In times of need, times of stress, and times of worry, we look to the Church for help and guidance. Our churches’ pastors and staff work hard to provide us with the care and wisdom that we need to get through these difficult times. They continue to work hard every week to bring us the word of God, to comfort us, and to help us still feel connected.
Church’s have the responsibility of still delivering sermons, running ministries, and continuing outreach programs. From lead pastors, to ministry leaders, to tech support, our churches’ staff have to combat the stress of a pandemic, while providing support to their communities.
So, while our church staff is helping us, who is helping them?
This pandemic is affecting everyone, including church staff members. While every Sunday our pastors bring us comforting messages, we must remember that they are also navigating this confusing and frustrating time.
Pastor Steve Davis, of True North Church, delivers his Sunday morning message through a live stream. 
Members of True North’s staff are still working hard every week to make sure their church members are still feeling connected to the church and to God. 
While the pastor is working hard on stage delivering God’s work, there is an entire staff supporting him and 
Before beginning the Sunday morning service, the staff gather together to pray and encourage one another. 
Our pastors and church staff are working hard to make sure their church members continue to grow closer to God. A member of the True North church takes time to pray over the other staff and church members during this difficult time.
Different organizations are pulling together online resources for pastors to use. Harvard Divinity School has compiled a list of online articles that pastors can use to help educate themselves during this pandemic. The topics range from CDC Faith Based Resources, to struggling with feelings of grief during this time.
“The amount of resources sent out to us at first was a little overwhelming. It was hard to wrap my head around the fact that our services had to be transitioned to be completely online in such a short span of time.” Senior Pastor at Dover Church, Timothy Poferl.
Elieen R. Campbell-Reed who is an author for Christian Century Magazine wrote 10 Guidelines for pastoral care during the coronavirus outbreak. A few of these tips were to “Listen in love,” “Pray,” and “Show up for people, even if it’s not in person.”
While all these guidelines help pastors out, they can also help the church’s congregation out as well. Next time a pastor calls to check in, ask them how they are doing. If the pastor knows they have the congregation’s support, it will encourage them in this scary time.
One other easy way to help support pastors is to give them feedback on how to improve the services. Pastors have never faced a situation like this before, this is a new territory for everyone and constructive criticism is a valuable asset to them during this time.
“Truthfully, I don’t know how well I have been leading my church. In these next few weeks I am working on getting feedback from the people in my church to find out more ways I can improve the services,” Senior Pastor at Dover Church, Timothy Poferl, said.
As a society, we have many prayer requests that need to be lifted up to the Lord right now. As we continue to pray for all those affected by COVID-19, we should be remembering our pastoral staff as well. They have to carry the burden of supporting their communities, while dealing with the pandemic in their personal lives. While they are no doubt lifting all of us up in prayer, we should ensure that we are doing the same for them.
