- 期刊
教會存在的意義：新冠肺炎下的教會論
The Nature of the Church: Ecclesiology under COVID-19
並列摘要
This article reflects on multiple aspects of how local churches respond to changes under the impact of COVID-19 using Bonhoeffer's church theory. The observed reality of a Taiwanese-speaking church located in Buenos Aires, Argentina, which is a member church of the Presbyterian Church in Taiwan that was forced to turn to online gatherings, and the expected future of how churches should stand amidst severe changes after the Pandemic, are provided in this paper, with the focus on the administration of online pastoral practices. COVID-19 has greatly, even permanently reshaped the traditional physical gathering of congregations, ineutably moving worship services and fellowship gatherings online. Therefore, maximizing the pros and minimizing the cons become prominent debates among pastoral administrators. However, the cons might lead church leaders into profound worries or traps of numbers. For instance, congregation who enjoy physical gatherings might feel frustrated under long-term social distancing, while those who get used to the conveniences of meeting online might feel reluctant to go back to local churches. These dilemmas force churches to discover a new way, and the answer lies in the nature and functionalities of churches. Moreover, this article takes Bonhoeffer 's example as a mirror. In his time, there was a group of Christians who pursued freedom in disagreement with conventional German Christian practices. They abandoned customary church life and reconsidered the meaning of churches, eventually making a great impact on the society at the time. When we examine the current crisis caused mainly by COVID-19, where churches can no longer stick to the old system and must seek for new, or mixed, approaches, what is the nature of an immigrant Chinese church? And what advantages does it hold? To conclude, this paper proposes that it is necessary to rethink, as well as to redefine, the existence of a local church, especially when our ways of life are involuntary changed after the pandemic. More importantly, pastoral administration is encouraged to incorporate such reflection into their worship services and fellowship meetings to embody the flexibility of Christianity in the changes of time.