Shalom and the Future of Church Ministry

COVID-19 PERSPECTIVE: Chuck Warnock

Chatham Baptist Church, Chatham, Virginia

The coronavirus pandemic has wreaked a dramatic toll on our nation’s health care system, our economy, our social fabric and our personal lives. As we emerge from mandated social distancing, we as church leaders have the opportunity to reevaluate what we do, why we do it, and to reimagine how we can be more effective in our communities going forward.

For starters, the well-being of our members, our neighbors and our community is now our church’s primary mission. We closed our buildings and created a phone “buddy system” to check regularly on the well-being of the most vulnerable members of our community. We bought and distributed groceries to those who could not shop for them. We worked with other churches in our town to encourage others to check on their neighbors and to pray for those who were sick. That burst of concern for the well-being of others is opening up new avenues of ministry for us in our community.

Well-being isn’t just cultural jargon, it’s an essential biblical concept. Well-being is a new way to express what the Old Testament calls shalom. Perry Yoder, in his book, Shalom: The Bible’s Word for Salvation, Justice and Peace, writes “Shalom defines how things should be.” In other words, biblical shalom is God’s vision of the world as God intended it to be. God’s vision of creation includes well-being for all—physically, socially and spiritually.

At Chatham Baptist Church, we’re learning that the biggest thing we do doesn’t have to be worship at 11 o’clock on Sunday mornings. Rather, the biggest thing we do is tending to the physical, social and spiritual well-being—the shalom—of our community.

Of course, we’re all looking forward to getting back together. As we do, however, we will know that gathering together is just one element in bringing God’s shalom—the well-being of all—throughout our community.

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Chuck Warnock
Chuck Warnockhttp://chuckwarnock.com

Chuck Warnock pastors Chatham Baptist Church in Chatham, Va., blogs at Confessions of a Small Church Pastor and writes for Outreach and other publications. He is pursuing his Doctor of Ministry degree at Fuller Theological Seminary, concentrating on the missional church as a reconciling community.