you’ll find Ryan’s description of including Kids Ministry in their reopening, and how that went for them, fascinating. He talks about their decision relative to masks for people attending the church and how they handled that with key volunteers.
They really did a very thorough job in keeping the restrooms spotless and germ free after every use. How they seated people, bringing them in and releasing them, was clearly different than church as we knew it before, but it made sense.
It was interesting to hear his take on how they set up their auditorium. This is a very real issue for lots of pastors. And of course, churches that set up chairs can handle things differently than churches with fixed seating.
How Are You Reopening Your Church?
I think you’ll find the interview fascinating and frankly, I’d love to hear how you’re processing the reopening of your church.
Reopening churches is going to be a process full of unknowns, trial and error, and a lot of planning. We pray you have a very successful reopening of your church and that this summer leads and begins to build momentum to the greatest fall your church has ever known.
And by the way, if you haven’t availed yourself of the free 14-day access to the Leveraging Momentum series, just click here to get it. No obligation. Have it for 14 days and put things in place for the momentum God is preparing to send your way.
In the meantime, have at it, my friend!
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