A church founder and author urged prosperous churches to help smaller churches hit by the pandemic.
Speaking to The Christian Post, Timothy Keller, founder and former senior pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York, encouraged big churches, which have not been severely affected by the pandemic, to "partner" with small financially hit churches.
He said that the impact of pandemic "has not been even" on the Church, taking into account the financial capacities of churches according to their congregants.
Keller, also founder of non-profit organization Redeemer City to City, stated that churches comprising members of professionals and white-collar workers were not badly hurt with financial loss. On the other hand, churches in low-income communities, as well as those that are consisted of working-class and multi-ethnic congregants have been severely affected by the pandemic.
He suggested that churches who are financially doing fine should partner with struggling churches.
"I know of churches that got money from the government in the very beginning because they were afraid they weren't going to be able to keep their doors open. But it turns out, they're doing fine. Take some of that money and find some sister churches that preach the Gospel and have been hard hit and just partner with them. Say, 'How can we give to you, how can we help you?'"
Keller predicted that after the pandemic, there will be changes on how people will interact with each other, which will have significant effect on the church.
"I do think that everybody going online for a year means that when we come back, there is going to be some change and how we work, how we relate to each other and communicate with each other. It probably won't come all the way back to the way it was before, but it probably also won't stay the way it was," he stated.
"We don't know how society is going to work. Some businesses say 'Everybody's going to stay working remote,' other businesses say, 'We're going to go back the way it was,' and other business leaders say, 'It'll be in the middle.' That's going to have an effect on the church, but how, exactly, is unclear thus far," he pointed out.
Keller released his new book, "Hope In Times of Fear: The Resurrection and the Meaning of Easter", which tells about the meaning of the resurrection of Jesus. The book discusses the main message of the Christian faith, explained in a way that is "filled with unshakable belief, piercing insight and a profound new way to look at the story" of resurrection.
The author has also written other books, including "Every Good Endeavor," "Generous Justice," "The Meaning of Marriage," "The Prodigal God," "Counterfeit Gods," "The Reason for God" and "Jesus The King."
In June last year, he revealed that he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer but the former pastor said that while it did not change his view of suffering, the diagnosis only challenged him to practice his beliefs "like never before".
Keller, along with his wife, Kathy, founded Redeemer Presbyterian Church in Manhattan in 1989. He led the church for 28 years, which grew to have a weekly attendance of more than 5,000. But he stepped down from the role in July 2017 to train new church leaders and start churches in other cities through Redeemer City to City, a non-profit organization that he also founded and currently chairs.
