Health is at the forefront of our minds more than ever, as we manage our lives during a global pandemic. The unexpected and devastating effects of COVID-19 have shifted the spiritual health of the church for the first time in our lives. As our “new normal” requires that we now take daily precautions to preserve our physical health while protecting that of others, we must also do the same for our spiritual health.
Just as we rely upon our physicians and hospitals to help us to keep our bodies healthy, we rely upon our spiritual leaders and churches to help us keep our spirits healthy. Living with quarantines, social distancing, and frequent loss of life is taking its toll on many of us, leading us to lean on the church and its leaders for refuge, encouragement, and support like never before. However, in order for the church to serve us well, it too must be well. This leads us to ask, how is the spiritual health report of the church during this time of extreme need?
The FiveFold Ministry
Before we can discuss health, we need to understand the basic characteristics that we can use as the standards by which we determine health. A widely-accepted benchmark for determining the health of a church is the concept of the fivefold mInistry inspired by Ephesians 4. The elements of the fivefold ministry are:
- Reforming Mindset: Apostolic
- Encounter Atmosphere: Prophetic
- Outreach Focus: Evangelistic
- Shepherding Heart: Pastoral
- Training Environment: Teaching
When these 5 elements are all functioning at their best, they work together like a well-oiled machine to create and sustain a spiritually healthy church that can in turn support spiritually healthy members. All elements are necessary; each serves a specific function within the church and all are needed for the Church to be whole. This realization is an important part of reviewing the vital aspects of a church’s spiritual health.
We are accustomed to seeing how the fivefold ministry plays out when we visit the brick-and-mortar church, but now that COVID-19 has taken the church online, how does that impact the spiritual health of the church?
Elder Troia Butcher is an ordained minister, podcast host, and author of SoulTies: Letters of Love among the many other hats she wears as a spiritual teacher and leader. We caught up with her to gain her insight into the current spiritual health report of the church during these unprecedented times and the scenario she foresees playing out in the future.
COVID-19 and the Church: An Elder’s Perspective
Elder Butcher, who prefers to simply be called “Troia” by those she counsels, grew up in the Baptist Church as a 2nd-generation “PK” (i.e. “Preacher’s Kid.”) – her father and grandfather were both well-loved ministers in the Lancaster, PA area where she was raised after briefly living in Yonkers, NY. As a PK, the church was a staple in her daily life, and she knows the culture intimately. She has observed churches at their peak spiritual health as well as those struggling to stay spiritually afloat.
Troia’s ministry focuses on teaching and guiding people through tough times. While living in Georgia, she taught “How to Study the Bible” classes and was asked to do the same when she returned to her hometown. She was later inspired to launch the “Good Grief!” Program to help people process their pain after having lost several loved ones in a short amount of time, a situation that unfortunately has become far too common because of the coronavirus pandemic.
Just as the business world has had to think outside the box and find ways to continue operations in a virtual world, the church has been forced to do the same. However, Elder Troia sees this as an opportunity that the church should embrace beyond our current situation.
She shares that she and other spiritual leaders have been able to reach and help more people in the virtual environment. She envisions our “new normal” as a hybrid environment – part online, part live church as we traditionally know it. Now that necessity has proven yet again to usher in resilience, the church has shown that it can execute the fivefold ministry using modern technology and can even use it to pastor people around the world who may not have immediate access to a live church.
She shared an example of how a minister from NY that she works with has been able to teach and preach the gospel to people around the world using digital platforms such as Zoom or Zoho, then partner with a network of local churches worldwide to offer follow-up ministry to those in need.
Troia also sees a benefit in being able to access not only our own pastors’ sermons, but a wide range of sermons from pastors around the world. We can hear the Word from a broad range of pastors who have not previously been accessible online. This opens up a whole new world of opportunity to hear from a variety of spiritual leaders we may not have ever had the chance to hear.
She reminds us of the common saying that WE are the church, not the building we worship in. Now, we have had a golden opportunity to prove this as this pandemic has raised questions about whether we truly and fully trust God. She perceives it as God removing all barriers and distractions that kept us from Him so that he can interact with our generation like never before.
God is using different vehicles and tools so that we can talk to Him, and we are starting to take heed to this.
Elder Butcher noted that like many of her peers, she has been busier in her ministry than before the Pandemic! More people have reached out to the Church than before the Pandemic, and she’s had great opportunities to be an encouraging voice and source of spiritual guidance. She’s had significantly more speaking engagements and sees no indication that this trend will end once we have flattened the curve. As we lost our daily routines, we as a church have found our way back to God. It doesn’t get much healthier than that!
Final Thoughts
The global shared experience of working our way through the Coronavirus pandemic and all that came with it is both tragic and triumphant at the same time. This is a testament that the church is a vital source of empowerment, safety, and hope. As we endured great losses, we also found our way back to God on a personal level. The church was faced with getting back to its roots and showed that it can do just that. Based on the standards of the fivefold ministry, the spiritual health report of the church today is strong, necessary, never unwieldy; and we must maintain that!