Abstract
This article reflects on how the COVID-19 pandemic gives the church an opportunity to reconsider what the centre of God’s mission is for the congregation. It will engage on the implications of its reflections for public practical theology and congregational development. Spurred by an electronic opinion poll carried out by the author on six focus groups on WhatsApp platforms, averaging 200 participants each, during the lockdown days in Ghana, the question was put, “What one thing do you miss about church during the lock down period?” Majority of respondents mentioned communal fellowship (Konoinia) as the most missed aspect of congregational life. This article reflects on suggestions engendered by this observation and how it helps congregations to discern what makes them relevant to their members. Thus, helping congregations to envision the future, invoke dreams of a new creation where a return to normality will birth a world in which the church would take a new shape, presenting a fresh sense of missional community able to bring God to the people of our day.
Highlights
The current article is part of an ongoing study of the African Church under the leadership Prof Malan Nel at the University of Pretoria
We have shown how religious Africans are and that in traditional life they do not know how to exist without religion
Something went wrong long before COVID-19 appeared; the loss of meaningful community that characterised the church in the book of Acts
Summary
The respondents indicate fellowship and music as the most cherished aspect of church gatherings, an examination of their theology of gathering suggests they see the church as an entertainment gathering instead of a place for building up for the mission of God. In the African context, this basic longing seems to have overshadowed the purpose of the church over the years and the onset of COVID-19 puts almost all human institutions to the test regarding their relevance to the times in which they live. To discern how the current pandemic, COVID-19, impacts her mission because of reduced communal worship as one of the central activities of the church, we need to identify what should be the main thing to sustain us in times like this, when we do not meet in-person. In a world where the love of fun or recreation replaces many serious considerations, it is worth seeking to know why we gather and our theology thereof
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