White Evangelical Pastors Hesitant to Preach Vaccines

This is ridiculous. Why on earth should a pastor or church push these things in either direction? Preach the word and let people decide for themselves. Vaccines and masks have no more place in the pulpit than patriotic celebrations, sappy mother’s day sermons, or politics.

but vaccines and taking them does matter to a church. A significant number of Christians are acting like COVID is no big deal and not getting vaccinated for a variety of reasons. That is causing tension as churches start to reassemble. Now, if you are in the “no vaccine” crowd you wonder what the big deal is. If you are “pro-vaccine” there is an issue before you want to gather back together.

A significant number of Christians are acting like COVID is no big deal and not getting vaccinated for a variety of reasons.

It’s also possible to think COVID is a big deal and still not get vaccinated for a variety of reasons.

That is causing tension as churches start to reassemble.

No, the tension is being caused by people who refuse to allow others to differ with them (on either side).

[Larry]

No, the tension is being caused by people who refuse to allow others to differ with them (on either side).

How do people who don’t want to get vaccinated because they aren’t concerned about the virus for themselves get together in the same space with people who are concerned about transmission from careless people.

For example, my old Sunday School group had a few people who were willfully careless (kept meeting w/o masks, traveled, etc.). How can I meet in a small room with them?

[Mark_Smith]

For example, my old Sunday School group had a few people who were willfully careless (kept meeting w/o masks, traveled, etc.). How can I meet in a small room with them?

If you actually want to meet with them (not clear given your views of them), get your vaccination, wait the required time for it to take effect, and then meet with them. If you don’t believe the vaccination will protect you, why should others worry about getting it at all? And with the confusing guidance about what to do once vaccinated (still distance and wear masks because you could apparently still transmit the virus), again, what benefit is there to even bother with it?

If you get the shot, you’ve done what you can for yourself. Let others decide their own risks. If you don’t want to take the risk of being with them, then don’t.

How can I meet in a small room with them?

By showing up and walking through the door with the precautions necessary to satisfy your conscience about your personal safety and then find an open seat. Or get them to meet in a bigger room. Or meet with a group that meets in a bigger room.

But whichever you choose, don’t cause tension about it. Don’t insist that everyone else satisfy you personal conscience. Give people the room to differ with you. You are not their Master.

I would urge you not to assume people are careless. That isn’t evident at least here. Meeting w/o masks or traveling are not, in and of themselves, careless. Many people (perhaps most) have done both and have been in no danger.

[Larry]

How can I meet in a small room with them?

By showing up and walking through the door with the precautions necessary to satisfy your conscience about your personal safety and then find an open seat. Or get them to meet in a bigger room. Or meet with a group that meets in a bigger room.

But whichever you choose, don’t cause tension about it. Don’t insist that everyone else satisfy you personal conscience. Give people the room to differ with you. You are not their Master.

I would urge you not to assume people are careless. That isn’t evident at least here. Meeting w/o masks or traveling are not, in and of themselves, careless. Many people (perhaps most) have done both and have been in no danger.

Yep… that’s what I knew you’d say. That’s why I haven’t attended church on person in over a year. Too many think just like you. You get it all and the rest get the shaft.

Yep… that’s what I knew you’d say. That’s why I haven’t attended church on person in over a year. Too many think just like you. You get it all and the rest get the shaft.

I am not following you here. You aren’t attending church because people like me think you should take precautions that you believe are necessary to keep you safe?

I have worn a mask every Sunday and Wednesday since we went inside in September. And I have asked everyone who comes here to do the same thing.

So here’s the question I have asked people like you: What changes this for you? When will you be willing to assemble with the body again?

[Larry]

Yep… that’s what I knew you’d say. That’s why I haven’t attended church on person in over a year. Too many think just like you. You get it all and the rest get the shaft.

I am not following you here. You aren’t attending church because people like me think you should take precautions that you believe are necessary to keep you safe?

I have worn a mask every Sunday and Wednesday since we went inside in September. And I have asked everyone who comes here to do the same thing.

