COVID-19's Disruption Of Ecclesiological Legalism

The COVID-19 quarantine has disrupted many things, the standard weekly model of church attendance among them.  Virtual church sermons have at least largely replaced in-person gatherings at churches--and this is, at least in many cases, not spiritually negative at all, but not for the reason many might think.  Prolonged isolation grants additional opportunities to think about their worldviews and how individuals may conduct their lives differently even after the crisis has passed, including how they will regard church.

There never was a Biblical obligation to meet with potentially large groups of Christians in a church building, much less to meet with them at arbitrary times like Sunday mornings or Wednesday nights.  Christians who are just now having to rethink their church attendance habits out of necessity during the pandemic may end up realizing that they only attended the traditional model of church on Sundays out of a misguided sense of obligation.  If so, they will be making a very profound discovery about their spiritual priorities.

Perhaps the alternate church plans during the COVID-19 pandemic may have the effect of leading people who would have otherwise never challenged tradition to see that they are not less spiritually mature for not attending church either physically or virtually.  If many Christians opt to not make gathering with shallow congregations a part of their lives when the pandemic passes, they have done nothing wrong.  Such a decision may reflect a desire to follow truth rather than meaningless constructs of Christian legalists.

It is always worth drawing attention to the fact that many churches do not deserve followings to begin with due to their numerous fallacies and examples of legalism (including the legalistic idea that attending church in any capacity at all is a moral or spiritual requirement).  In fact, frustration over shallowness and errors can drive many genuine, committed Christians away from church gatherings!  Not attending a church regularly or at all is by no means a sign of spiritual apathy.