The Gospel and the Church After the Corona Crisis | Collin Hansen

Collin Hansen humorously contrasts American church-growth strategies with the biblical vision of the church. Instead of targeting niche groups with tailored teaching, music, and programs built on the assumption that “people like to be around people like themselves,” Hansen argues that the post-corona church must rediscover a fellowship across differences. The world builds community through exclusion—either uniformity (everyone must think or vote the same) or a selective version of diversity (differences welcomed only if ideologically aligned). Both approaches define belonging by keeping others out.Jesus, however, forms a community that no natural grouping can explain. Hansen highlights the original disciples: Matthew the tax collector and Simon the zealot—men who should have hated each other—united only because of Christ. True Christian community welcomes sinners, the broken, and the socially marginalized. Such churches risk being used or hurt, yet they embody the mercy of Christ, who sought the sick, not the self-righteous.A church that gathers people who would never normally associate—across class, ethnicity, politics, age, and background—displays the power of the gospel and grabs the world’s attention. Though slower and less efficient than consumer-driven models, this Spirit-formed unity is durable, beautiful, and faithful. The world doesn’t need churches that mirror its tribes; it needs churches that look like the world to come—one body, one Spirit, one Lord.