The following articles have been selected because they are informative, instructive, entertaining, or simply interesting. Articles appearing in Your Friday Five do not represent an endorsement.
Bodily presence is integral to communication.
A Theory of Zoom Fatigue, L. M. Sacasas
With regards to video conferencing specifically, it’s much too tempting to multi-task while we do so. And, as we should all know by now, nobody multi-tasks well. It’s especially exhausting to be continuously dropping a conversational thread and picking it up again. Something as seemingly benign as a notification flashing on the screen, even if we don’t attend to it for more than a split second, can throw us off the thread of thought, and the momentary work of trying to pick it up again takes a mental toll.
Ken Braddy offers sage counsel for regathering.
24 Questions Your Church Should Answer Before People Return, Ken Braddy
We need to think and plan carefully so we do not endanger people simply because we let our guard down and believed that the Coronavirus crisis had passed. Now, as believers let’s agree to live by faith and not operate in fear, but let’s also agree to be proactive and to act in wisdom towards our members and guests, especially those among us who are most susceptible to becoming infected with COVID-19.
The Word always provides a word.
3 Unexpected Scriptures Your Church Needs Right Now, LifeWay Pastors
God is God of the infinite, as well as the infinitesimal. Of the mountains and the valleys.
We’re currently ministering to people in life’s valleys. The constant challenge is finding ways in which God uses this crisis for His glory and our good.
Leadership fatigue is already a struggle.
15 Signs of Leadership Fatigue, Chuck Lawless
Given the stress many church leaders are under during this COVID-19 crisis, I’m updating and reposting this word from 2015 to encourage each of us to be aware of leadership fatigue.
Living by a “get me through the day” philosophy – You may begin the day with prayer, but just surviving the day is your prayer theme.
Losing vision – A leadership vision assumes a commitment far beyond today. Fatigued leaders, though, don’t consider beyond the end of this workday.
Sometimes rebirth happens in unlikely places.
From Near Death to Life: A congregational rebirth, Aaron Earls
“There was sort of a resignation on their part if something didn’t change they were going to die,” he says. “And that made it easier to do what I refer to as ‘rebirthing.’ We had to create something new.”
Owings says “rebirth” is possible for any congregation, but he offers two cautions: “It’s harder than you think and it won’t look like what you think it’ll look like.”
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