The Church's Response to Covid 19

Case Study Seven: Hope is Still Found in Jesus Sarah Walker Sarah Walker is a current MDiv student at Asbury Theological Seminary that claims Knoxville, TN as her home. When she's not studying, you can find her playing with her dog, Luna, traveling (pre-pandemic), and trying new restaurants.

Context: Rural Tennessee Affiliation: Wesleyan-based Size: About 200 in attendance Introduction There are many times in the Bible where God reminds us to slow down and breathe. Even after creating the heavens and the Earth, God himself rested. Now, in 2019/2020, He is forcing a world focused on having everything immediately and faster than ever, to take a step back and remember what his purpose is. For a small rural church in Tennessee, slowing down and showing God’s love is easy in normal circumstances, but when a global pandemic is taken into effect, it had to find ways to rise to the occasion and continue on its mission.

The novel Coronavirus, COVID-19, “The Rona,” – whatever it may be referred to as, the pandemic that began in late fall/ early winter of 2019, has taken the world by storm and affected more people than ever anticipated. What started out as a faraway disease has now slowly taken over the world and shaped the way the United States of America and other countries function daily. Churches are not immune to the changing climate and have been affected just as hard, if not worse, by COVID-19. All around the country, churches were scrambling to find a 105