Letter to the CHURCHES in this era of Covid-19

Have people missed going to church or Pastors have missed their congregation? A church is a building used for public Christian worship – oxford dictionary. A church can also be a Christian religious organisation or congregation – Wikipedia. In the book of Revelation, Yehowa (Jehovah) told John to write what he was going to show him and send them to the churches. The church is not my most comfortable subject area to write but maybe Yehowa want me to send this message to the churches.

Have people missed going to church or Pastors have missed the congregation.
If people have missed going to church, what actually have they missed.
Have they missed the fellowship with others or worshiping of Yehowa?
In Christianity, worship is the act of attributing reverent honour, homage and obedience to God.
God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship Him in spirit and truth” (John 4:24).
In Galatians 5:22-23, Paul talked about the fruits of the spirit. The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.
Yeshua (Jesus) was asked which of the commandments is the greatest and this is what he said, “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.”

“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory. “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world.

For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat,
I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink,
I was a stranger and you invited me in,
I needed clothes and you clothed me,
I was sick and you looked after me,
I was in prison and you came to visit me.’

Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and fed you, or thirsty and gave you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invited you in, or needing clothes and clothed you? When did we see you sick or in prison and went to visit you?’

The King will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.” Matthew 25:31-40.

This clearly means, we do not need to be in a building before we can worship Yehowa. In same way, it is good to meet as congregation from time to time to talk and encourage ourselves in the Lord. It should not be so much of a problem if we cannot meet physically and fellowship in this era of this pandemic virus. There are more ways we can meet and talk to our fellow brethren with available technologies.

Have Pastors missed the congregation? Yehowa gave a peculiar job to his disciples.

When they had finished eating, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?” “Yes, Lord,” he said, “you know that I love you.” Jesus said, “Feed my lambs.”
In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I give you this charge: Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction. For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths. But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, and discharge all the duties of your ministry. (II Tim 4:1-5).
Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds of the church of God, which he bought with his own blood. (Acts 20;28).

The duties and responsibilities of Pastors and Elders could still be discharged whiles the church is not meeting physically in this era of this pandemic, Covid – 19. There is no need to rush back to have physical meetings of church or congregation.

The word Christ has given his elders and Pastors to propagate is the word of His kingdom. Matthew 24:4 says, “And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come”.

Pastors are supposed to preach and bring people to repentance. It’s not about performing miracles. Preaching the undiluted word of Yehowa can be done using various media. True miracle from God can still be done without physical touch. This does not need to be televised since the glory is for God not any Pastor or man.

The genuine Pastors who are preaching about the second coming of God should continue and use other media aside physical meeting and share the word of God to the people.

Pastors after this Covid-19 should note that, their duty is not to only preach on Saturdays and Sundays to people who come to the church building.
Pastors need to free themselves of administrative, accounts, and all other roles and concentrate on their core responsibility.
Pastors need to find ways and preach to people throughout the week like other professionals do their work every week.
The main work of a Pastor is not to perform miracles at church or for the church.
The job of the Pastor is not to manage finance of the church or for the church
The job of the Pastor is not to do the human resource or administrative work
We should look at the administrative structures that have been introduced which are bringing more cost to churches and pressure on church members financially.
Church Executives who are mostly headed by Pastors need to simplify things and minimise cost and take care of the church.

Above all, we should not under any circumstances allow our Pastors to brain wash our minds and force us to defile the orders that have been given to protect us and meet physically at church buildings. It is my earnest prayer that, our way of worship would change after this virus is gone.

This is an advice from T.D. Jakes, “I want to admonish all my followers around the world to use common sense and stay at home even if your government eases the lockdown. I have seen very close friends die from COVID-19. WE CAN ONLY COME TO CHURCH IF WE ARE ALIVE”.

True worship of God is not in the building but in our hearts.

Reference

https://enduringword.com/bible-commentary/revelation-

https://www.godtube.com/news/what-does-the-bible-say-about-worship.html

http://www.quranreading.com/blog/5-questions-to-be-asked-on-judgement-day/