COVID isn't Killing Mission, We Are.

By Chelsy Kessler, Resonate Moscow

Large gatherings and house parties do not make disciples. We do. When the pandemic hit a year ago, and the government put limits on gatherings, it did not kill the ability to do mission. It killed the current strategy. The call to make disciples of every tongue, tribe, and nation has not been put on pause, because God wasn’t shocked, surprised, or caught off guard by the coming of COVID. No, he knew that in December of 2019 it would come and rock the world, and yet he still calls the Church to continue to labor in the harvest.

So what are we doing?

If you know me, you won’t be surprised at the following words. The rest of the world cannot and does not gather in large numbers to worship, they do not throw extravagant house parties, nor do they let their government limit their obedience in making disciples. So why should we? 

Jesus’ command is simple and clear in scripture. 

“Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.” (Matthew 28:19)

“So when they had come together, they asked him, ‘Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom of Israel?’ He said to them, ‘It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.’” (Acts 1:6-8)

Jesus is clear in his expectations of what obedience from his followers looks like: making disciples of all nations. Nowhere in the Bible does God say, “Make disciples of all nations except in the year 2020, when a pandemic will hit.” We do not get to know if things will go back to “normal” or not. Even if all the bans are lifted, there are great consequences of COVID and long-term effects on the world due to living in a pandemic for a year. 

However, no matter the circumstances, we must endure. We see an example of this in the Bible. The church in Thessalonica is being heavily persecuted after claiming Jesus as the rightful king over Caesar, and Paul is forced to flee from the city (Acts 17:1-15). However, we see later that the church begins to thrive in the midst of persecution.

“And you became imitators of us and of the Lord, for you received the word in much affliction, with the joy of the Holy Spirit, so that you became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and in Achaia. For not only has the word of the Lord sounded forth from you in Macedonia and Achaia, but your faith in God has gone forth everywhere so that we need not say anything.” (1 Thessalonians 1:6-9) 

Brothers and sisters, let us imitate the church of Thessalonica. If they, those who were heavily persecuted, can flourish, then how much more can we, who have the freedom to openly believe, worship, and share Jesus without fear of persecution. We are not being persecuted. We are not being hunted by the authorities, watched by the government, beaten, or killed because we follow Jesus. So why are our churches surviving instead of thriving?

Now I will put a disclaimer here: wear your mask. Follow the limits set by your state. Don’t risk the lives of the young, elderly, or immunocompromised humans. You can be kind, decent people and live missionally. Brothers and sisters around the world respect their governments and neighbors all the while risking their lives to proclaim the name of Jesus, who commands his name to be proclaimed. 

The call to endure in faith and obedience is for here and now. Do not wait, don’t let COVID bench you. The real question is, how do I go and make disciples in the middle of a pandemic?

“So whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God” (1 Corinthians 10:31). Paul says “whatever you do,” meaning going to the grocery store, taking a walk with your roommates, being in class, working at your desk - whatever you do, do for the glory of God.  How often do you walk down the street and think, “Who could I talk to today?” How many times do you run to the grocery store and intentionally try to befriend the cashier or the person who buys the same cereal as you? 

Making a random attempt to befriend a stranger can be horribly awkward, especially in America. You feel judged and you assume they think you are the biggest weirdo. But when we go and missionally meet someone, we do it so that we may share the most valuable treasure we have: Jesus. 

“For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse” (Romans 1:20).

This verse tells us there is no innocent man. Therefore, there is an urgency to go and make disciples. Later in Paul’s letter to the Roman Church, he reminds them that “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved” (Romans 10:13). In the very next verse, he then poses a series of questions emphasizing urgent disciple-making.

“How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!’” (Romans 10:14-15)

We absolutely must urgently go to the places where millions are still yet to be reached. Why are you letting a complete stranger’s potential thoughts about you prevent you from sharing the Gospel? 

