After the Crisis
Covenant Grove Church was born in a time of crisis. In 2009, our nation was in the middle of a huge recession. People were losing their jobs, marriages were falling apart, and very few people could get hired. Someone in our church, I will call him Kyle, lost his job and came to me for pastoral counseling. After talking, he made the commitment to double down in his walk with Jesus. His faith grew, his marriage got stronger, and he eventually got a job. Unfortunately, after he got a job, he began drifting away from church – and then faith altogether.
I have heard it said that the most dangerous time is not in the crisis, but right after it. The phase after a crisis is called “recovery” – where we process what happened, learn valuable lessons, and make changes for the future.
In the Bible (2 Kings 19-20) a king named Hezekiah went through a series of crises. First, he survived a potentially catastrophic invasion from Assyria. Then he was healed by God from a terminal illness. Perhaps he became overconfident because in the very next story Hezekiah showed envoys from Babylon everything in his royal palace. Babylon would be the nation that would destroy Jerusalem. After the crisis, Hezekiah let his guard down and didn’t live the important lessons – this lead to national disaster.
Our world has just gone through a global crisis. It was not only the pandemic – it was how we responded to it and many other issues that led to crises of unity, hope, and faith. Studies have shown that over 40% of Americans left church. For those that stayed, many of them grew more intense in their faith. Yet now that the crisis is over, some people are finding the fire at their faith growing cold.
- Some people, worried about work and finances, are pulling away from church commitments while increasing their hours at work, leading to burnout and fatigue.
- Our kids in school are being expected to perform at “normal” standards, even though they have not fully processed the loss of education and connection that they experienced.
- Some marriages, having stuck it out through the pandemic, are now facing long-standing issues. Yet because the pain of the pandemic has not been processed, that pain is being projected onto the spouse.
- Our single people are struggling to find hope and healthy connections with people because very few people have recovered well.
Hosanna Wong said, “Just because we have seen it done wrong, doesn’t mean we can’t be the ones who do it right.“ There is hope. In the best recovery phase, we learn more about ourselves and what leads to true flourishing in life. The things we talk about in church—trust in Jesus, connection with God’s family, habits for spiritual and mental health, and living on the Lord’s mission—those things make all the difference in life.
CS Lewis said that most people do not intentionally walk away from their face. They drift away.
Dear friends, fight against the drift. You keep the fire hot by adding more fuel.
In Christ,
Scott Nelson