This post was originally going to focus on a particular worldview issue and trend – a rather important one and I was three-quarters of the way through it, until one of my church members messaged our discipleship group text with the news: “NBA halts season after player tests for coronavirus.”
It hit me in a strange way I suppose, being a sports fan in particular, that once the National Basketball Association, one of the biggest sports entertainment organizations in the world suspended the rest of its regular season schedule due to the COVID-19 pandemic crisis, I knew then at that moment I needed to change gears on the content of this post.
The wake-up call came, as that headline followed President Donald Trump’s address to the nation from the White House, where he announced a number of counter measures to halt the speared of, and treat the effects of this virus in the U.S., including a dramatic 30 day ban on travel from Europe to the United States.
If that wasn’t enough, the news of Forrest Gump’s testing positive for the virus proved to be too much to waver on the theme of this post. All kidding aside, celebrity news and tragedies have been known to impact and galvanize American citizens like few other events can. Indeed, Academy Award-winning actor Tom Hanks and his wife Rita Wilson tested positive for the coronavirus, Hanks revealed while in Australia for the pre-production of a film.
Hanks announced the couple’s diagnosis on social media accounts, posting: “We felt a bit tired, like we had colds, and some body aches. Rita had some chills that came and went. Slight fevers too. To play things right, as is needed in the world right now, we were tested for the Coronavirus, and were found to be positive.”
Hanks added, “Well, now. What to do next? The Medical Officials have protocols that must be followed. We Hanks’ will be tested, observed, and isolated for as long as public health and safety requires. Not much more to it than a one-day-at-a-time approach, no?”
What About a Christian Response?
As the virus and news of it continues to spread around the globe, pastors and church leaders are beginning to discuss how they and their congregations should respond to the outbreak.
In fact throughout church history, pastors have had to think through how to minister with similar challenges. As a young village preacher, the “Prince of Preachers,” Charles Spurgeon admired the Puritan ministers who stayed behind to care for the sick and dying during the Great Plague of London in 1665.
Then in the fall of 1854, the newly called pastor of the New Park Street Chapel in London found himself pastoring his congregation amid a major cholera outbreak in the Broad Street neighborhood just across the river.
How did Spurgeon respond?
Geoff Chang of the Spurgeon Center, recounted in his biographical sketch of this man of God, some characteristics of his crisis ministry of which there are three I include here, that should inform and influence both church leaders and members in the days ahead:
- Prioritize local ministry
Spurgeon wrote, “During that epidemic of cholera, though I had many engagements in the country, I gave them up that I might remain in London to visit the sick and the dying. I felt that it was my duty to be on the spot in such a time of disease and death and sorrow.”
Desperate times call for what? Desperate measures. Spurgeon recognized his responsibility to be present with those who were sick and dying. This was not a time to be a conference speaker and road preacher. This was a time to focus on caring for his church and the community in which he lived. He would not outsource this task to his deacons or other church leaders but remained in London in order to fulfill his duty.
Will we do the same in our communities? Now is not the time for God’s people to cut and run from God’s people, nor the neighbors the Lord has called us to love regardless of the circumstances.
2) Adjust as needed, but continue meeting if possible
News reports indicate public gatherings of all sorts are being postponed or canceled altogether in light of Cornoavirus, from concerts, festivals, sporting events and public gatherings to talk of school closings and church meetings moving from public to online services.
According to Chang, “The Broad Street Cholera Outbreak of 1854 occurred in August and September of that year, and its effects would continue to be felt in the weeks and months following. The neighborhood where Spurgeon’s church met was not quarantined, so they were able to continue meeting throughout those months. Interestingly, no record of the sermons Spurgeon preached during those days remain. Perhaps the outbreak forced the congregation to adjust some of their previous practices, including the transcription of sermons.”
Chang added, “However, we know that the congregation continued meeting during those days because the church’s records of congregational meetings carried on throughout the fall of 1854. In those books, amid all the pastoral challenges of the outbreak, Spurgeon and his deacons continued to receive new members, pursue inactive members, observe the Lord’s Supper, and practice all the other normal activities of a church. Not only that, but in retrospect, it was particularly during this time, when news of death raged all around the city, that Spurgeon found Londoners most receptive to the gospel.”
