The current worldwide coronavirus crisis should cause grave concern for everyone. It gives us pause to reflect on our mortality and how gingerly our lives teeter on the precipice between life and death at every moment.
The church should especially consider its place in the world and how it ministers to those in need–in need of the gospel and in need of acts of mercy. Sadly, I am afraid many congregations are not prepared for this moment, either theologically or otherwise. How many congregations were engaged with their communities and members, and prepared to minister despite the separation that “social distancing” has brought us?
I don’t have magic answers, but I do have some suggestions about how our churches need to be effectively involved in the lives of those around us. This post begins a series on small church ministry. For my purposes, I am defining small churches as those having 100 members or less, and I am assuming they are found mostly in small towns and rural areas. This series should be helpful to churches of various traditions and church leaders, whether pastors, elders, deacons, trustees, or those given some other title.
In this series, I will reflect on the biblical model of ministry of the church as well as provide practical applications and suggestions. I hope this will be helpful to someone; perhaps the pastor of a small church will find this useful, as I would have done in similar circumstances.
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