We often learn best in periods of adversity.
Here is some of what I’ve been learning or relearning over the past year.
Ecclesiology Matters
Mark Dever and others have been telling us to pay attention to ecclesiology. We’ve had to pay attention this past year and ask some good ecclesiological questions.
For much of last year, our church wasn’t able to meet in person. I’ve relearned the importance of gathering together. We’ve all had to make judgments about what to do when we can’t meet in person, whether online meetings are an adequate temporary substitute or not, and whether it’s right to celebrate baptism or the Lord’s Table outside of our regular gathering.
Alan Hirsch argues that most churches overly on Sunday mornings, just as a beginning chess player overlies on the queen. What happens when Sunday morning is taken from us? We have to learn how to play with the other pieces. Sunday gatherings are central to the church, but I’ve been relearning the importance of other kinds of ministry beyond the Sunday gathering.
We’ll need to keep answering questions about ecclesiological issues in the coming years. We’ll also have to retrain ecclesiological muscles that have grown flabby from disuse during the pandemic.
We Disagree, and That’s Okay (Mostly)
Are we overreacting to a virus? Should we wear masks? Is the government overreaching? Is civil disobedience warranted? Should we take the vaccine when it’s available? How should we understand and respond to issues around systemic injustice?
All of these questions are important. We should be able to dialogue about all of them, seeking to find understanding and agreement, and making room for people to disagree. Our unity as believers is based on the gospel and the teachings of Scriptures, and there’s room to wrestle with each of these questions — and even to make allowance for those we think are wrong.
I have friends who would answer each of these questions differently than I do, and I have felt the strain in our relationships. It saddens me.
It’s fine that we disagree with each other on some of these issues, but not when we start to denigrate and condemn those who differ from us. We’ve discovered faultiness in the church this past year, and they’re ugly. We need to get better at holding theological discussions and making room for those who disagree.
We Must Prepare to Suffer
I’ve read about pastors in Québec who were jailed for their convictions. “Between 1950 and 1952, Baptist ministers spent a total of eight years in jail for preaching the gospel (though the charge was inevitably something like “inciting to riot” or “disturbing the peace”)”, writes D.A. Carson in Memoirs of an Ordinary Pastor. Now I have friends who are also being charged and fined.
Without being alarmist, I wonder if this will become more common, not just due to breaking government regulations about the pandemic but on other issues such as Bill C-6.
I may not agree with those who have different convictions than me, but they are my brothers and sisters, and the rest of us may not be far behind. We must be prepared to suffer.
I’ve been stretched this past year, but I’m grateful for what God is teaching me.
