Church as an Eschatological Community and Worship Service in the Post-Covid-19 Era

Abstract

. Covid-19 makes the church becomes what Heidi Campbell called “The Distanced Church.” Campbell argues further that the adjective “distanced” here should refer to physical distancing but not social distancing because the desire for communion and fellowship among the church members has never ceased. Since they are unable to gather physically, the church leaders opt for technology to enable their members to socialize without any physical interactions. That situation explains why the legitimacy of online worship services is often discussed among theologians and religious leaders since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic. It has also been argued that the online worship should be extended to the post-Covid-19-era. Using systematic theology as a research method, this paper argues that the role of the church as an eschatological community should be properly taken into consideration in the discussions. As an eschatological community, the Church is called to believe in God’s restorative work over his creation and partake in that restorative work. That theological position implies that the church should anticipate the post-pandemic time when the members would be able to gather on-site. Even though online worship is a legitimate way of worship, on-site worship, accompanied by social unity and physical unity, is the fuller expression of Christian worship. Furthermore, this paper suggests the house church concept for the revitalization of Christian worship in the post-Covid-19. This concept combines online and on-site mode of worship in a house with two or three families as the gathered members.