Ottawa leaders share challenges and insights for the months to come

Craig Macartney
Spur Ottawa Writer

What will the Church look like after the pandemic? How have the restrictions of the past year changed the Body of Christ in Ottawa? What weaknesses were exposed? These massive questions were the focus of an online panel discussion for local pastors and leaders, held June 2.

“The idea was to do something to help pastors learn from each other and think together,” says Richard Long, Director of Love Ottawa. “Things won’t go back entirely to normal, but people are thinking about how to re-engage for the fall.”

Organized by Love Ottawa, the discussion included presentation from several local leaders and break-out groups for pastors to discuss plans and pray together.

“A return to some sense of ‘normal’ will be met with a sense of regret, nostalgia, and a strong bent to return to ‘the way it was’,” says Doug Ward, one of the panelists and a pastor at Kanata Baptist Church.

Yet, Ward cautions that the last year exposed several major issues in the Church. He notes that national leaders expect “an initial bump in church attendance, come fall, but it will level out and perhaps even show a reduction from pre-pandemic levels. Canadians, by and large, are not looking for answers from the Church. The Church has mostly been invisible through the pandemic from a cultural viewpoint.”

“For a lot of churches it will be very hard going through the fall.”

That projection highlights a key realization for many pastors in the city: while the Church has run many programs to engage congregants and community members, effective discipleship has been seriously lacking. Some expect most churches to lose a third of their members when they reopen.

“These are people who are not showing up for live streams or answering calls,” Long states. “I don’t think we will really know until the fall. There are also many people who are solid Christians who are feeling disenfranchised. For a lot of churches it will be very hard going through the fall.”

Many pastors and elders are eager to be able to re-gather, and assume the congregation feels the same. Yet, Long says the response last summer suggests that may not be the case.

“They didn’t [rush back] when we could do 30 percent. Why do we think they will do that when we can do 50 percent? Actually, a lot of our people are not ready to do that yet. We need to talk with them and help them process so they are ready to come back.”

One challenge is the polarization and politicization within congregations. With people staying at home and not interacting in person, pastors were surprised how congregants interacted online.

“Pastors have been able to come through this well if they have good, solid peer relationships.”

“People have not always been very Christian in how they have interacted on social media,” Long states. “There has been conflict that pastors had to wade in the middle of, that they were not expecting. This will be an ongoing challenge. This polarization tells pastors that we need to do a better job helping our people think like Christians, act like Christians, and grow up. This is one of the places where discipleship is obviously lacking.”

As pastors anticipate reopening, another concern is whether the government will lift restrictions on children and youth ministries.

“There is a lot of uncertainty,” Long acknowledges. “There is concern about whether the government has gotten used to being overly assertive. Churches are wary that the government will try to come back with these kinds of measures again.”

Yet there are also signs of hope. Long highlights that some pastors are committed to making in-person gatherings more significant than before and to double down on fostering godly relationships.

“One of the big takeaways is pastors have been able to come through this and deal with the pandemic well if they have good, solid peer relationships. That’s part of why we do this, to increase the healthy relationships among pastors.”

Jason Boucher of Lifecentre adds, “We need to see what this storm revealed, then have the courage to remember—God is a master rebuilder. The work of the cross remains finished and complete. As a pastor I want to steward our church to lament what we’ve lost, and one day soon rebuild where together we can look more like Jesus.”