Post Pandemic Worship

wil

wil

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I debated where to place this. Interfaith wide? Belief specific? I decided to go halfway and hit Abrahamic and I am already second guessing my choice as I begin this post!

Anyway? You been back to your mosque, synagogue or church live since the pandemic? Tell us of the changes, your thoughts etc.

My little church was 60-80 (+20 or so kids) any given Sunday and on the big holidays that would be upto 120.

I just went this past Sunday...we were about 40 +7 kids. During the pandemic I was on zoom less than once a month for the service, but watched most of the talks sometime during the week....and occasionally entered in to online discussion (def more participatory here)

Our church played it safe...shut down during pandemic and went fully online, staff and minister not even getting together in person. We opened back up slow...fully masked, vaxxed, chairs distanced and no hugging. (And we are huggy group!)

Along the way things have been more lax but chairs are still placed 3 feet apart and couples and family groups self cluster in the cloister.

They are only live first Sunday of every month (online the rest) and I have only been back a few times since. The previous visits there were about 20 folk there.

Other changes.

We have switched to a donation box in the back vs passing a plate.

The fellowship and potluck smorgasborg has not returned.

Ask the minster (discussion of service) happens online afterwords on zoom, but not during first Sunday live...(which is simultaneously broadcast and recorded for youtube)

Online viewership due to pandemic has "brought back" folks who have moved away and found new viewers and contributors.

My personal involvement in the extra.curriculars of the church steadily diminished when I moved an hour away a d then came to a halt during my early recovery 5 years ago. So in reality while I am no more than an occasional congregant right now, I am more participatory than I have been.

It was good to see old faces.

So how about you?

Pre vs post pandemic

Personal participation
Attendance at services
Physical changes
Service changes (online etc)
Finances
 
My wife and I are remote and the only Baha'i, nothing really changed for us.

The church services on the other hand reflect what you have offered. I have not been to a service for a while now, so I am part of that reflection.

We need to rebuild the 'sense of community', as the unity of the human race is not possible if our communities are divided.

Regards Tony
 
Even though I'm not Abrahamic, I'll answer anyways. ;)

My temple is two hours away. We used to go monthly.

Covid, of course, put a halt to all that. We didn't return for a few years.

But then, life had changed, and it had nothing to do with Covid.

There were less people available to babysit. The car situation had changed(need to be sure of your vehicle for a 4 hour round trip). Gas had become more of a burden.

I'd like to go back, but I don't think our situation is going to change in the near future.
 
The new AWVI 2023 numbers indicate a notable decline in such attendance, dipping to 33%.

In addition, according to the post-pandemic research, a majority of Americans—56%—now attend church infrequently or not at all.

www.arizonachristian.edu

New Post-Pandemic Research Shows How COVID Rocked America’s Faith - Arizona Christian University

Tracy F. Munsil, Ph.D. | June 14, 2023 | CRC | AWVI 2023, George Barna From the Cultural Research Center at Arizona Christian University We continue to witness the devastating effects of COVID-19 combined with the societal responses—including government lockdowns, violations of constitutional...
www.arizonachristian.edu www.arizonachristian.edu

In my observation churches have relied on procreation and bringing those little ones into the fold to survive.

If ya don't get them young...very few show up later. The cycle is Sundays school.amd catechism as a kid....some stick to it....but that second chance is when they have kids, and they bring them into church...after the kids are grown and wander off many of the parents do to, taking their Sundays back for gardening and football... but the church has a third chance...the aging crowd starts thinking about the eternal life concept and returns to church for that salvation and hereafter that folks were talking about.

Well millenials and Gen xers left...pandemic happened and not as many are having kids, (speaking white America here) and if they are they aren't hauling their kids enmasse to church any more.

Libraries are reinventing themselves as online repositories and maker spaces, as places for lower income and homeless to access computers and charge their phones...as emissaries to help folk find govt facilities, doctors, health care and rides.

If the churches wanna get filled back up....they need to figure out how.

Me....I am thinking about maybe spending the rest of my life in church.....and by that I mean buying and empty one!
 
wil said:
Me....I am thinking about maybe spending the rest of my life in church.....and by that I mean buying and empty one!
Click to expand...
I always dreamed of buying an empty place of worship... and rededicating it. :)

(And yes, living there, somewhere, because I'd have to to maintain it.)
 
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