5 Things You Have to Get Right Coming Out of COVID-19

For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works which God prepared in advance for us to do.

Ephesians 2:10

During times of uncertainty and crisis, churches have a greater need for gifted, confident leadership!

Welcome to the party…as a gifted, confident leader! (Or better said, as a group of gifted, confident leaders.) Just like the Church of 2030 (download the epub or a PDF) it’s an exciting future but a difficult path getting from here to there, and you can’t get there alone.

What if, buried in the crisis and uncertainty, resides unbelievable opportunity? For your congregation and for accelerating a movement of the Gospel in the U.S.?

(So that you know, Gail and I are balancing the same conversation at our leadership table and with our teams everyday.) Crisis…uncertainty… Opportunity to help accelerate a movement of the Gospel. PLI is pivoting and preparing to pioneer some things you’ll find valuable shortly.

So, here are 5 things you must do as your congregation comes out of isolation:

1. EMOTIONAL WELL BEING
   Don’t ignore the toll the last 40 days has taken on you, your family, your leaders. Gail and Dr. Justin Hannemann, a frequent instructor in PLI’s Leadership Essentials, are discussing today how the brain reacts to crisis and uncertainty. What to do. How to Recover. 
2. LIVE STREAMING WORSHIP
   It’s changed the landscape. Set a path to sustain what you’ve been doing and to improve it. Build a strategy to engage people. Give them opportunity to respond. Build pathways to connect into community and begin a discipling journey. 
3. MISSIONAL COMMUNITIES
   It could be a few weeks to a few months before everyone can fully gather for worship at your church. Build a plan “now” to train leaders for your whole church to gather for worship in missional communities. There is no better time than now! (Watch for more on this.) It’s the perfect opportunity to experiment. Two big untapped resources that you need for the future. 1. Distributed communities outside the church. 2. Members that will extend neighborly invitations onto their patio or into their living room long before extending an invitation into the sanctuary. 
4. FINANCES
   Some churches are being hit very hard here! This will help. You must not let finances become the vision for your church. 
5. RELATIONAL DISCIPLESHIP
   COVID-19 is proving over and over again that the path toward a vibrant (hopeful) 2030 Church is not a program. Jesus discipled people to be leaders who discipled more…and more. Contact Raechel if it’s time to take a step in this direction.

There are seasons when leadership is even more important than other times.

Welcome to this moment. Surround yourself with wise counsel. Make decisions together. But, before you make decisions make sure you’re holding true to what you believe and to what God is calling you to do where you’ve been placed. Keep asking each other “Where’s the opportunity for the Gospel?”

Download The Church of 2030 (download the epub or a PDF). Ask your team of leaders to download it too. Harvest the ideas that are critical to the decisions you are making now. PLI and the PLI family are here to help and to encourage. Join Gail and me and the PLI team on Facebook Live for Morning Prayers on Fridays at 11 AM CDT.

The 1000 Young Leaders cohort is full and launching on May 1. Start watching for gifted, godly young women and men to join the cohort starting November 1.