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Covid19: It's not a sprint, it's a marathon.
Wait, no, it's a triathlon.
If so, we are entering the second leg, which looks to be even trickier than the first.
A few thoughts:
1/
Wait, no, it's a triathlon.
If so, we are entering the second leg, which looks to be even trickier than the first.
A few thoughts:
1/
My best guess is 3 periods of about 6mths each.
1 (Mar to Sep) Lockdown into unlockdown
2 (now till Easter) rolling restrictions
3 (Easter till summer 2021) into postCovid normality
2/
1 (Mar to Sep) Lockdown into unlockdown
2 (now till Easter) rolling restrictions
3 (Easter till summer 2021) into postCovid normality
2/
But the second 'leg' (now till Easter) will be more complex. And we enter it with our emotional resources already drained from the first leg.
How can we cope? How will our churches manage?
3/
How can we cope? How will our churches manage?
3/
Firstly, simplicity.
Do less, but do it well.
During the second leg, you can do more than during the first. But you still can't do a lot. Accept that. Do less. Keep it simple.
Simplicity is sustainable and makes agile responsiveness easier.
4/
Do less, but do it well.
During the second leg, you can do more than during the first. But you still can't do a lot. Accept that. Do less. Keep it simple.
Simplicity is sustainable and makes agile responsiveness easier.
4/
Secondly, self-care.
You are exhausted. You are mentally and emotionally drained. Churches are complex environments under Covid regulations and you have been making strategic decisions almost every week since March.
5/
You are exhausted. You are mentally and emotionally drained. Churches are complex environments under Covid regulations and you have been making strategic decisions almost every week since March.
5/
You may not be sleeping well. You are at risk of using food, drink or worse to make yourself feel better.
Self-care has to be your priority.
Just to be standing at the end, having not lost hope, is to win in times like these.
6/
Self-care has to be your priority.
Just to be standing at the end, having not lost hope, is to win in times like these.
6/
Finally, these next 6 months will be the most profound 'in-between' moment our society has faced since WWII.
We are in-between darkness and light, despair and hope.
It's a 'liminal', threshold moment. Not a new normal, but a new abnormal.
7/
We are in-between darkness and light, despair and hope.
It's a 'liminal', threshold moment. Not a new normal, but a new abnormal.
7/
Speak to the moment. Call it out. We are being pruned (Jn 15), so invite believers and non-believers alike to reconnect with the Vine.
Who are we now? Who will we be afterwards? Where does hope live?
8/
Who are we now? Who will we be afterwards? Where does hope live?
8/
We are on pause. Yet Christianity has seams of gold to mine for moments like this. Bring them out. Be a dealer in hope, even as your heart is breaking.
Speak to the moment.
9/
Speak to the moment.
9/
Simplicity of structures
Self-care prioritised
Speak to the moment.
I pray we look back on these moments with gratitude that we embraced what was really happening, secure in the knowledge that, by his Spirit, God is really here.
Fin/
Self-care prioritised
Speak to the moment.
I pray we look back on these moments with gratitude that we embraced what was really happening, secure in the knowledge that, by his Spirit, God is really here.
Fin/
