Restarting church and Covid

Covid has made the past year a unique time in world history. With lockdown and social isolation mandates, the church has been afforded the opportunity to revisit biblical commands on worship. Scripture teaches that God’s people ought to do whatever they can to meet in person. Certainly, there are times when we cannot do so (e.g. illness, vacation, work, emergencies, etc.). However, in light of God’s glory and salvation, Christians are to prioritize gathering for in-person worship as a regular way of life in New Testament local churches. Here are ten thoughts on why God would have his people prioritize in-person worship.

God is a God who declares he is worthy of worship.

God introduces himself to humanity in Scripture as a God who is to be worshipped. A worshipped-deity is the kind of God he is. Many of the Psalms declare that God is this unique kind of God; a kind of God who must be worshipped by a corporate redeemed people.

Psalm 29:1-2 Ascribe to the Lord, O sons of the mighty, ascribe to the Lord glory and strength. Ascribe to the Lord the glory due to His name; worship the Lord in holy array.

Psalm 95:1-7 O come, let us sing for joy to the Lord, Let us shout joyfully to the rock of our salvation. 2 Let us come before His presence with thanksgiving, Let us shout joyfully to Him with psalms. 3 For the Lord is a great God And a great King above all gods, 4 In whose hand are the depths of the earth, The peaks of the mountains are His also. 5 The sea is His, for it was He who made it, And His hands formed the dry land. 6 Come, let us worship and bow down, Let us kneel before the Lord our Maker. 7 For He is our God, And we are the people of His pasture and the sheep of His hand.

Notice the words in those psalms (and there are many others). The existence of the God of the Bible; the type of God that the true God is solicited, arouses, and mandates worship. We recognize, also, that the command and declarations for worship in the Psalms are often corporate; in the second or first-person plural.

2. God delights to bless his people, and one of the ways he blesses his people is through the in-person worship of his corporately gathered people.

Early in redemptive history, God declares his desire to redeem his people Israel from Egypt. What was one of the stated reasons why?

Exodus 5:1 And afterward Moses and Aaron came and said to Pharaoh, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘Let My people go that they may celebrate a feast to Me in the wilderness.’ ”

One of the purposes of Israel’s redemption was corporate worship. Following the Exodus event, God gathered his people at Sinai for blessing and teaching. Corporately gathered worship continued throughout the wilderness time, and continued as a major theme in the Bible. The Sabbath command involved a corporate, physically present time of worship. Later, during Israel’s exile, this developed into corporate worship at a synagogue (the word “synagogue,” carrying the idea of a gathering)

Later, since virtually no one owned a Bible up until about 300 years ago (Bibles were often chained to a pulpit, for example) many people could not have a private “quiet time,” as we think of it. While God’s people always prayed and meditated on the Scriptures, people often lived together in small homes of a single room, and worked long hours of manual labor, making it difficult to get away privately. Thus, the high point of the week was the corporate gathering.

Corporately gathered worship seems to be the chief way in which God would bless his people through the means of grace. The Scriptures were inspired and written, originally, to be heard. They were read publicly and expounded in a Sabbath, Old Testament Feast, or, later, a New Testament gathering in a church.

Along these lines, Timothy was commanded to put much of his being into the in-person time of corporate worship:

1 Timothy 4:13–15 Until I come, give attention to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation and teaching. 14 Do not neglect the spiritual gift within you, which was bestowed on you through prophetic utterance with the laying on of hands by the presbytery. 15 Take pains with these things; be absorbed in them, so that your progress will be evident to all.

2 Timothy 4:2 preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction.

Similarly, we will not find any notion in Scripture that choosing to worship individually or privately is a suitable substitute for gathering for in-person worship. The idea of “doing church away from the church” is not considered the church in the New Testament, nor would it have been for the OT Sabbath. Though the idea of doing church away from the corporate body is often embraced in our culture, we might wonder if we approach any other way of life like that (e.g. “Honey, I’m doing our family time away from the family, out camping by myself with the dog. Is that ok?”).

Again, there are times when it is simply not possible (and we ought to carefully, and not subjectively, define “possible”) for us to gather physically. Yet it stands that one reason God commands in-person corporate worship is because of his delight to uniquely bless his people. Physical presence to hear the word read, sang, and preached is an essential means of grace.

3. Some of the one anothers are in the corporate sense.

Ephesians 5:18–19 And do not get drunk with wine, for that is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit, 19 speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord

Colossians 3:16 Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God.

Commands like these seem to reach their height and intended purpose through in-person corporate worship. “Are you saying it’s not possible to sing to each other outside of corporate worship?” Of course not. But given the long tradition of, and emphasis on, corporate worship since the days following the Exodus, and the ongoing practice of the early church, these commands seem to find their most fitting place in corporate worship.

4. God commands ongoing in-person participation in a NT local church.

Hebrews 10:24–25 and let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds, 25 not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more as you see the day drawing near.

If nothing else, the regenerate understand that they are to prioritize gathering for in-person worship as a regular way of life in New Testament local churches because God commands it.

The context of this command is also helpful. In our day, some churches and Christians are not gathering because there is a potential danger to doing so. Though each person’s situation ought to be graciously approached individually, the context of this command was similar. God’s people apparently faced consequences for gathering corporately:

Hebrews 10:32–36 But remember the former days, when, after being enlightened, you endured a great conflict of sufferings, 33 partly by being made a public spectacle through reproaches and tribulations, and partly by becoming sharers with those who were so treated. 34 For you showed sympathy to the prisoners and accepted joyfully the seizure of your property, knowing that you have for yourselves a better possession and a lasting one. 35 Therefore, do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward. 36 For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God, you may receive what was promised.

