What is the church's role during the global coronavirus outbreak? New offerings and resources from the Faith & Leadership archives can help in these difficult times.
COVID-19
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Paul A. Baxley: Easter is not canceled if we do not gather
Because Christ is alive and has gone ahead of us, the ministry of the church can be carried out in homes and through relationships, in the smallest of settings. That is how it was in the beginning -- and how it needs to be in this moment, writes the executive coordinator of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship.
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Melissa Florer-Bixler: Resisting busyness in the time of COVID-19
Pastors can be tempted to fill this time of fear with overproductivity. We need to resist that urge.
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Resources for Christian leaders during the coronavirus pandemic
We update this list of information from government and media sources at least twice a week to offer guidance to pastors and other Christian leaders struggling to respond to the pandemic of COVID-19.
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A. Trevor Sutton: Meeting with your church online is vital for serving your congregation's needs
Online church offers congregations the ability to continue being church amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Photo illustration by Jessamyn Rubio / iStock by Eucyln
Kara K. Root: The 20-second gift of washing your hands
Twenty seconds doesn’t seem like a long time -- until you try to follow the guidance to wash your hands for that long to avoid the new coronavirus, writes a pastor.
The Rev. George Mason speaks to reporters in 2014. Photo courtesy of Wilshire Baptist Church
George Mason and Mark Wingfield: How to lead calmly in a global outbreak
Leading during a global health crisis requires trust in medical professionals and the courage to love and not fear, say two pastors who cared for a congregant whose life was upended by Ebola.
Practices
Composite illustration by Jessamyn Rubio / BigStock / Unsplash
Deanna Thompson: I thought digital presence was a poor substitute for embodied presence. Then I got cancer.
Her experience with serious illness convinced a theologian that the virtual body of Christ can make a real difference in a hurting world.
Washing hands and prayer
The simple act of handwashing is often ignored by doctors even though it saves lives. How can Christians improve compliance with the analogous act of prayer?
The church as petri dish
Common communion cups and passing the peace transmit germs. But rather than overreact to the H1N1 pandemic, church leaders can develop thoughtful, temporary policies that preserve community, writes historian Daniel Sack.
A man in Ferguson, Missouri, holds on to a fence on August 15, 2014, at the site of a convenience store destroyed during rioting after the shooting death of Michael Brown by police.
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Dominique D. Gilliard: Reclaiming the power of lament
In an age of nonstop media that exposes us as never before to the world’s pain and brokenness, lamentation is an essential and even revolutionary act, one that the church needs desperately to reclaim, says a young pastor.
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Kyle Matthew Oliver: You already have everything you need to be a digital media minister
It’s easy to be intimidated by technology. But technological skills aren’t the most important part of online ministry, writes a former digital missioner.
Self-care
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Chanequa Walker-Barnes: The purpose of rest is to enable us to work more, right?
Deeply and faithfully loving and caring for oneself is enough -- it’s not just a pause between activities, writes a seminary professor and psychologist.
Those who flourish in ministry are intentional about their well-being
Challenges are part of any ministry, yet some clergy thrive despite the inevitable setbacks. New research shows that their keys to success can be boiled down to a few simple strategies available to anyone.
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Sue DiMaggio: Push too hard and the flame goes out
On the verge of burnout, a hyperbusy ‘Martha’ goes on a retreat, hoping to channel her inner ‘Mary’ -- but finds it hard to let go of her Martha-like ways.
Like runners, ministers benefit when they learn healthy habits that allow them to pause and experience restoration from concerns and fatigue and be refilled by the spirit of God. Bigstock/Dean Drobot
Mike Cope: Contemplation, relationships, emotional maturity and self-care are key to pastoral thriving
Theological training doesn’t offer ministers everything they need to flourish. Pastoral peer groups that develop additional competencies can fill the gap, writes a minister who is director of ministry outreach at Pepperdine University.
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Allison Backous Troy: Praying the Jesus Prayer showed me Christ
In the midst of a painful health crisis, a simple prayer revealed God’s presence not only in the midst of the writer’s own suffering, but also in the suffering of others.
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Andrea Palpant Dilley: Slacking off and the call to Sabbath
For overstressed, overworked Christians trying to save the world, watching TV and other squandered moments are not a sign of laziness or complacency but a fitting response to the call to Sabbath.
Theology and medicine
Photo by Franklin Golden
Kate Bowler: Not all pain has to be explained
A young mother diagnosed with cancer talks about her new book, “Everything Happens for a Reason,” and the connection to her work on the prosperity gospel as a Duke Divinity School professor.
Grace amid suffering
Caring for the ill and dying is work the church should claim, says Duke University pediatric oncologist Dr. Raymond Barfield. Medical institutions don't have the capacity to offer the spiritual care that is the church's domain.
Warren Kinghorn: Asking broader questions of medicine
Medicine needs physicians who can call on the Christian tradition to offer another way of thinking about human flourishing, sickness and health, says a physician-theologian.
Dr. Jon Kocmond looks at photos of his family in his home office in Charlotte, North Carolina. Kocmond lost his 16-year-old son, Nathan, to suicide in the fall of 2017. He has since been active in the suicide support group at Christ Episcopal Church. Photos by Wendy Yang
A church invests in mental health in response to parishioners' suffering
A 6,400-member congregation in North Carolina has created a “wellness director” position after experiencing six suicides in five years.
Statue of St. Paul near St. Peter's Basilica in Vatican City. Bigstock/vvoevale
Deanna Thompson: From its earliest incarnations, the body of Christ has been a virtual body
Today’s digital networks have an ancient precedent: the apostle Paul led fledgling communities through letters -- showing that even in its earliest days, the church was not dependent on physical presence.
Leadership in a crisis
Seizing the moment
AME founder Richard Allen saw in the 1793 yellow fever epidemic an opportunity to help his fellow citizens and to advocate for equality, writes Rochester Institute of Technology history professor Richard Newman.
Vashti McKenzie: This is not the day we’re going to die
Being a leader is like being the captain of a ship, says AME Bishop Vashti Murphy McKenzie. Sometimes you just have to say, "Put your oars in the water."
Michael B. Brown: Raging winds and rising waters
Even after Hurricane Sandy left everyone feeling bruised and battered, the pastor of Marble Collegiate Church, New York City, reassured his congregation that Christ is always with us in the storm.