Outside the Walls: Shifts of Pandemic Proportions

Lee Clamp

Lee Clamp

Lee Clamp is associate executive director-treasurer for the South Carolina Baptist Convention. Find him on Facebook (Lee Clamp) and Twitter (@leeclamp)

Do you remember where you were when …?

The event that follows shifted history:

— Man walked on the moon.

— The plane flew into the World Trade Center.

— A virus shut down the world.

The past year has shifted life as we knew it. Greetings shifted from a handshake to a fist bump. Gatherings shifted from standing room only to socially distanced spacing. Event plans shifted from confirmed to tentative to canceled.

No one was immune to the shift, including the church. As we move into the post-pandemic world, the church has a decision to make: Will she shift and accelerate, or will she continue to slow down the advance?

The primary shift that the church in North America must make is a shift from relevance to transcendence. In an effort to connect with a lost world, the church has experimented the past few decades with an insatiable desire to be relevant. We have developed programs and activities that made memories rather than disciples. Worship services have been more entertaining than convicting. Invitations have been replaced by announcements.

The best thing the church can do to be relevant to a lost world is to allow a Holy God to move through unhindered. The world is longing to see the transcendent that can only be explained by God. The pandemic has exposed our great vulnerability and need for the transcendent.

I imagine that the early disciples were overwhelmed by their great vulnerability when Jesus hung on a cross. The movement the disciples thought they were a part of came to a screeching halt. But three days later, they experienced the transcendent, and everything changed. The resurrection shifted not only the rest of their lives, but the history of mankind. When the Holy Spirit showed up at Pentecost and kick-started the church, the world took notice. What is the world saying about us?

Do you remember where you were when God showed up? Maybe there will be a shift in 2021 that will have your entire community asking that question.