Was 2020 a year of instability for Churches?

 

The ups and downs of Churches in the recent times have disturbed many Christians, leaders and pastors. I am sure we have never once expected that a pandemic like this could affect Churches. People would have expected other religious shrines or places of worship to be shut at some point, but definitely not the Churches along with other religious places. We Christians made so much of claims in the past inviting people from different faiths facing various challenges to visit the Churches promising miracles and deliverances. I recollect my non-Christian friends alleging Christians invite them to Churches in order to experience a miracle and then with the lockdown they were surprised that Churches were no different because it had to be shut too. How do we rectify this misrepresentation?

It is important that we consciously communicate the right message to the world. Somewhere as Christian leaders, we have misrepresented Church to a building and amplified the sanctity of the place than the person Jesus. It is time to remind the people including us that buildings were closed but not the Church. The Church is the people who use the buildings. We don’t need a building to be the Church. Having this understanding every individual who is a follower and disciple of Christ needs to remind oneself that he/she is the temple of the Lord. Every Individuals should function like a Church. I guess God in His sovereign way wanted to teach all of us the true meaning of a Church during this pandemic season.

The moment the Church is downsized to a building people struggle to maintain stability. Let us be reminded, the more the Church strives for stability, recognition, power and money, the more its spiritual potency will diminish. When the Church is limited to a place it strives to become a shrine and then people are attracted to the holy site where a mere visit will make all problems disappear. The world is perishing. 90% of our people in India are unreached yet we are longing to be cared, to be loved to find importance. Can we remind members of our congregation to be a Church? It is high time we equip every single member in our congregation to be a Church where they would need to fill empty pews with people who do not know Christ.

It is sad to see average Churches lukewarm, boring, uninspiring functioning like a social club. And we know according to Jesus, such fake faith just makes God spew! (Revelation 3:16). It is time to seriously ask God to transform us and make us a revolutionary for Christ. Our job is to preach the cross and Christ crucified. The voice of God is as clear today as it was on the day when Jesus spoke to the eleven and said, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.” (Mark 16:15)

It is time that we seriously remind our fellow believers and friends the urgency of the Gospel. Somebody once said that most people live as if this life was a permanent arrangement. The Bible message is that our days are numbered. Dr. Mason puts it beautifully, "I fear the Church has become salt & light to itself and not to the world as it was called to- which left to itself becomes artificial light and self-preservation.".

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