Whose Church is this anyway? This is the Lord’s Church! As members of the Lord’s Church, we have a job to do. We must go where the Spirit leads and preach this Gospel of God’s love to everyone. We must tell the good news everywhere there are sinners, and Lord knows, there are sinners everywhere! This NOT a social assignment! The Church can ill-afford to operate as the pre-pandemic Church. The Church has changed and become an institution of God’s recreating. Amid this change the Church has been experiencing the Grace of God in new, innovative, and fresh ways for recreating and sustaining ministry.
The Church Belongs to God
This irrefutable fact helps believers to know our job within God’s Church. It’s God who calls, sanctifies, and equips through the Holy Spirit for us to perform the task. The times of post-pandemic have not arrived yet. Did we move too soon? We called it before God finished it. The pandemic is still here. The work as pandemic leaders (clergy and laity) must be to preach, teach, and reach each generation, but not with a watered-down version of the Gospel. Each local Church could renew and reset for a more extraordinary ministry. We must not miss our opportunity! Are we scared? Are we comfortable? Are we too judgmental? Are we too political? Does the Church belong to God or not? All our actions carry with them some consequences, and these outcomes can be determined by the activities of the person or group.
Back to The Basics
Get back to the power of the Gospel, the fire of the spirit. John Wesley says,
“I am not afraid that the people called Methodists should ever cease to exist either in Europe or America. But I am afraid lest they should only exist as a dead sect, having the form of religion without the power. And this undoubtedly will be the case unless they hold fast both the doctrine, spirit, and discipline with which they first set out”. Taken from John Wesley, Thoughts Upon Methodism 1786.
Eighty-four years after Wesley’s statement the Colored Methodist Episcopal Church was birthed. Visionaries infected with the Gospel went where the Spirit led and preached the Gospel of God’s love to anyone and everyone who would listen, telling the good news everywhere there were sinners. In essence, these visionaries can be referred to as co-laborers with God in the effort to build God’s Church. They had a mission to be evangelists and church planters, and that, they did! Now, amidst a pandemic, we must do likewise. Yes, we must be visionaries infected with the Gospel going where the Spirit leads to preach the Gospel of God’s love to anyone and everyone who would listen.
The Post-Pandemic Church
Now is the time to develop strategies for the post-pandemic Church. How will the Church look? I suggest you pray, plan, and prepare for a dynamic local church that will serve this present age. Most importantly, do not forget that the post-pandemic Church is God’s Church too.
We are The Christian Methodist Episcopal Church recognizing the importance of Christ in our daily lives.
Leon C. Moore, Jr.
General Secretary of Evangelism and Missions
Pleasant Hill CME, Conyers, GA