So here’s the question I have asked people like you: What changes this for you? When will you be willing to assemble with the body again?

I said what I said because you sound just like my leadership. What I want is simple acknowledgement that some people have concerns about COVID. These are just dismissed by “many” as “lack of faith” or, as you did “I have attended for a year and had no problems.” (Sounds a lot like what charismatics say about faith healing…) Others have particular health issues that no one was interested in addressing. There are many possibilities here. For example, my teen daughter has a trach. NOT ONCE has a youth leader reached out to her about what would help her be able to attend despite us early on seeking help about it. Now they’ve just abandoned her and they couldn’t care less. Not everything can be forgiven and forgotten when the leadership didn’t seek to understand or accommodate in any way. They didn’t minister to my daughter, they wrote her off.

As a personal issue, and only tangentially related, my mother died right as the COVID visiting restrictions hit in the hospitals. She did not have COVID, but died all alone there. I am not mad at God in any way, but I am mad at “friends” including the pastor who did not acknowledge her death or my pain at all. She was not a member or attender, but I was.

[Mark_Smith]

I said what I said because you sound just like my leadership. What I want is simple acknowledgement that some people have concerns about COVID. These are just dismissed by “many” as “lack of faith” or, as you did “I have attended for a year and had no problems.” (Sounds a lot like what charismatics say about faith healing…) Others have particular health issues that no one was interested in addressing. There are many possibilities here. For example, my teen daughter has a trach. NOT ONCE has a youth leader reached out to her about what would help her be able to attend despite us early on seeking help about it. Now they’ve just abandoned her and they couldn’t care less. Not everything can be forgiven and forgotten when the leadership didn’t seek to understand or accommodate in any way. They didn’t minister to my daughter, they wrote her off.

As a personal issue, and only tangentially related, my mother died right as the COVID visiting restrictions hit in the hospitals. She did not have COVID, but died all alone there. I am not mad at God in any way, but I am mad at “friends” including the pastor who did not acknowledge her death or my pain at all. She was not a member or attender, but I was.

Mark, it sounds as if your disagreement is with something that is not really related to Covid. Obviously, none of us know your whole church situation, but being ignored by your church leaders and other members of the church, while a real, serious problem, really has nothing to do with various reactions to Covid.

At my church, we know that some people have concerns about Covid. That’s why we implemented the distancing and other measures that we did. Those who want to come and wear masks and stay even farther away from others than the extra distance that is provided for everyone are welcome to. Those who don’t want to come yet are also welcome to continue to interact with us online, as we are still maintaining our online presence, and we are not cutting people off. We contact them and pray for them, but if they don’t want to come or meet with someone who comes to them, interaction is somewhat more limited online.

No one in our church is claiming (at least publicly, or even privately that we know of) that mask wearers or those remaining home have a “lack of faith.” However, those of us who don’t want to live that way expect the same consideration, and would not take kindly to being told we have a “lack of compassion.” We expect members to be Christian adults, who take responsibility for whatever actions are needed to protect them and their families. We also made sure that they don’t have any expectations that the church will enforce their particular actions and standards on others.

In our state, the governor’s executive orders, cannot, by court decision, affect a church. While our pastor made an announcement strongly encouraging people to wear masks during the worst of the pandemic, he could not order it, as it was not ordered by the government, we are a congregational church, and it was quite obvious that a motion to require members to do so would have failed in dramatic fashion. So, most members don’t, some do, and some stay home, and we somehow manage to get along just fine without denigrating each other’s approach to this.

P.S. Over the course of the last year, about half of our congregation has at one point or another contracted Covid. By being careful about staying away with any related symptoms, Covid or not, we have not had, that we know of, any spread of Covid through our church due to any carelessness on the part of those who were affected.

I told my story to reinforce the idea that getting back together is going to be tough for many churches and many Christians. Forget my personal story. Just because your church is full of great people does not mean that other churches are.

I also tend to think that taking the “no position” position reinforces the “no mask” position. That is UNLESS you have been very active in reaching out to those who have not been attending in person. My church has certainly not done that. Perhaps yours has, but I suspect a lot of people are feeling disconnected and cut off at home.

