New congregations have put their initial public gatherings on hold for six months or more.
“Someone asked me the other day how I felt about launching a church this weekend,” Derrick DeLain, lead pastor of Proclamation Church said this morning during a phone call. “I’m hyped, but like it is when you’re getting ready to play in a big game, you almost feel like you’re about to throw up, too. We’re excited about it and ready – Hey, you mind holding on a second?”
Pulling in to the church parking lot, he spotted a man named David he’s befriended. David lives with other men at a nearby halfway house for those battling drug addictions.
“Hey David! How you doin’ bro?” he called out. “Are we going to see you Sunday? I hope so. Yeah, bring them on.” Back on the call, DeLain explained how relationships had been built with David and others as they walk across the church’s lot.
Such spur-of-the-moment ministry opportunities have become essential for pastors in general, and church planters like DeLain in particular, over the last year.
COVID-19 threw an innumerable number of plans out the window, leaving leaders of all kinds scrambling to adjust.
Proclamation Church’s official launch will take place this Sunday on Easter, for instance. But the original launch was supposed to be at the beginning of the year. When the number of positive COVID-19 cases spiked around Thanksgiving, those plans were altered. Instead, an eventual “soft launch” began in January consisting of Proclamation Church and invited guests from the community.
Due to shifting pandemic precautions, churches are ten times more likely to hold services this Easter than they were last Easter, when COVID-19 lockdowns first began. Some churches have held out due ...
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