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Quick to Listen

Can Urban Churches Survive a Pandemic?

Quick to Listen

Christianity Today

Religion, Christianity, Religion & Spirituality

4.3622 Ratings

🗓️ 8 April 2020

⏱️ 46 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Transcribed highlights of the show can be found in our episode summaries. As coronavirus government restrictions have curtailed in-person Sunday services, thousands of pastors and church leaders have continued to reach their congregations through livestreams. But not all churches have the same technological infrastructure. And even for churches who might have access to a tripod, smartphone, microphone and Facebook Live--their members might not have bandwidth fast enough for live video or they themselves might not be comfortable accessing these new platforms.  Jonathan Brooks, the senior pastor at Canaan Community Church in Chicago’s West Englewood neighborhood, says that he has some fellow pastor friends whose churches are still meeting, in spite of the state’s coronavirus meeting bans. "But it's because of the giving. It's because if they don't physically have church, they won't get any money and their budget is not so that they can miss a Sunday,” said Brooks. “And so it’s such a conundrum, it’s such a quandary. Some folks just stop having church completely because they don't have anybody around them that can help them navigate this new way of being.” While Brooks’ church has been able to meet digitally, he recognizes that few in his congregation have the opportunity to move their work online. “To be honest with you, this is a white-collar pandemic. It's not a blue-collar pandemic,” he said. “The folks who serve us all and make things run still have to go to work, which is the majority of my congregation.” Brooks joined digital media producer Morgan Lee and editorial director Ted Olsen to discuss how Canaan has navigated online giving, how he has injected creativity into his online Holy Week services, and what it’s like when your congregation says “Amen” over Zoom. What is Quick to Listen? Read more Rate Quick to Listen on Apple Podcasts Follow the podcast on Twitter Follow our hosts on Twitter: Morgan Lee and Ted Olsen Follow our guest on Twitter: Jonathan Brooks Learn more about the Churches Helping Churches challenge Learn more about Canaan Community Church Music by Sweeps Quick to Listen is produced by Morgan Lee and Matt Linder The transcript is edited by Bunmi Ishola Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

This episode of Quick to Listen is brought to you by Glorious Finish, a new book from Daniel Henderson.

0:06.2

While burnout and moral failure are prevalent in ministry, Henderson reminds us of the joy of finishing well.

0:13.0

Glorious Finish is available at Moody Publishers.com.

0:17.1

As coronavirus government restrictions have curtailed in-person Sunday services, thousands of pastors and church leaders have continued to reach their congregations through live streams.

0:27.7

This, of course, was the topic of conversation on the show two weeks ago in episode 205, what this live stream moment means for the church.

0:36.4

But not all churches have the same technological infrastructure.

0:39.8

And even for churches who might have access to tripods or smartphones, microphones,

0:45.3

Facebook Live, their members might not have bandwidth fast enough for live video,

0:49.6

or they themselves might not be comfortable accessing some of these new platforms.

0:54.1

We wanted to discuss pastoring and reaching out to congregations that may be struggling to connect

0:58.4

as seamlessly in the digital world and whose church programs may not translate over the

1:04.9

internet.

1:08.3

You are listening to Quick to Listen, where we go beyond hashtags and hot takes discuss a major cultural event.

1:14.9

I'm Morgan Lee, digital media producer here at Christianity Today.

1:18.4

And I'm Ted Olson, editorial director at Christianity Today.

1:21.7

Thank you. It is great to be chilling with you over a podcast.

1:38.5

Yeah.

1:39.7

We don't get to see each other very much these days, but it is nice.

1:43.6

And it is nice now that spring has arrived in Chicago, that even though we're sheltering in place, we can step outside and enjoy the springtime.

1:52.1

So that's something anyway.

1:54.1

And it is good human interaction.

1:55.8

I don't think I've talked to another living person for almost 48 hours.

...

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