Action, Man....

Last Sunday, our youth worker, Rochelle, preached her first sermon, since re-opening our church building for worship. She noted that, afterwards, several young people approached her to talk; and she concluded that this demonstrated the importance of relationship, being seen and heard. She has actually had the most difficult job in our church, because two weeks after she began work, lockdown started – and so she had to somehow do ministry with people she had never met. She did really well. But her observation on Sunday reveals how crucial physical presence matters.   

 

As we have started meeting people again, socially distanced and in the open-air, we realise afresh how much we need each other. Christianity, and ministry, is incarnational; not a disembodied message, but a lived experience, among other people. And it is not just those ‘ministered to’ who benefit, but also those doing the ‘ministering’. For, in truth, there is no difference: we’re all giving and receiving.

It’s not just the radical, ‘pioneering’, styles of missional ministry, either, that this applies to, but the act of preaching itself. As nineteenth century theologian, Phillips Brookes, defined it: “Preaching is truth communicated through personality”. Who we are, how we live, matters to preaching, and builds personal connection with others. 

The danger of the virus is that it separates us. The precautions we need to take erect barriers between us. Often, Christians are criticised for being unrelated to the world’s problems, taking refuge in an other-worldly transcendent realm. But the word ‘transcendent’ literally means ‘the power of crossing over’. To be transcendent entails crossing over, breaking through the walls between people – as Jesus did in his crucifixion, destroying the divide between Jew and Gentile (Eph. 2.14-15); the cross thus possesses an inescapable socio-political element.

Covid presents us with an opportunity to operationalise this. Our local coffee shop owner, Gusto, an Italian, told me he intends to bring back all his furloughed staff, when this government scheme ends, even during a pandemic, because he aims to open a second store. When I asked him why, he quoted J. P. Morgan, the founder of the bank, who said: “When people are bullish, be frightened. When people are frightened, be bullish”. When times are hard, that’s a time for expansion, extension.

The same is true for the gospel. Many pastors are worried, if our churches can weather the storm, of finances and attendances. But we can also extend our reach, to share God’s love and truth with more people, who are similarly scared, but without Christ’s assurance. So we are re-opening our mid-week service, Breathe. We are engaging in street evangelism around the station. We are starting new online Lifegroups, to include more people and avoid isolation. We are devising a series of video-based Discipleship studies, to strengthen believers.

Often we hold back, because we’re scared we won't succeed.  But God is sovereign. He takes no risks. Now is not a time to fret, but to act. To will the ends, is to will the means.