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Maybe you noticed right away, or maybe it’s taken awhile to see it, but the pandemic is changing our friendships.

And today on the Family Life Inside Out podcast I talk about just that with Alex Banks, Associate Pastor for the Lockport Alliance Church in Lockport, NY. Banks has all kinds of touch points with his congregation and the community: he’s a husband and the father of three, he preaches, he shepherds the church’s small group ministry, and he works with youth.

And he’s seen how the pandemic has impacted friendships.

“I don’t think we’re losing them outright,” he says, “but they are changing for the simple fact that the world’s a different place. And these restrictions on gatherings—it’s made it really hard.” 

He’s noticed that for many people it’s the long-term relationships that are faring better than the casual friendships. 

“I’ve spoken with a lot of people who feel that those types of friendships have grown deeper, stronger. Because in the midst of something like this that we’ve never experienced before, in the midst of a trial, in the midst of adversity, we need each other. We need to bounce those ideas off of each other. We need the support and encouragement from one another. And so we’re talking more regularly.” 

For those feeling discouraged by time away from friends, Banks offers encouragement. 

“For me, thinking about how believers can handle this—and how believers can handle anything that the world throws at us—is a four-letter word that we use to cope with everything. And that word is ‘hope,’ he says. “Hope conveys great confidence–great assurance–based on the promises of God. That we can deal with changes in friendship, that we can deal with these momentary struggles, that we can deal with heartache, that we can deal with this global pandemic, because we have hope. And hope is the difference in how we face the world.”

Connect with Alex Banks and the Lockport Alliance Church in Lockport, NY.