[A Sip of Books] What Did the Church Do Amid the COVID-19 Chaos?

Editor's NoteSome sentences encapsulate the entire content of a book, while others instantly reach the reader's heart, creating a connection with the book. We excerpt and introduce such meaningful sentences from books.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, many churches switched their worship services to non-face-to-face online formats. Somang Church also transitioned to online worship immediately after the quarantine authorities raised the infection alert level to 'serious' on February 23, 2020. Senior Pastor Kim Kyung-jin of Somang Church confesses it was not an easy task. He worked hard to soothe congregants who resisted, saying, "We never closed the church even during the Korean War." On the other hand, he made efforts to fulfill the church's social role. All offerings collected during the first worship service after the transition were donated to churches and patients in the Daegu-Gyeongbuk region, and the church retreat center located in Gonjiam, Gwangju, Gyeonggi Province, was provided as a residential treatment center for COVID-19 patients. Although we have overcome this unprecedented situation and reached the endemic phase, the church has not fully returned to the pre-COVID-19 state. According to Pastor Kim, about 70% recovery has been recorded. Over the three years swept by COVID-19, which left significant scars on our society, the entire society struggled to overcome adversity. Religious groups that insisted on maintaining traditional face-to-face worship were sometimes criticized, but it is also true that religion extended helping hands to navigate the unprecedented crisis. This book answers the question of what churches did during the COVID-19 pandemic. Pastor Kim explained, "Even if not the entire Korean church, I wanted to share good examples of what individual churches did with a sense of responsibility."

God, we are now in a very special situation where we must worship through the internet for a while, but I hope this time will rather become a period for all of us to mature and deepen our faith... Please transform this into a blessed time to rethink the meaning of the church. - Prayer at the first dawn prayer meeting after the church closed (February 24, 2020)

I believe the church should emulate God's holiness, be a model for the world, protect the lives and health of neighbors, and be a healthy community that serves with joy. We must also fulfill our responsibilities and duties as members of society... Somang Church pursues being 'a church of the Holy Spirit that beautifies the world with the life of the gospel.' Our worship has not stopped; rather, we should accept this as a meaningful moment to study various pastoral directions for the post-COVID-19 era. - Elder Im Soon-ho (Somang Church 2020 Secretary Elder)

On Sunday, March 1, 2020, the first-ever online worship service was held, and the senior pastor proposed donating all Sunday offerings received online to the Daegu-Gyeongbuk region, which was hardest hit by COVID-19. All church board members agreed and resolved to donate the entire Sunday offering to the Daegu-Gyeongbuk area... Along with God's commandment to love our neighbors as ourselves, with a heartfelt desire to spread love on this land, we began to recover little by little. - Elder Park Kyung-hee (Somang Church 2023 Secretary Elder)

As of 2023, almost all daily life has been restored, and my faith life seems to be proceeding normally and ordinarily, but I hope I never forget the preciousness and gratitude of the 'ordinary' and 'taken-for-granted' things that I could feel with my whole body during the COVID-19 period and continue my faith life well in the future. - Student Kim Min-jun (Somang Church High School Department)

Somang Church COVID-19 Response White Paper | Written by Kim Kyung-jin | Somang Church | 284 pages | 30,000 KRW