From Ben – 31 October 2021

As this Covid-19 lockdown has now passed the 70 day mark, I have become increasingly concerned for the wellbeing and unity of our church. Every day when I walk into the church building alone, I am reminded that it is designed for a fairly large number of people. As I have spoken to the Lord about this, I have felt Him impress on my heart that His church is actually governed by 4 simple principles that marked the first church. Acts 2:42 tells us “They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer”. Those are just what we are continuing to do, in spite of lockdown.

Sunday by Sunday, we are still gathering around the preached word. During the week many of us enjoy fellowship in Zoom bible studies and through phone calls and other media, where we are able to catch up with each other. We will once again break bread together next week at communion and we all continue to pray.

So as I reflected on the fact that we are doing these 4 essential practices, we are still doing what the true church of Jesus has always done. I felt the Lord say that I must humbly trust Him. It is HIs church and He will build and purify it, despite the lockdown. This insight has caused me to relax and believe that our church can actually emerge from this lockdown stronger than when we went into it.