Where do we go from here?

 

by David Junker

Where do we go from here? In 2020 we experienced a massive pandemic, crippling the economy and seemingly crippling the church. Are we merely to hope we can return to “where we were before”? Is the church to drastically change, say going more digital? I myself am struggling with how to handle this pandemic. I often leave immediately after the worship. We have limited the people we invite to our small apartment. I sense I am in a constant ‘wait mode’. 

 

We must, however, realize that this is not the first time the church went through a major crisis. The church has experienced plenty of persecutions, wars and pandemics. Though we need to be “wise as serpents”, to adapt and change, we do not want this pandemic and fear to dictate to us how we are to conduct our personal lives or the church, but let the Word of God and solid theology speak to us.

 

Do not misunderstand. Through this pandemic, the Lord has driven us to expand our use digital technology as a means of communicating the gospel further. Before the pandemic, and now also, I personally have a blog and use Facebook, Twitter and Linkedin. The church that I was affiliated with before already had a website and Facebook. They were uploading messages on to Youtube. The church must continue to find creative means of communicating the gospel. However, I sense that none of these means can supersede (1) the personal touch, (2) prayer and (3) seeking renewal and revival. 

 

First, in all this mess, remember our Triune God is a personal God (John 1:1-14). He has chosen to reveal Himself to us humans in a personal way, through the incarnation, life and death of our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, the church and ministry must remain personal, even with all the changes. People will still need ‘hugs’ and meet physically together. We will continue to need to figure out ways visit people who have limited access to church, such as the elderly and sick. We still need to worship and ‘eat’ together, though much wisdom and caution need to be taken. I urge myself the regular use of masks, alcohol for cleaning hands and physical distancing. In order to be personal, we might have to take risks, even as doctors are regularly taking risks to heal those affected by this virus. The early church, when the Roman world was neglecting there own, exposed themselves to disease in order to help the sick. It was because they had the love of Christ and knew they had eternal life. We need to ask ourselves, “In this pandemic world, how can we continue to be a church that is personal?”  It is a cold world. The world needs not only the Lord’s love, but our love. Merely going digital is not the best answer.

 

Second, we must “take prayer to a new level” (the Psalms). We can further increase our prayer as we get alone with God and His Word. The pandemic can not affect our personal prayer, but rather should increase it, as we do need to be careful of contact with people. Even as we sense our limitations, we can cry out to the Lord, not only concerning deliverance from the pandemic, but deliverance from our personal and the churches indifference toward God and man. We can increase our prayer online. “During the COVID-19 pandemic, the roadways of digital technology became a major conduit for prayer ministries to travel. Groups would gather online for Zoom-enabled prayer meetings. Social media became a vehicle for prayer requests and testimonies of prayers answered.” (The Post-Quarantine Church) We need to increase prayer from our hearts.

 

Finally, what the church really needs now is gospel renewal that would lead to another “great awakening” (Acts 4:23-31). The real need of the church and the world is not a creative method, such as going digital, but for her to fall in love the Lord again. It needs a transformation into the image of Christ. Heart change begins with confessing and weeping over our sin individually and corporately. Then from the heart, we look to Christ who died for us and rose again. He is our hope as an individual, the church and society. This renewal leading to revival, will in turn cause us to humbly yet boldly share the gospel also to our ‘neighbors’, to the end of the world. In this way, we praise our Lord. The curse of the pandemic will be transformed into a blessing for the world.

 

If any real change must happen, the church must not merely be going digital. That would only be a surface change. We need (1) to be even more personal because our God is personal, (2) to earnestly pray and (3) to seek renewal and revival. God grant us grace to look at the situation, not merely from man’s wisdom, but from God’s eyes.