The second installment of Ed's series on wisdom gleaned from COVID-19.
In Part 1 we looked at the different categories of people in terms of their views of the pandemic and how to communicate with them. In this article I want to focus on the lesson of leading your church in a given moment to stay focused on the mission to our world, rather than turning more inward.
For over 15 years we’ve seen books and blogs call the church to be missional in their communities. Last March, the pandemic accomplished in three weeks what none of these resources could: propel the church out of buildings and into the mission field.
In the first century persecution thrust the early church across the Roman Empire to share Christ (see Acts 8:1-4 and 11:19-26). In 2020, a pandemic forced the church out of the routine of weekly services to face a world in need. While some churches focused most of their energies on figuring out how to meet together again as the top priority, many churches stepped up, looked outward, and stood in the gap to minister to their communities in ways that are God-honoring and surprising.
In the midst of this the uncertain moment we can't escape the desire to create predictions or answer questions about the future. Some people predicted the pandemic would spell the end of the large church or the end of the megachurch. Others say no, things will merely retract back to normal when the crisis finally passes.
I want to look at two lessons we can learn from the pandemic in terms of our outward call to love and reach the world: The moment we're in has provided unique opportunities for God's people to join him in the mission we're on.
The Moment We're In
We’ve witnessed things in this season that we haven't seen since World War II or the Great Depression. One example ...
from Christianity Today Magazine
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