Grassroots Church Revives Through Bible Reading After COVID-19

In the WeChat group of N Church, the Bible reading relay activity continues seven days a week. This campaign has been ongoing for over half a year, attracting more believers to participate.

Just past 5 a.m. every day, Pastor Y of the church posts his daily scripture reading guide video. In less than half an hour after the video is posted, more than twenty believers have already completed their Bible reading tasks. Several believers have even started reciting the required scriptures for the week in voice messages.

"In the past three years, we had more time off than when we could gather together. The longest interruption was last year when in-person gatherings were suspended continuously for eight months," Pastor Z, responsible for the church, recalled when discussing the situation of face-to-face gatherings in the church since the pandemic.

Due to limited pastoral staff and financial resources, during suspension period of gathering, N Church did not live-stream Sunday sermons but shared recorded sermon videos in the WeChat group. "Because of the pandemic control requirements, only a few of us could be present at the church, so we didn't have the capacity to record and edit sermon videos during the weekdays. We could only share some spiritual reflections every day or send sermon videos from previous years to the group for self-guided spiritual growth," Pastor Z explained.

Pastor Z added that that in contrast to pre-pandemic times, there is now a noticeable decrease of over a hundred regular attendees at the in-person Sunday worship services. Prioritizing the restoration of the lives of long-standing believers whose faith has wavered due to sporadic gatherings, as well as those returning to the church from elsewhere, has become a central focus for N Church.

"We previously deliberated whether to initiate the study and implementation of novel pastoral management systems. However, we came to the realization that it was premature for such discussions."

As a result, in the first year of recovery from the pandemic, the church decided to start rebuilding the spiritual foundation of all its believers through Bible reading. "Even if other activities in the church are postponed, we must first go through the Bible thoroughly from beginning to end and then proceed with the nurturing of the entire congregation," Pastor Z said.

Since early April, N Church has prioritized the "everyone reading the Bible" ministry. With the resumption of in-person gatherings, the church established a dedicated Bible reading and testimonial session every Thursday morning, where multiple pastors take turns guiding believers through Bible study and encouraging them to share recent grace and testimonies.

In addition to the congregation, the pastoral staff commenced Bible reading sessions during the pandemic, either during weekday meetings on Thursdays and Fridays or following church council meetings.

In the online Bible reading relay activities, Pastor Y expounds upon the scripture's content, historical context, causality, structure, and fundamental meanings in his self-produced videos.

Pastor Y disclosed that due to the necessity of scripting his daily videos, he had to consult numerous biblical reference materials and contemplate the content deeply. He stated, "Though each video may be less than 10 minutes, the preparation often demands more than two to three hours. Nevertheless, through this preparatory process, I have gained a profound comprehension of many formerly ambiguous scriptures."

Several pastors noted that over the past few months, both in physical gatherings and online, the participation in Bible reading has progressively grown. "At present, the Bible reading group is almost at full capacity, and we are exploring ways to accommodate more enthusiastic participants!" exclaimed another young pastor with a grin.