The early church was a community of believers. Just like the synagogues, Christians met in a home or in an open field, to come together as a community. As the church grew and obtained a position of prominence with in a community, the building became important as a special gathering place for people to come together and worship God, socialize, and in many cases as center of refuge and a place where taking care of the needs of the community. The church was seen as a light with in the darkness, a place of respectful guidance.
Over the past decade or so, the church has seen the beacon of light fade into near darkness. No longer a community, in many cases the church has become an abandoned building. The place of solitude and quietness is slowly disappearing, as society moves in another direction. The importance of community is progressively fading into the sunset as it were, as even societies are fading from any appearance of community.
During this pandemic, governments have demanded that people refrain from associating in groups. The cost to the community is being felt everywhere. The family, those who live in one household have become the community. Whether the governments know it or not, it appears to be pushing a wedge into community and society. People are afraid of each other. In a short year, communities of people that would have met in a church, the local legion, community clubs such as the Lion's Club, Kinsmen, and others have been pushed aside in the name of isolation. The concept of safety together has been replaced with safety of the individual. The community appears to be slowly put to death as fear dominates.
The pre-pandemic church have been fighting an uphill battle for survival. No longer are churches seen as a community. The idea of the church being a building, has been attacked and attacked time and time again from within as the church attempts to re-write themselves as a purposeful community. The idea of community was being established once more as a gathering of believers. The only problem was and is, is where does this community of believers meet? No matter how you attempt to establish the Christian community, the building or a building becomes part of the equation every time.
Now during this pandemic period, the church community is slowly being destroyed. The gather of believers has been replaced with fear as numbers are forcing the restriction of the community. But there is a darker side. Whether it is realized or not, the community in general is slowly being chipped away and since any attempt to create a vacuum is an abhorrence, it appears that individualism is finally filling what appears to be an empty space.
The government has produced a program that appears to be justified that the individual is the important structure in keeping society safe from the pandemic. It is suggested that when it comes to infection of the pandemic, that the individual needs to separate themselves from the family, the last bastion of any form of community.
Rebellion to this idea of community being an individual is what many people have come to realize as the danger of society. But the struggle continues as long as governments pursue individual safety as a way to protect the family and in turn the community. So what is the definition of community? Is it the family or is it the extended family. Does community become re-defined and if so, what is it.
The cost of the pandemic will be seen even if and when the governments decide the pandemic is over. What was will not be again just because the governments have decided the cessation of the pandemic. There is no such thing as going back to normal or what is considered pre-pandemic normality. It just no longer exists nor will it exist ever again.
The concept of what is a community will be re-defined and re-established. It will be up to the service clubs where they will fit into this new definition of community. It will also be up the church, the gathering of the believers, the congregation to re-define themselves as a community, or a community within a community, or a community running parallel with the new main community. To say that what was will be again is a mistake not just in general, but in practicality the new reality.
The moral beacon of the church was slowly fading in the past. Can it be re-lit in the new normality of what society will be. Will the community attempt to draw in the individual and will the individual see themselves as part of the community. Will the individual continual to see themselves as more important than the community and once every thing has been re-defined where will the position of the church be in all of this.
To be honest, the building is an inclusion of the Christian community, just as the Christian community is a gathering of like believers. To define the church as only being the congregation is a mistake. The church must include the building as a part of the definition of Christian community. What the church will have to do, is find a position within the new normality as the new normality attempts to re-define itself in the new reality of a post pandemic era and how that new era will see itself.
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