[Mark_Smith]

I also tend to think that taking the “no position” position reinforces the “no mask” position. That is UNLESS you have been very active in reaching out to those who have not been attending in person. My church has certainly not done that. Perhaps yours has, but I suspect a lot of people are feeling disconnected and cut off at home.

Mark, though we are hardly a perfect church, we suspect the same thing, to some extent. We are a small church, and we currently know of 6 families that are staying away for reasons that have to do with Covid. Our deacons, tasked biblically with taking care of members just as was done in the early church, discuss at each meeting with the pastors/elders what more we can do for those families to be of help, stay in touch, encourage them, etc. However, even if one of the families would return if there were an enforced mask mandate (and we don’t know that that is the case as no one has said so), we can’t tell the entire church that they have to change their behavior to match the requirements of one family. That would cause much more division than help.

We don’t have a “no mask” position in the church. But I strongly doubt that having no position either way makes “no mask” a given. The members have decided for themselves what they will do. In another church, a majority might wear masks instead. That’s up to them. We would neither applaud nor condemn that, as it’s none of our business, just as the way we conduct our church is none of theirs.

I said what I said because you sound just like my leadership. What I want is simple acknowledgement that some people have concerns about COVID. These are just dismissed by “many” as “lack of faith” or, as you did “I have attended for a year and had no problems.” (Sounds a lot like what charismatics say about faith healing…)

I am not sure you read what I said. I acknowledged that people have concerns and I asked our church to wear masks because of those concerns. I did not say I have attended for a year and had no problems. Someone in my family (and possibly me also) did have COVID. And we almost always wore masks when in public. We had a number of people in the church get it. So it has nothing to do with a lack of faith or fear or any such thing.

You sound like you want to require everyone to wear masks at all times in the church building. I had a lot of people who wanted that and we stopped just short of it. I know from experience that your position is very divisive. It brings schism in the church. When you insist that the only people who can come to church are those who agree with you, you are dividing the body. I think that is a dangerous thing to do to the body, dangerous both to the church and to yourself (1 Cor 3:17).

I don’t know enough about your situation to know if “no one was interested” and “they couldn’t care less” are accurate. I would be cautious. I know out of our own emotions and perspectives things can seem a certain way. But Prov 18:13 warns us against answering before we hear and Prov 18:17 cautions us that the first to plead his case seems right until another comes along and examines him. 1 Tim 5 warns against bringing a charge against pastors. Saying that pastors are uninterested and couldn’t care less is a pretty high charge. And absent the ability to hear the other side, it is one that we should not indulge.

For a year everywhere I have gone, school (which is work for me), grocery store, mall, etc., everyone has a mask on. You go to my church and almost no one was wearing a mask… does that sound odd to you?

No need to respond. If you are in contact with your congregation and all sides have been heard and people are happy, great!

This is a forum where not everyone does everything your way. I am speaking of what happened at my church. Everything I wrote is true and valid. I am positive if you asked most of the regular attenders at my old church, they would be happy too.

I just wonder why no one from the youth department has asked about my daughter in a year (this is the daughter who wears a trach)? When all this was going down they reluctantly changed a little bit how the youth operated, and then immediately when back to normal. This entire COVID time the youth department has not changed one thing long term. They only met virtually for a month (April of 2020). They then returned to in person meetings. We emailed and said we would not be attending in person but would love to see virtual continue. No response. That is just one example.

Mark — what size is your church? It does seem odd that no one would respond to you.

I teach an adult SS class at my church. When Covid and associated restrictions started, I began using Zoom to teach. After a few months, we were able to meet in person again, but I had several people who could not join in person due to health concerns. Consequently, I have tried to keep up the Zoom portion of the class, while teaching live. It has been a challenge due to sometimes spotty church internet, but it has been really helpful for those who still have legit medical issues that make in-person meeting still too risky. It’s not the easiest but we can interact with the online folks, hear prayer requests, and such. I just have to mute them during the lesson. :)