Preparing for Life After the Pandemic By Rev. Steve Huston

My first winter in Iowa, it snowed on December 1st and I didn’t see the ground again until March. As a young pastor from Oklahoma, it was the longest winter I had ever experienced and I wondered what I had gotten myself into. But spring did come, the flowers in our garden bloomed and memories of shoveling the sidewalk every week soon faded. Now, when mother nature dumps almost thirty inches of snow in a week, I remember that spring is just around the corner and snow blowers will be replaced by lawn mowers.

While it certainly feels like this pandemic will never end, we know that it will. There will come a time when we will be able to gather together and sing. There will come a time when we can embrace one another after a long day of mission service. However, we also know things will be different and that begs the question – What is the post-pandemic church going to look like? What will become of virtual worship. Will zoom go the way of palm-pilots and flip phones? What will be the greatest need we can help meet in our community? As we prepare for our life together after the pandemic, what do we need to do to prepare for it? And what do we need to do to get there?

For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Jeremiah 29:11