So, here’s a strange one…
I’d always assumed that when it came to church buildings, biblical theology was clear. Buildings are useful – but they are not the church. The church is people. As they don’t say at theological college, ‘Well obvious innit?’ See also 1 Corinthians 6:19 and 1 Peter 2:5, etc.
So, arising from that, I’ve always seen buildings as useful but relatively disposable; I mean, but for the pandemic, we could meet in a tent or a school and still be ‘church’, right? That said, don’t get me wrong – as a rural rector I have three wonderful 1,000-year-old church buildings. All of them are beautiful and historic.
But I’ve been trying to teach the congregations for some years that ‘on Sundays the church comes into the building’ and that being a Christian is about ‘saving souls, not saving buildings’. So when the coronavirus pandemic hit, and bishops told me I couldn’t enter church buildings, I shrugged, smiled quietly to myself, and thought, ‘Splendid! Now we can prove our theology in practice.’
But, lo, then the Daily Telegraph prints a story in which various evangelical ministers denounce the bishops for this restriction. And on 4 May The Times publishes a letter from 500 clergy (some evangelical, but mostly not) declaring that ‘without detracting from the excellent worship offered by many clergy in their homes, domestic settings cannot replace the church buildings whose architecture, symbolism and history represent the consecration of our public life’.
So why the furore from a few (good and Godly) evangelicals? One was quoted in the Telegraph as saying the ban was ‘nonsense’ and added: ‘I know a number of clergy who are going against the advice of going into the church building to live stream services … The advice that clergy should get shopping, but not go into their buildings alone to minister online, has elevated the humanistic and practical above the spiritual.’
But while physical food is only available from physical shops (or home delivery), spiritual food does not need to be dispensed from church buildings or vans, praise God! The two things are quite different. There’s not much point in a Morrisons employee attempting to give me food via YouTube or Zoom – whereas the gospel is not so limited!
Perhaps, too, may I very gently suggest that part of the backlash might be linked to a mindset that tends to assume the worst about bishops and therefore instinctively believes the ‘soundest’ response in any situation is the most negative and defiant? Of course, sometimes that may be the correct response. But I’m not sure there are good biblical reasons in this case for it.
Another aspect seems also to have been idolisation of technology. One evangelical minister was quoted in the Telegraph saying, ‘We have tens-of-thousands-of-pounds of tech for live streaming, so what has really, really [expletive] me off (sic) is that I can’t use any of the tech, I have to live stream from home.’ Quelle tragédie!
Were the bishops right to make this restriction? I don’t know. Maybe they were a bit overcautious, possibly even mistaken, on this one – but for hugely understandable reasons. Imagine the headlines if evangelical clergy had inadvertently spread the virus!
Should I have obeyed the bishops? Well, scripturally, yes – because I can’t see this as a salvation issue to go to the stake over.
Should I care? Not much – we’ll be back in the buildings sometime. Meanwhile, I see this as a God-given opportunity to model healthy theology and focus passionately on what’s important. And that, dear friends, ain’t buildings…
