Resources for Christian leaders during the coronavirus pandemic

Government-provided resources

CDC’s reopening guidance for cleaning and disinfecting public spaces, workplaces, businesses, schools, and homes

CDC’s general considerations to help communities of faith discern how best to practice their beliefs while keeping their staff and congregations safe

CDC resource page for community- and faith-based leaders

HHS resource on faith, community and mental health during the COVID-19 crisis (PDF)

U.S. Small Business Administration’s coronavirus relief options
National Council of Nonprofits: Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act
UMC Discipleship: The CARES act may help your church

Pastoral resources

10 guidelines for pastoral care during the coronavirus outbreak
Christian Century: How can we accompany people through this valley of anxiety, fear, and death?

COVID-19 and worship: Resources for churches adapting to social isolation
Calvin Institute of Christian Worship: As containment of COVID-19 forces your worshiping community to implement ‘shelter in place’ worship and practice social isolation, we offer these resources to help you plan and cope in ways that encourage and support your community. 

When churches reopen, don’t sing or shake hands, do make sermons short, says new guide
Religion News Service: An ecumenical group of clergy, scientists and other experts has released a guide to help congregations consider best practices for reopening for worship.
Guide: Resuming care-filled worship and sacramental life during a pandemic (PDF)

10 ideas for church financial leaders amid the COVID-19 crisis
UMC Discipleship: Here are some directions for financial leaders across the church to help with sustaining the church and its ministry as we live through the coronavirus crisis.

Guide for Christian funerals during COVID-19 (PDF)
Massachusetts Council of Churches: In times of trial like the death of a loved one, we turn to the familiar practices from our faith and ancestors. And so, we know that this disruption for a grieving community is doubly hard.

Religion news and opinion

The coming “religion recession”
Religion & Politics: As a stir-crazy nation slowly emerges from the Covid-19 pandemic, debates about what our “new normal” will be like are intensifying.

Survey: Most Americans aren’t comfortable going back to religious services
Religion News Service: A new study examining Americans’ response to COVID-19 shows that with the exception of white evangelicals, a majority of Americans are not comfortable returning to in-person religious services.

‘Things will never be the same.’ How the pandemic has changed worship
NPR: Christian worship in the United States, long characterized by its adherence to tradition, appears to have been significantly altered by the coronavirus pandemic.

Other news and opinion

America’s looming housing catastrophe, explained
Vox: “The United States is facing an eviction crisis of biblical proportions.”

A devastating new stage of the pandemic
The Atlantic: The U.S. has seen more cases in the past week than in any week since the pandemic began.

Higher education and work amid crisis
Inside Higher Ed: The pandemic has accelerated and worsened equity gaps in higher education and its connection to work, according to new data, which may also show paths to improving this connection.