I posted a tweet this morning which already has seen more interaction than most of my tweets. (It’s worth stating my tweets receive little to no interaction – this one is only high in comparison 😂). Anyway, it said this;

I’ve been spending lots of time reading, praying, talking and thinking through what the future of the church in the post COVID season should look like and I keep coming back to the same answer…….. Jesus

I’ll be honest with you. I’ve listened to leaders from all sorts of different contexts talking about what the post COVID world is going to look like. I’ve felt a little overwhelmed with all the advice that has been offered and I am one of the ones who has added to the noise. At times it has caused a panic or an uncertainty in me (not their fault but mine.) I’ve wondered who is right and who is wrong, because they can’t all be right, and what if I am in the wrong category? Does that mean that we will fail and be disastrous leaders? The temptation is to spin and change every other day when it comes to direction each time I hear a new piece of helpful thinking.

And then I remembered Jesus – comforting words to hear from a church leader

Jesus told His disciples that the gates of hell will not reveal against His church and over the centuries since there have been many gates of hell that the church has faced. But the church is still alive and vibrant and it will be alive and vibrant post COVID too. Of course, there will be shifts in patterns and as leaders we must be responsive to that but when we look at Jesus and his heart, his characteristics, his ministry we know that the church of the post covid era needs to be;

• In loving relationship with the Father
• In loving relationship with the world around it
• Compassionate
• Kind
• Bold
• Gentle
• Welcoming
• Set Apart
• Supernatural
• Hope Filled
• Pure
• Generous
• Not preference led
• Authentic

We could go all day and list more characteristics of Jesus but I think I’m making my point.

As leaders we aren’t going to get everything right as we navigate into this next season but if we could stick to these things then surely we will get a lot of things right and maybe the bits we get wrong wouldn’t be that important?