Spurgeon in his own words: If there ever be a time when the mind is sensitive, it is when death is abroad. I recollect, when first I came to London, how anxiously people listened to the gospel, for the cholera was raging terribly. There was little scoffing then.
Not only did Spurgeon gather his church amid the outbreak, but he saw in these gatherings a powerful opportunity for the gospel to be proclaimed boldly.
As a pastor who is part of an elder team, we’ll need to exercise wisdom when it comes to gathering as a church in the weeks ahead, especially when the health and lives of people are at stake. Certainly, adjustments will need to be made and priority will have to be given to the most important elements of our gatherings. But when we can gather, pastors should realize that there can be tremendous opportunities for preaching the gospel to those who are desperately looking for hope and to quell panic, fears and to strengthen the people of God for their benefit and to equip them to strengthen others.
Although nursing home visits are now being regulated and a host of travel bans are or may soon be in place, Spurgeon in 1854 not only continued to gather his church, but he also made himself available throughout the week, working tirelessly to visit the sick and grief-stricken.
Spurgeon recalled, I went home, and was soon called away again; that time, to see a young woman. She also was in the last extremity, but it was a fair, fair sight. She was singing, — though she knew she was dying, — and talking to those round about her, telling her brothers and sisters to follow her to Heaven, bidding goodbye to her father, and all the while smiling as if it had been her marriage day. She was happy and blessed.
That story affirms the Christian’s Pauline hope that to be “absent from the body is to be present with the Lord”, and that it is a “far better thing to be with Christ.” Being that the Lord has given us ‘a strong mind rather than a spirit of fear’, we have a story of hope and grace to share with the world that is needed now as much as ever. Which leads to finally…
3) Be open to new evangelistic opportunities
Spurgeon did not limit himself merely to visiting members of his congregation but was willing to visit “persons of all ranks and religions.”
Spurgeon recalled, All day, and sometimes all night long, I went about from house to house, and. saw men and women dying, and, oh, how glad they were to see my face! When many were afraid to enter their houses lest they should catch the deadly disease, we who had no fear about such things found ourselves most gladly listened to when we spoke of Christ and of things Divine.
It is reported on one occasion, at three in the morning, Spurgeon was summoned to visit a dying man. Surprisingly, this was not a Christian, but someone who had opposed him:
That man, in his lifetime, had been wont to jeer at me. In strong language, he had often denounced me as a hypocrite. Yet he was no sooner smitten by the darts of death than he sought my presence and counsel, no doubt feeling in his heart that I was a servant of God, though he did not care to own it with his lips.
Though Spurgeon went right away, by the time he arrived, there was little he could do. This great preacher who rested in the sovereignty of God, watched the man drift into eternity while the women who cared for him, sighed, “altogether hopeless about his soul.”
As we all know too well, not every nor most evangelistic opportunities will result in dramatic conversions. But during times of disease, surprising opportunities may arise as those who are sick are looking for big answers to big questions as those in doubt question their own mortality and status before God. Therefore, we need to take advantage of any opportunities we might have to preach the gospel to those who are suffering.
As Geoff Change concluded; “In many ways, Spurgeon’s example during the cholera outbreak of 1854 follows the pattern of normal pastoral ministry on every occasion. Pastors are to be present with their people, lead in the gatherings of the church, care for those who are suffering, be faithful in evangelism, and continue trusting in God through it all.”
The main difference is that during an outbreak such as Coronavirus, there is a heightened reality of suffering and the threat of death. Therefore, the work of ministry and love becomes more intense and urgent, and the opportunities for the gospel multiply. As we consider our response to the pandemic of our present day, there is much to figure out practically and logistically. But the core of our ministry remains: Preach the gospel.
Speaking in 1866, amid another cholera outbreak, Spurgeon gave this charge to pastors and all Christians:
And now, again, is the minister’s time; and now is the time for all of you who love souls. You may see men more alarmed than they are already; and if they should be, mind that you avail yourselves of the opportunity of doing them good. You have the Balm of Gilead; when their wounds smart, pour it in. You know of Him who died to save; tell them of Him. Lift high the cross before their eyes. Tell them that God became man that man might be lifted to God. Tell them of Calvary, and its groans, and cries, and sweat of blood. Tell them of Jesus hanging on the cross to save sinners. Tell them that — “There is life for a look at the Crucified One.”
My Captive Thought 