HOW COVID-19 IS SENDING PEOPLE ON A SPIRITUAL JOURNEY
People are searching for answers.
COVID-19 has brought an increased interested in Christianity. Pastors and ministers are fielding questions about the Bible, Jesus, Prayer, and eschatology (the study of end times).
And social media has blown up with all sorts of questions.
“By the way, all this Coronavirus thing is managing to convert me to Christianity: I think all the answers are definitely there. Im gunna start reading the Bible, starting from the Old Testament.”
@CharlyPAL98, Twitter.com
“The Coronavirus has just become biblical. It’s beginning to resemble bible verses from the book of Revelation. I’m not a religious guy but I study everything.”
@FlavianLorenzo, Twitter.com
Google Searches
Google is also proving that people are searching, according to a recent article in the Christian Post:
“Jeanet Sinding Bentzen, associate professor at the University of Copenhagen and executive director of the Association for the Study of Religion, Economics, and Culture, released a preliminary draft of a paper on Monday titled ‘In Crisis, We Pray: Religiosity and the COVID-19 Pandemic.’”
“‘I document that Google searches on prayer has skyrocketed during the month of March 2020 when the COVID-19 went global…surged to the highest level during the past five years for which comparative Google search data is available, surpassing all other major events that otherwise instigate intensified demand for prayer, such as Christmas, Easter, and Ramadan.’”
“‘It occurs on all continents…Even Denmark, one of the least religious countries in the world sees systematic increases in internet searches on prayer…’”
ChristianPost.com
Church Attendance
More people are attending church. No, not in person, but definitely online!
Following the church closing due to COVID-19, Lakewood Church, one of the largest in the United States, saw 4.51 million viewers. This broke their previous viewer record of 4.17 million, when Kanye West appeared, hosting his “Sunday Service”.
On an Instagram live feed, worship artist, David Crowder spoke about Passion City Church, which typically sees about 65,000 viewers (in person and online), seeing over 200,000 online attenders for a Sunday gathering.
Village Church, the fastest growing church in Canada, is seeing 3 times their usual viewer-count since the COVID-19 outbreak. In speaking with on of their pastoral staff this past week, even after removing their regular viewers, they’re still seeing about 8000-10000 new viewers each week.
My home church, Mountainview Church in Whitehorse, Yukon, typically 200 in house, and 200 online. This shifted after our first closed-door service under isolation, seeing the number double to over 800 viewers.
Viewer Numbers
Here’s the kicker for all these numbers: They’re not just single viewers!
Many of these views are couples and families, watching together. It’s impossible to know the true watch rates when church is online.
That being said, the numbers are clear, that people are searching for answers. And that part of their search includes the Bible, church, and Jesus.
Are you searching for answers?
Over the past few weeks, I’ve been trying to provide answers to the big questions that are surfacing during the pandemic.
Here’s a few links that might help you on your faith-journey:
