Church Attendance in the Post Covid-19 Era: The Case of Bulawayo East Seventh-Day Adventist Church.

Abstract

The day the earth stood still! This was an expected event, which caught everyone by surprise. People were expected within a short space of time to come up with safe measures to implement as to save lives. Lives have been turned upside down for the entire human race. The Church found itself on the receiving end and had to systematically respond to this global pandemic through the announcements of closing its doors for worship in a bid to combat the spread of the deadly virus. Early 2021 when Covid-19 pandemic was put under control the government relaxed COVID-19 restrictions and churches responded to this with gladness. The church doors were opened and congregants filled up the pews, however there was a group that has never sat foot to church since churches were closed due to COVID-19 in 2020. When the Seventh Day Adventist church in Zimbabwe opened its doors, the Bulawayo East District ceased most of its online programming to encourage physical worship leaving the group not attending church stranded. The district however came up with strategies to lure members back to church and keep their spiritual lives in check. It is therefore the object of this qualitative study to interrogate the effectiveness of the methods adopted by Bulawayo East Church.