Generosity, Responsibility, Humility: The Church’s Threefold Response to COVID-19
By Gary Johnson and Jared Johnson
“History repeats itself” is a familiar phrase because it’s true. In the opening pages of Scripture, Egypt was a world superpower. That nation experienced prosperity like no other realm had ever known. The years of unprecedented bounty, though, were followed by seven years of famine.
Is something similar occurring in America? In recent years, the United States has enjoyed an era of prosperity—from record low unemployment to record high returns in the financial markets. However, an insidious and destructive virus circled the globe and within weeks turned an era of prosperity into a time of scarcity and adversity. The coronavirus pandemic has caused record losses of lives, jobs, savings, and more. It disrupted graduation ceremonies; and it disrupted supply lines and caused shortages of ventilators, N95 masks, meat, and even toilet paper! A phenomenon with similarities to the one that struck Egypt centuries ago became a reality in the 20th-century world. History has a way of repeating itself.
While Egypt experienced abundance and then famine, the nation ultimately demonstrated compassion and generosity. From a macro perspective, Egypt had such plentiful resources during the seven good years that people from neighboring nations obtained relief from her storehouses during the seven lean years, sustaining an untold number of people. God provided on a macro level.
At a micro level, God provided for Joseph mentally, physically, socially, and spiritually. (In Luke 2:52, Scripture says Jesus also grew in these ways—“in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and all the people,” New Living Translation.) Joseph was elevated to become Egypt’s prime minister. God, who is immutable, also has provided for us in the same manner during the pandemic. God provides on a macro level and—as we see in his work in our individual lives—on a micro level.
Another familiar phrase, “the tip of the iceberg,” describes a reality that most of an iceberg lies beneath the water’s surface. We might say that most people view the church’s response to COVID-19 something like how they view an iceberg. There was the obvious, surface response, but much of the church’s response has been largely unseen. In the church’s threefold response to COVID-19, all three aspects were connected and inseparable, though two of the three rested beneath the surface.
Acts of Generosity
The church’s conspicuous response to the coronavirus has been outrageous generosity, and this type of response is not new. Crises birth generosity. In the past two decades, Americans gave record sums of money in the days following 9/11, Hurricanes Katrina, Sandy and Harvey, an earthquake in Haiti, and a tsunami in the Indian Ocean. When tornadoes and fires destroy homes and lives, people respond with acts of selfless generosity.
During and following the coronavirus, churches opened drive-through food pantries, distributed emergency kits containing face masks and hand sanitizer, engaged healthcare workers and first responders, even assisted other struggling congregations to remain open. Larger, more technologically adept churches provided virtual platforms for congregations who knew little to nothing about livestreaming worship services.
Why has the church responded this way? The easy and most evident answer is that we have been made in the image of God, the most outrageous giver of all. From the Garden of Eden’s abundance in Genesis 1 to the restoration of everything in Revelation 21, God provides us with help for today, and most importantly, with hope for tomorrow through the redemption of our lives in Jesus Christ. When we are generous, we look and act like our Father.
Sense of Responsibility
Acts of generosity flow from a sense of responsibility, which lies beneath our surface and is a conviction from the Spirit in our souls. Egypt was a generous nation because leaders with a sense of responsibility were at the helm. For seven years, Joseph set aside record amounts of food to feed record numbers of people in years of unrelenting hunger. The fact that Pharaoh allowed Joseph to undertake such a massive benevolent food program indicates he must have sensed a responsibility to others. The church can be generous when leaders have the following twofold sense of responsibility.
First, we are caretakers, stewarding what has been given to us. We cannot spend every dollar we receive. We must live within our means. Setting aside resources is both wise and prudent (Proverbs 21:20). We save and set aside resources so we have something to share with others, particularly when a crisis comes.
Second, we are Christians, followers of the life and teaching of Jesus. Our Lord’s brother said our faith is dead when we see people needing food and clothes and do not help them (James 2:14-17). John, “the disciple whom Jesus loved,” taught that when we have material possessions and do not share them with those in need, we lack the love of God. We are to love with action (1 John 3:17, 18). To whom much is given, much is required. E2 works with a church that considered pursuing a loan from SBA’s Paycheck Protection Program even though they have hundreds of thousands of dollars in reserve. They reasoned that if they received the loan, they would be able to share in outrageous generosity with smaller, struggling churches to meet payroll expenses—helping to keep those churches open. When church leaders have a sense of responsibility deep within, the church will pursue acts of conspicuous generosity.
Attitude of Humility
Generosity flows from a sense of responsibility rooted in an attitude of humility. Though he was Egypt’s second-in-command, Joseph walked humbly with God. From age 17, when his brothers sold him into slavery, until age 30, when he became a leader of Egypt—and up until the day he died—Joseph depended on God. In his old age, Joseph spoke to his brothers of the time they sold him as a slave: “You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives” (Genesis 50:20).
Can we say the same? Do we live in authentic humility before God? If we do, we will be more inclined to give generously because others will matter so much to us. Paul urged us, in humility, to think more highly of others and to support their interests before and above our own (Philippians 2:3, 4). Paul also wrote that we should have the same attitude as Jesus, who humbled himself completely and became obedient to death on a cross (Philippians 2:5-8).
When Christian high-wire aerialist Nik Wallenda finishes an event, he spends many hours picking up litter his fans have left behind. He fills trash bag after trash bag. Wallenda says he must deliberately resist pride in his life by performing acts of humility. We need to make that same journey.
Acts of generosity flow from having a sense of responsibility to God. This generosity is rooted in genuine humility as we walk with and depend upon the provision God alone can provide.
This threefold response to COVID-19 involves more than outrageous acts of generosity; it is the fruit of the Spirit working inside Christians across the country and around the world. People look at the outward appearance of generosity, whereas God also looks at our responsible and humble hearts.
As the late Winston Churchill said, “We make a living by what we get, we make a life by what we give.”
Gary and Jared Johnson serve as executive director and operations director, respectively, of e2: effective elders.
(Be sure to read this article’s companion piece, a Bible study of the famine by Mark E. Moore, “Waiting Is Working.”)
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