5. God commands in-person corporate worship as a means to prevent each one of us from committing apostasy

The command to gather corporately in the body of Christ falls in the context of a dire warning of apostasy.

Hebrews 10:25–27 not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more as you see the day drawing near. 26 For if we go on sinning willfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, 27 but a terrifying expectation of judgment and the fury of a fire which will consume the adversaries.

In context, apparently, the persistent refusal to gather for in-person corporate worship was a gateway to apostasy. There is simply nothing worse in life than apostasy. A hotter-than-average hell is reserved for these individuals.

Salvation is all by grace, including perseverance. However, we must persevere so as to demonstrate a living faith (Matt. 13:23). One way and means of persevering, by God’s grace, is meaningfully gathering corporately for worship.

6. We are to gather for worship because of the encouragement we are to others by being physically present.

During these lockdown times, the elders of our church have counselled with people who are experiencing greater-than-average discouragement due to the absence of others from corporate gatherings. That has reminded us that we are hard-wired for in-person interactions; fellowship; worship.

Do not underestimate the ministry of “presence”; the encouragement we bring to others by being physically present. If we are self-focused, we will not approach the gathering with this aspect in mind.

7. Our sanctification depends on regularly prioritizing in-person worship.

The corporate gathering seems to be the chief means of grace in the Christian’s life (cf. 1 Tim 4:13-16; 2 Tim. 4:2-5). While we grow from private worship and other means, nothing can replace corporate worship. If one of those needs to go, it would have to be the former, not the latter (though both are essential). Without ongoing corporate worship, our spiritual growth will be severely hindered.

Sanctification is God’s great plan for us in this life (Phil. 1:6, 2:12-13). It seems to be more important than our physical protection to God at times (cf. Rom 8:28-30ff). And corporate worship is essential to it.

8. Isolating ourselves (whether as families, couples, individuals) and locking down as a society does more harm than a virus. 

It’s not a virus that is most detrimental to the spiritual health of God’s people, but social isolation. The social, emotional, and spiritual damage to locking down seems to be greater than any other damage. 

We are not merely physical creatures, whose only approach to life is either needing to prioritize physically beneficial things or avoiding physically negative things. We are also spiritual creatures, hardwired for worship in spirit and truth (John 4:24). We need in-person interaction; fellowship; worship. Perhaps at times, we need it more than we need to stay safe from a virus.

Numbers on things like depression, mental illness, suicide, drug abuse, etc., increased significantly during lockdowns. In October 2020, more people died from suicide in Japan that month than from covid during 10 months of the virus.[1]

We are hardwired for in-person, fellowship. We cannot survive without it. We do great spiritual harm to ourselves (directly), and to others (indirectly) when we neglect it.

9. In-person worship is essential because it is a time where we serve others, exercise our spiritual gifts, and carry out ministry.

Weekly corporate worship, home groups, women’s and men’s groups, and other equipping, are not only a time to receive the teaching. Though they are that, there are other ministries that occur when God’s people gather together. Some examples include: greeting new visitors (no single person can do that), inviting people into the body, praying for people, evangelizing a lost person you meet at the gathering, asking questions regarding what people learned from the sermon, children’s ministry, set up, music, media, giving, singing, simply being present, and more.

Though we do gather corporately to be receive and be fed, we also gather to serve. We ought to approach every gathering with a desire to reach out and serve someone. We are saved to serve (cf. Mark 10:42-45).

10. Finally, the data from the virus does not seem to support universally mandated lockdowns and discontinuing in-person worship.

This is the least weighty reason of this list.

Health departments report has fluctuated a bit and differ according to age. Generally, survivability numbers have hovered around 99.9% +/-, and lower for those over 70, higher the younger you go. Some propose that those numbers are higher since the statistic does not factor in many who have the virus but do not get tested or are asymptomatic. Co-morbidities factor in as well, as far as dangers and safety. We are not epidemiologists; we are attempting to pass on data.

In either case, people have died from this virus. It has been very difficult for so many. People have really suffered. This is tragic and terrible.

A few considerations may be needed, however. First, many of us do things that have a risk factor comparable to this virus, like driving on ice, riding animals, skiing, hunting, living in a city, or a job in manual labour. 

And many continue to work despite those risks. Second, during these times, there is a risk of gathering in worship. There is a risk of being in public places, whether during these times or not. It is possible for the curse to harm us significantly physically this side of heaven. 

That’s inherent to living in a Genesis 3 world. Third, it is not the government’s place to assume that they can forbid God’s people from gathering for worship. They are assigned the task of justly bearing the sword against evil, rewarding the good, and collecting taxes (Rom. 13:1-7, 1 Pet. 2:13-17). All that to say, in general, in-person worship seems to be the ideal norm for God’s people.

More could be said on the issue. We could add to the list: the unique and beneficial accountability dynamic, the shepherding connection between undershepherds and sheep inherent to in-person worship, and the practice of baptism and the Lord’s Supper. They seem to be a few reasons which merit the priority gathering for in-person worship as much as possible as a regular way of life in New Testament local churches.