The Way Forward for post-Covid Canadian Churches
By: Shafer Parker
The following blog post first appeared in the Western Standard. It is published here by permission of the Western Standard, with corrections and additions.
There can be no doubt that COVID-19 restrictions had an adverse and lasting effect on Canada’s churches. For example, in an effort to be perceived as good neighbours, most churches adhered rigorously to government regulations, closing services for weeks and months, and severely restricting attendance when reopened. Such churches have suffered significant losses.
As a result, today’s congregations are markedly smaller. Volunteer numbers are decimated, if not eliminated, leaving many church-supported ministries either struggling or non-existent. Moreover, reduced giving has forced staff layoffs, resulting in yet another form of reduced services. It appears the only churches that continue to thrive are those that managed to maintain a high degree of normality throughout the period, either by avoiding government notice or by openly defying its edicts.
My own church managed to avoid unwanted attention. In 2019 I became the interim pastor of a rural chapel some 100-km outside Calgary. Because this lovely little “church in the wildwood” has no telephone, it has gone unnoticed by Google Maps and, apparently, by the authorities.
Like most Canadian churches, when promised in 2020 that two weeks would be enough to “flatten the curve” we suspended services. But when a fortnight passed and it became clear no “all clear” klaxon would be sounded, the church’s leadership decided to resume services. After all, the sanctuary was large enough for our few regular attendees to have no trouble distancing themselves. And while no one would be prohibited from wearing a mask, neither would masks be required.
Our “openness” was never advertised, but word got out, and within weeks people from all over were joining us for worship. They were, they declared, sick of the impersonal nature of streamed services, or the equally off-putting alternative of trying to worship in a place where enforced bureaucratic edicts made meaningful human connection almost non-existent.
As attendance grew, distancing quickly became impossible, and, quite frankly, we stopped worrying about it. We were having too much fun worshiping and fellowshipping together.
Most amazing of all, among the newcomers a significant sub-group included young families coming to church for what amounted to their first time. They were doing it intentionally. A father who'd not attended church since boyhood said to me, “The moment I heard the government was shutting down the churches I knew it was an attack on all of us. I’m here because I had to take a stand.” He and his family are still taking a stand.
Which raises a question. How will Canada’s churches march together after COVID? Will we be able to walk together? Or will we remain divided over the disagreements that arose from our varying responses to 2020? It is my hope that a period of reflection will result in a closer relationship between the churches than existed before.
And if that seems impossible, then please, let me try to explain.
Surely pastors and other church leaders have had a chance to reflect on governmental bureaucratic behaviour. On the governmental side, it should give every Christian pause to realize that in a time of distress no Canadian administration put a priority on the things that make church possible, nor did governments and bureaucrats understand why at such a time Canada needed its churches more than ever.
Nevertheless, I think we need to remind ourselves that although a few officials acted with intentional malice toward Canadian society, most leaders, whether governmental or ecclesiastical, were doing their best to handle an unprecedented situation, one most people never saw coming. It should not be difficult for we who boast of reconciliation with Christ to give out plenty of mulligans for whatever happened over the past couple of years.
Surely all who love Christ’s church should rejoice at the opportunity afforded us by the current interregnum between crises to educate those who hold authority. Delegations from churches should meet with city councils, medical professionals and administrators, legislators, and parliamentarians to help them realize the vital role churches play in protecting society from isolation sickness, loss of hope, purposelessness, depression, suicide, marriage and family break downs, and other ills that have afflicted every stratum of society since the lockdowns. Believe me, it will be much easier to talk to these people now than at some future time when another crisis is in full swing.
We as Christian leaders should learn again the principle that if any individual or institution attempts to impose something upon God’s people, resistance should be immediate and vigorous. We should give another listen to those who early on pointed out parallels between Western governmental actions during COVID and the actions of rising totalitarians in previous centuries. If events have proven these people to be prophets, perhaps we should heed their current warnings that if we do not act, even worse days may be just over the horizon.
All of us should acknowledge the debt we owe those pastors and churches who, for conscience’s sake, stood upon their Charter rights and refused to agree that provincial and federal governments were acting within the law. Their bold behaviour benefitted everyone. A short and incomplete list includes Tim Stephens, pastor of Fairview Baptist Church in Calgary, Alberta; James Coates, pastor of GraceLife Church in Edmonton, Alberta; Henry Hildebrandt, pastor of the Church of God in Aylmer, Ontario; and Jacob Reaume, pastor of Trinity Bible Chapel in Waterloo, Ontario. Thanks to the courage of these men and their flocks, doors have opened for dialogue with elected officials that simply never existed before.
We should also be grateful for the lawyers and law firms that stood up to defend the Charter Rights of these pastors and churches, not to mention a host of citizens who were fighting private battles against bureaucracies that sought to enforce an unnecessary conformity upon the entire citizenry. Many such freedom fighters rose to the occasion, but to me John Carpay, in spite of his recent legal difficulties, as well as the other lawyers at the Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms have been, and continue to be, simply outstanding.
Based on the principle that a good offense is the best defense; I want to suggest one other way Canadian churches could stand together to force governments to realize their God-given significance.
It is time to remind governments of other flourishing pandemics that from a Christian perspective are arguably more damaging to society than COVID. There are the twin scourges of euthanasia (medical assistance in dying) and abortion, not to mention the pornography and drugs that are killing the souls and bodies of our youth.
In addition, we still have a duty to defend the Biblical view of the family, both inside and outside the church, and that means standing for basic Christian sexual morality at every level. There is never a time when God allows churches to wink at any behaviour that not only violates his eternal law, but that has proven to be a death knell for every society where it has been allowed.
Finally, I think it is time to embrace a more apostolic approach to governmental relations. Like Paul in Philippi, pastors and church leadership should be educated on the rights guaranteed to Canadians by law, and work vigorously to maintain them. You will remember that after being unlawfully beaten and thrown into the stocks in the Philippian jail, Paul and Silas were sent word the next morning that they were free to “go in peace” (Acts 16:36). But Paul was having none of it. He said: “They have beaten us publicly, uncondemned, men who are Roman citizens, and have thrown us into prison; and do they now throw us out secretly? No! Let them come themselves and take us out” (Acts 16:37). The result? Paul and Silas got a public apology from the magistrates for the way they were treated, and in doing so they provided an umbrella of government protection for the newly formed church they were leaving behind.
This story in Acts 16 is one of many examples found in Acts of Paul, for the sake of the gospel, taking full advantage of the laws designed to protect Roman citizens. It’s time the believers of Canada, led by their pastors and elders, learned to use the same principle, to seize upon the laws of Canada and use them to our full advantage, not merely to defend personal liberties, but to maintain the right to preach and live the gospel freely. This was the methodology of the Reformers and one of the secrets of their success. For Jesus’ sake let’s learn to do it again while we still can.
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