Covid-19: What Is God Doing?

I’m John Lambert and I’ve been a church leader in Eaglescliffe and Long Newton over the last 12 years. We've totally loved our time here and it’ll be a massive wrench for us to move on, but it is a step of obedience we feel we must take as the Lord calls us to whatever he has prepared for us in the future. Next Sunday, 7 June, will be our last day here.

I want to share with you a few words about what I think God might be doing at this time of coronavirus and how I think it might impact the church and the nation going forward.

Some Christians say that this is a sign of God's displeasure and judgement over our society. Make no mistake, there is a lot for God to be unhappy about in his world.

But Amos 3 says “surely the Lord brings no disaster without revealing his plan to the prophets”. I heard no word last year from anyone with a recognised prophetic ministry announcing a global pandemic, so I don’t think we can attribute this to God's wrath boiling over.

Others say that this is a wake-up call from God. I think there is a lot in that. The impact on humanity has been very bad, but the impact on the worldwide ecosystem has been spectacularly good. We have all had time to reassess our values - to focus on what is really important. For the church, we have been forced to live by what we always say; that church is not the building.

Still others say that God has created for us a unique opportunity for mission. Some online Alpha courses have had twice the number of people than were signed up before. The stats for people viewing online services like this one are impressive; far more than would be in church physically.

The church has taken a lead in community support for example with foodbank ministry. The UK Blessing has had almost 3,000,000 views on YouTube. I am hearing of people who say that when this is over, they are going to try church. I’ve already heard of people coming to faith in Christ during lockdown.

I couldn’t help but notice that the height of the pandemic in the UK was at Easter - when God turns death to life. Nerds like me also noticed that the peak was on the 50th anniversary of Apollo 13. This, if you don’t know, was a spacecraft stricken by an explosion in a critical oxygen tank, over 200,000 miles from Earth, in which three astronauts seemed to be doomed without a hope of surviving.

Photo of Earth taken from Apollo 13

But, with everyone predicting disaster, one NASA flight director stood up and said, “With respect, gentlemen, I believe this is going to be our finest hour.” It was. That moon landing mission to explore the Fra Mauro highlands was lost but miraculously, against all odds, all three men got home safely to Earth.

I believe for the church in Teesside there is no doubt we will suffer some loss this year. And this is so for the church everywhere. There is going to be pain. There will be tears. This is going to be a long season of testing. Some good people have died, and gone to be with the Lord before we expected them to. It’s not over yet. More may join them.

Some churches that lack strength and resilience may become unviable and have to close. If, as seems likely, we go into recession that will affect all of us including our capacity for evangelism and mission. We need to be realistic; this is not going to be nice.

But I think overall that this is a time, not of ruination, but of pruning. And this is my prayer, really. Jesus said in John 15 that God cuts off branches in a vine that bear no fruit, and he even prunes back good, strong, healthy branches so that they can be even more fruitful. He said that we are those branches. What is ineffective and unfruitful will go. What is healthy will be trimmed back to become more effective still. That is where I believe this is all going.

In a time of so much uncertainty and fear, this is an opportunity of a lifetime for us to be confident in the power of the gospel to save. No one looks back at Apollo 13 as a disaster now. It was absolutely NASA's finest hour. This can be ours too. This is our time.

The Lord bless you and keep you.

Short online talk, Teesside Churches Together, 31 May 2020