Article content
For a moment, let’s set aside the headline-grabbing, ego-driven exploits of a certain Aylmer-based pastor. To focus on his attention-seeking leadership would be to miss the more durable impact the pandemic is having on faith communities across Southwestern Ontario.
As with workplaces, the protracted COVID-19 crisis likely will change the way faith groups gather and express their values in profound ways. For more than a year, most churches, synagogues and mosques have studiously observed public health measures that have forced them to rethink their ministries. It’s probably fair to say the pandemic has catalyzed a disruption most knew was coming, but one they could afford to put off. The distillation of faith to an essence transmittable through digital media, after all, seemed so awfully reductive: a fool’s mission.