Do you know what I always regret? Believing those very lies that prevent me from introducing myself to a stranger. Do you know what I never regret? Going up to a stranger and befriending them. How do I do it? I ask for confidence that cannot come from me, but from the Spirit within me. Jesus promised us a helper (John 14:15-17) to help us to keep the commandments of Jesus and reminds us that we are to put Jesus first and our reputation second. Where do we need to repent of lack of urgency in our lives?

Let us urgently go, remembering that Jesus does not command success. He commands faithfulness, and sometimes we fail in faith. In the Gospel of Matthew, we see this lesson through one of Jesus’ parables:

“His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.” (Matthew 25:21)

Jesus wants to claim you to be a good and faithful servant, not a good and successful servant. Having faith means taking a step into the unknown. That means being the initiator in your relationships and being a little weird sometimes. It means doing whatever it takes to meet a friend, share the Gospel, and proclaim his glory. We see that throughout scripture and history over and over again. Are you being faithful over the little? What could it look like for you to step out in faith to witness the glory of God amongst students on your campus today? What could it look like for you to step out in faith to witness the glory of God amongst the people in your city?

What can faith look like? It looks like the following examples:

1. In Acts chapter 8, we read about the faithfulness of Philip, one who goes wherever the Spirit leads him. 

“Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, ‘Rise and go toward the south to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.’ This is a desert place. And he rose and went. And there was an Ethiopian, a eunuch.” (Acts 8:26-27)

2. Kate McCord (a pseudonym) was faithful to follow the Spirit’s prompting to go to a desolate place the home of the very people who attacked the World Trade Towers in 2001. Kate says this about her calling, 

“In January 2001 I sat in a friend’s living room...I spoke tentatively. ‘I believe God is calling me to Afghanistan…’ On September 11, 2001, I inhaled the horror of the day’s trauma, looked out the window of the office I was standing in, and knew with absolute certainty that I would go to Afghanistan.” (Why God Call Us to Dangerous Place, Kate McCord)

Kate did not let the fear of her country or her friends deter her from stepping out in faith and obedience to follow the Spirit to Afghanistan. 

3. The Elliots, the McCullys, the Flemings, the Youderians, and the Saints were all faithful families that dedicated their lives so that one tribe may hear the greatest news of all time. Nate Saint typed this out a few weeks before he, along with Jim Elliot, Ed McCully, Roger Youderian, and Pete Fleming were killed by that very tribe:

“On Sunday afternoon, December 18, [1955], Nate Saint sat at his typewriter to tell the world why they were going - just in case. In speaking these words he spoke for all: ‘As we weigh the future and seek the will of God, does it seem right that we should hazard our lives for just a few savages? As we ask ourselves this question, we realize that it is not the call of the needy thousands, rather it is the simple intimation of the prophetic Word that there shall be some from every tribe in His presence in the last day and in our hearts we feel that it is pleasing to him that we should interest ourselves in making an opening into the Auca prison for Christ” (Through Gates of Splendor, Elisabeth Elliot). 

It’s easy to blend in at a big house party. It takes a lot of boldness to move to the middle of the jungle to pursue a historically violent tribe. To chase it takes courage to move your life to the very country of the terrorists who attacked your own nation. It takes faith to walk into a desolate place where the harvest that Jesus promises us is plentiful. He is no liar, and when you say there is no one to find in your city, you are proclaiming he is one. 

Where will you step out in faith, boldness, and courage today to ensure the Gospel is proclaimed in the midst of this never-ending pandemic? Where will you repent of disobedience to make disciples and step out to labor in the plentiful harvest?

We should not be striving for life to go back to normal. No, we should be striving for the new kingdom to come. 

Are you striving for normal life here and now? Or are you praying, laboring, and looking to the coming of our Savior? I pray that we are a church that is desperate to see our King face to face, rejoicing in his presence with our brothers and sisters from every tongue, tribe, and nation. 

“Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb through the middle of the street of the city; also, on either side of the river, the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. No longer will there be anything accursed, but the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him. They will see his face and his name will be on their foreheads. And night will be no more. They will need no light of the lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever.” (Revelation 22:1-5)