I recently had cataract surgery, a common surgery as we get older. I learned much about vision and focus after the cataracts were removed and new lenses installed in my eyes. My new lenses are set for distance vision, which makes focusing up close difficult. I needed reading glasses, so I went to the store to purchase some cheap ones. Not knowing much about reading glasses, I assumed that the higher the magnification, the better I could see the text. So, I purchased a 3.0 magnification level. I found that the text was only in focus at about 6-8 inches.

How did COVID-19 affect the church in the United States? How did pastors cope with the pandemic and its aftermath? Most of us understand the impact on a micro level – our local church or association of churches – but we don’t understand the impact on a macro level – the church in the United States.

Christianity Today published a year-long study of 1,164 pastors around the United States in 2023. The authors also utilized 17 focus groups with participants from 27 states. Finally, they conducted 9 case studies in 9 different cities to arrive at their results. The results have been published in an article entitled “The Impact of COVID-19 on the American Church.” If you want to read the complete report, you can access it here. https://pages.churchsalary.com/covidstudy

After reading the report, I have six summary observations about the results.

I read, listen to, and watch many sermons. Expository sermons commonly include much application but little exhortation, and there is a difference. The typical evangelical sermon today follows a predictable pattern.

Whatever happened to exhortation?

A new communication tool emerges that can spread information to large groups of people more rapidly than ever before in history.  People use this communication tool for good and bad – to spread truth and promote falsehood. It sounds like social media today, doesn’t it? Over 500 years ago, the church discovered the power of popular pamphlets. Gutenberg invented the printing press around 1436 to print books, but in the 1500s, reformers like Martin Luther discovered the power of pamphlets to spread their message directly to the people, bypassing the control of the church. Pamphlets could be printed in two days and sold for next to nothing on the streets. Pamphlets became the Twitter (X) of the 1500s![1]

If the eight-page pamphlet was the Twitter of the day, wood carvings were the Facebook of the 1500s. Woodcuts were engraved pamphlets used to spread ideas in a visual format. The Roman Catholic Church used woodcuts to fight back against the Reformation in what became known as the “propaganda wars.” Hans Brosamer produced woodcuts picturing Martin Luther as the seven-headed dragon of the Apocalypse. The reformers responded. Lucas Cranach created woodcuts that caricatured the Pope as the Antichrist standing over an altar of money with Satan as the driving force.[2]