The more I reflect on it, the more I’m convinced that this season should be viewed as a slow trek through the desert. You might feel a little weary and sometimes lack motivation, but you need to keep going because the last thing you want to do is collapse in the desert! I’m convinced that this season requires us to develop good habits that help us to persevere! Here are four.
Whilst we’re still in the early days of this Coronavirus crisis, I think there’s a good argument to consider this time as a significant evangelistic opportunity.
At a time when peoples’ functional idols of health and wealth have been threatened, perhaps they will be more willing to reconsider the fundamental questions of life. The illusion of control has been taken away from us. Amidst the anxiety that folk are experiencing, it’s very possible that they will be more willing to consider the Christian faith and whether it provides the comfort and reassurance that we all naturally desire right now.
This is a crisis moment unlike anything any of us have ever experienced before. Any time of extraordinary change or disruption reveals what we are made of. The choice in front of us is this: if the church is a gathering and a community, do we now fade into irrelevance as all of our relationships are massively disrupted, or do we double down and run towards God and the church family with renewed zeal?
We are going to be taking church online in the days ahead. This means all of our gatherings are cancelled for the time being, including Life Groups.
However, we are passionate about continuing to find ways of meaningfully practicing community. We will be in touch in the coming days to explain how we hope to achieve this.
We are a church, an ekklesia, an assembly or gathering, which means that part of our identity comes from being together physically as one people. The nature of the church has no real meaning if we aren’t able to make contact, to love one another, to speak to each other and allow the word of God to spread among us and infect us and do its dangerous and transformative work in our lives.
If you’ve been around Grace for a while, you’ll no doubt be aware of the value that we put on community. We’re deeply committed to the idea that church shouldn’t be a crowd, but a community of brothers and sisters invested in each others’ lives.
Alongside committing to community, I’d encourage you to develop spiritual friendships in the church. It’s easy to confuse this with community, but I have something different in mind.
Many Christians struggle with the Old Testament. It feels like an alien book (or set of books). When you consider the Levitical purity laws or the detailed history of the people of Israel, most people assume that it has limited relevance for modern life. Some of you have given up reading the Old Testament. Others persist with reading it but with a limited understanding of how it connects with your life.
When you consider the popularity of Christianity in a country like the UK, the dominant trend is one of religious decline and secularisation. According to the British Social Attitude Survey in 2019, a majority of Brits do not belong to any religion (52%) or attend religious services (66%). There is a prevailing sense that religion causes conflict and is out of step with modern morality. It’s easy to get the impression that Christianity is on the way out.
