Covid-19 has prompted many churches to stream their weekend worship services. This is an important step in both maintaining community with regular attenders as well as reaching a new audience. Church workers are laboring diligently to expand technological capacity. This is admirable and much appreciated!
However, the attention which is required to stream services has a troubling aspect to it. Church leaders are being drawn to ask (among other things), “How do we produce the best quality online experience?”
I have been writing of my conviction that Covid-19 trumpets the call to Jubilee 2020 — a year to pause, reflect, and make deep changes in personal and church life. The effort put into streaming services could distract us from seeing the opportunity to shift our energies to more important questions, such as,
>>How would God want us to equip our congregants to extend friendships with their neighbors?
>>How can we help our members be the arms and words of Jesus to lonely and suffering people locally and globally?
As we improve our abilities in reaching out with technology, let’s use all these means to build the body of Christ according to God’s design. Which is what?
Experienced ministry leaders are given to the church,
“for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry” (Eph.4:12a).
Fruitful ministry is ripe for harvest during this season.
Personally, we have seen more of our neighbors in the last two months than in the last two years.
>>Dads are biking with their kids.
>>Moms come pushing strollers around the block.
I tell you, we are having many conversations and learning many of our neighbors’ names simply because they are outside and have time. We are sitting intentionally in our front driveway to wave to neighbors as they walk or drive by. We stroll around the block and stop to talk.
We’ve posted this sign on our front lawn. An Arab woman and her daughter thanked us for the sign. She read it for us in her language, and had her daughter interpret!
Even though (understandably) no one joined us, our family sat and watched a Good Friday worship concert in our driveway.
These merely illustrate that we who know Christ have fresh opportunities to get out there with Jesus’ love. Let’s stream our services for the glory of God. But let’s ask the bigger questions of how to equip all the saints for the work of ministry.
Most of us don’t need much equipping. We know how to be neighborly. We just need intentionality in moving beyond our own needs and concerns.
Till next time,
Robert
P.S. About the sign, we got ours here.
