The Church as a creative cornerstone of society

The Church community in Barbados gives God thanks and praise that it is soon going to be meeting physically again.

So, as we prepare to exit the ban on church activities, what are the lessons we have learnt from the COVID-19 situation, what are the takeaways? At least three readily come to mind.

One of the first things we can takeaway is that the Church is a creative entity, and God – its Creator – will always give new and fresh ideas as we serve Him. Truly, we have seen some great ideas at home and abroad.

There has been online streaming of church services via Zoom and Skype. Also, churches have reached out to their members with sermons, Bible studies, Sunday School lessons and special singing using the group chat facility. Some ministers have also used Facebook and YouTube to present sermons from their homes.

Then, some overseas churches, particularly in North America, have held services in their parking lots. Families sit in their cars and the pastor preaches from the elevated area just outside the church entrance.

There have certainly been many other creative ways the Church has been meeting during this pandemic. God just continues to give ideas to His people at this time. We therefore should be in the right place spiritually to be able to access, download and implement these new and fresh ways of doing church!

The second takeaway is that the Church is really about fellowship – physical fellowship. Meeting together. Without a doubt the church community has sorely missed this coming together, the meeting of the whole – the connectivity of the Body of Christ! For surely something special happens when the Church meets, when we see each other, and talk to each other.

Of course, when we meet again we will be observing physical distancing and the other protocols of which we have been advised, but we will be in the same space – sharing the same area.

Now, let us look at the third takeaway. Well, it really comes in the form of a reminder: The Church will always exist. It will always stand on the earth until the Lord Jesus Christ comes for it! (1 Thessalonians 4:16, 17). Therefore, no demon or devil can ever extinguish the Church’s flame. Our Lord said that He has built His Church, and no evil force can overpower it (Matthew 16:18).

This is His Word, His promise, and He cannot lie. He is the sure foundation on which the Church stands. As Isaiah 28:16 says, “Therefore thus saith the Lord God, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation…”