DISRUPTION IS AN OPPORTUNITY
Pastor Doug Allen
Living Hope Church, Pennsylvania
I have often challenged our church with this statement: If you had to demonstrate your faith to a non-believer, apart from attending church on Sunday, how could you do it? For several years I’ve sensed the Lord’s desire to see His people BE the church, rather than just attending a building of the same name. I believe the disruption of COVID-19, though not by the instigation of the Lord, is an invitation of opportunity for the church.
Consider this quote from Marine Corps Lt. Gen. Lewis B. “Chesty” Puller during the Korean war: “They are in front of us, behind us, and we are flanked on both sides by an enemy that outnumbers us 29:1. They can’t get away from us now! Great. Now we can shoot at them from every direction.”
We can reach out to our community at this moment in literally any direction. We are surrounded by need and insecurity.
COVID-19 is an equal opportunity destroyer. It has disrupted the lives of the Church, as well as that of the lost. The contrast, however, between the response of the believer and that of the world should be stark enough that none can ignore it. While others are huddling around a case of toilet paper and trembling with fear and the unknown, the people of God should be radically serving, extravagantly loving, and generously giving.
Mike Mille’, senior pastor of WhiteDove Fellowshipin New Orleans, has often challenged me to “name it and frame it.” Your definition of the current situation will either cripple or catapult your church. However you name this crisis will speak to you in the days and weeks to come. Every decision will either be challenged or encouraged, limited or multiplied by your perception of the current reality.