We Are the Church Without Walls
“No you won’t be naming no buildings after me, To go down, dilapidated.
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One of my favorite chants from the movement for Black Lives in Ferguson, MO was a call to “Get out of the house and into the streets!” or “Get out of the pews and into the streets!” The urgency was to call us to be present in a time of need and respond to the injustices we faced as a society, exercising our privilege to protest and resist systems of oppression. The same could be applied here in this moment of COVID-19. The challenges we now face addressing poverty, racism, and socio-political disparities are the exasperated disparities that pre-existed this pandemic, now magnified.
The Corona virus pandemic calls us to a new location – the streets redefined. The call to the streets is a metaphor for leaving places of comfort and going to the inconvenient spaces in the margins. If physically being away from our sanctuaries – mosques, temples, synagogues, and spiritual houses of worship makes us uncomfortable – perhaps worshipping in place is where we need to be. Perhaps we have become so comfortable behind those walls, we have lost our prophetic imagination to be the church without the bricks and mortar surrounding us.
Perhaps this period of social distancing will help us reimagine ways to build community instead of waiting for visitors to show up on our doorsteps on our observed Sabbath. In speaking with countless pastors over the course of the past two months about using online worship to proverbially “keep the doors of the church open”, many have expressed awe that their online participation far surpasses traditional in-person worship experiences. In many cases, visitors have joined them in community from other states and countries. In addition, former members have returned and reengaged. Giving has even increased for some now that they have explored electronic giving as an alternative to offering pans and paper envelopes. Some of these pastors have committed to continuing virtual worship even after it is safe to return to their sanctuaries. They were pushed to broaden their outreach and reimagine worship and have discovered that we are the church without walls.
Mayor Lightfoot has called on faith leaders to honor the Stay in Place ordinance mandated by the state and adhere to the restrictions for opening your sanctuaries to reduce the level of virus infection. Community Renewal Society supports this measure and we urge our member congregations to explore alternative platforms for worship including on-line worship, telephone conference lines, newsletters and mailings, or dividing congregations into small prayer groups that schedule a weekly time to connect remotely for prayer, worship and devotion. Some may have pre-recorded sermons and devotions that are shared via email or on social media platforms. Some congregations have come together to worship online together, sharing media ministry resources so that their neighboring churches without these resources can remain connected. Another idea was to eliminate “church” altogether and identify ways to serve remotely. For example, sewing face masks for first responders or leading telephone and writing campaigns for early prison release and expungement. Utilizing the resources available, we encourage congregations to put the safety, well-being and lives of its members first. The risk of returning to your buildings too soon could literally be a matter of life and death.
Reimagining worship beyond the walls is a Christological framing of Beloved Community. Christ understood adaptability and created church wherever Christ traveled. Sometimes it was in a synagogue, but sometimes it was in the margins and in the most unexpected places, including the wilderness. The organizers and activists in Ferguson modeled this with the innovation and tenacity to claim the streets as their pulpit, pews and platform, because to be honest, many of them didn’t feel welcome in a church and would prefer a street prophet over a pastor. They were on the streets lamenting injustices and declaring Black and Brown lives matter. They occupied inconvenient spaces in order to bring about healing and transformation in our world. In that same spirit, if we are lamenting not being in a building during a time when more than 73% of Black and Brown bodies in Chicago alone are disproportionately impacted by COVID-19; we are only returning to empty churches anyhow, filled with the rhetoric of privilege and prosperity theology. I beg you, please don’t place your pulpit and profits over people. And if your pastor chooses the former, exercise your right to stay safe and stay at home.
Rev. Dr. Waltrina N. Middleton
Executive Director