Dear Friends,
I have a question for you this morning. The question is have you
drifted spiritually during Covid?
A lot of changes have happened during Covid. Those who have
always commuted to their workplace have discovered the comfort of
working from home and for many this has been a good thing. We have enjoyed the
comfort and convenience that comes from working from home. No long
traffic jams, no need to get dressed up, more flexibility with our schedules
have all been welcome changes for many.
Covid has made some real changes in how we do church as well.
Those in the church have discovered we can worship from home in in
the comfort of our living room, while sipping coffee in the comfort of our pajamas
while watching worship services at home and at our leisure.
And while church consultants tell us that 50 percent of those
under 50 prefer to stay at home worship as opposed to in
person worship, I really wonder if these people are better off spiritually
than they were before the Pandemic.
I am not opposed to increasing our efforts to reach people online.
I believe the church needs to do everything it can to improve this medium of
worship. There are people in the world who might never choose to step
inside a church who we now might reach through the streaming of
our services, so I agree that there are certainly some spiritual positives to online
worship.
But as a believer, one of the hardest things for me during
these Covid times has been that I have missed seeing and personally
engaging with so many of the friends I have made in church. I miss the warm
embrace of my brothers or sisters. I miss the interaction with those who challenge
me and hold me accountable for my actions and beliefs. I miss the little
children playing and running around in the worship center, and I fear that the
"convenience" of Christianity will have a significant impact on the
future church
The church has always grown the fastest during times of
persecution, not during times of ease. That is why in places like China and
Iran and other countries in the Moslem world, the church is growing at a
far more rapid rate than here at home. In spite of growing persecution and
hostility the church continues to grow in these lands. As it was said of
the early church, "The blood of the martyrs was the seed of the
church."
The lack of accountability that people experience while isolated
and sitting at home and watching services can be dangerous.
I fear that if given the choice of doing what we want and
like and doing what we need, most people will choose to do what they want
and like and not what they need. Convenience and comfort most always will
trump discipline and intentionality, and the result can lead to spiritual
drifting.
In a controversial article on this very subject, Peter
Chin was quoted as writing, “by nature Christianity is inconvenient.
Convenience is ingrained in the American life. But it has no place in the life
of faith. Convenience is nothing less than a heresy that runs contrary to
some of the most fundamental aspects of what it means to be a follower of
Christ" (Quoted from "No Such Thing as Convenient Christianity"
Doug Ponder, Dec 12, 2014).
Now I would not go so far as to call convenience a heresy,
but it is hard for me to reconcile convenience with the ministry of the Apostle
Paul who writes "And now, compelled by the spirit, I'm going to
Jerusalem, not knowing what will happen to me there. I only know that in every
city the Holy Spirit warns me that prisons and hardships are facing me.
However, I consider my life worth nothing to me; my only aim is to finish the
race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me- the task of testifying
to the good news of God's grace" (Acts 20:22-24 NIV").
For me the only answer to the question of whether my Christianity
is too convenient is whether I am a more mature and stronger Christian
since staying home.
Yours in faith,
Tom
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