On Sunday morning, Stephen quoted Tabletalk’s recent ‘Update on the Church in London’ by Paul Levy. It’s an encouraging update in which he writes:
“London is a city that never stops and never sleeps. Yet, God has brought it to a standstill. People have more time to read, to study, to listen. Households have assumed a greater priority. For Christians, family worship has taken on an even greater importance, and fathers are needing to step up and take on the role that God has given them…There have been indications in the past year that people are becoming more open to the gospel. We have had more people interested in the gospel and coming to church over the last six months than at any time I can remember in my ministry. The numbers haven’t been huge, but some have even continued to watch the sermons online.
…What the long-term spiritual effects of this period will be are uncertain. Death, which has previously been hidden in our culture, is now confronting us as a nation, and we pray it is driving people to Christ.
In the midst of all this confusion and chaos, individuals and families are losing loved ones and there is tangible fear. The government thinks that it will have done well if the United Kingdom has a death toll of twenty thousand at the end of this virus. In the congregation where I serve, a father of nine has been taken home to glory in the last couple of days. We have felt the bitterness of death, the pain of separation, broken hearts, the feeling of deep and overwhelming sadness, and the uncertainty of the future. Of course, these things are true in normal times, but COVID-19 has brought these truths home to us so that the pain of this broken world and the preciousness of Christ are more real to us.
We feel fragile, but Christ’s church is not.”
Hearing of how God is working around the world today is important given the temptation we often face to idolise the past. As the following excerpt from David GIbson’s book Destiny reminds us:
‘When you start asking, “Why was the past better?” you’re denying the reality of God’s presence in the present. If you think things are worse, do you think God is no longer in control? Do you think he hasn’t brought you to the point where you are now and that he no longer loves you or has plans or purposes for you? To ask the question in Ecclesiastes 7:10—“Say not, ‘Why were the former days better than these?’ For it is not from wisdom that you ask this”—is unwise, because it forgets God”.
Often when we ask this question, it’s because we’re blind to the good things of the present and ignorant of past evil’.
On the subject of rejoicing in what God is doing now, one of our friends from Casper RPC in Wyoming (where Stephen & Carla spent some time in 2013) wrote this recently:
“We often feel that even if this church plant closes and never takes off, serving in our church has been one of the most growing, stretching, challenging, humbling, rewarding experiences in our lives”.
May we be able to say the same!