The Future of Missions in a Post-Pandemic World

By Ben Simms

What impact will COVID-19 have on the future of missions?

This is an important question to ponder, no matter your church role. The pandemic will impact how we allocate church resources. It already has affected the deployment of church members for mission activities. It no doubt will alter mission programming for years to come.

What will stay the same and what will need to change? What has already changed? We all are grappling with the impact of COVID-19 on the future of the Great Commission. As we wrestle with these questions, I would propose three key reflections:

First, the church and its mission will endure. We’ve heard phrases like “there’s no going back” and “life will never be the same.” Do we presume we will never gather together or travel again? God created us as social beings who crave interaction with others . . . beyond a Zoom video call! We can have confidence that mission activities are continuing today and there will be missions in the future! We will gather and we will travel. It’s our methods that will undergo transformation.

Second, the pace of change and trends in missions have accelerated. Many trends we see happening now were already apparent, they just weren’t as prevalent because we were focused on “normal” missions.

Third, greater innovation in missions will lead to kingdom growth. The mission to reach the world for Christ will still happen. New tools will allow for new opportunities to accelerate sharing the message of Christ.

Let’s dive deeper into each of these thoughts.

Missions Will Endure

Pandemics and plagues are not new; they’re just new to us. Some of them have been far worse than this one. These calamities have shaken economies around the world. In the past, churches in the United States on occasion have been ordered to stop gathering for services.

During the 1918 flu pandemic, many churches were banned from meeting. So, did the church curl into a ball and stop sharing the good news in 1918? Of course not! During that outbreak, the church innovated to continue with services. Some churches shared Scripture lessons, prayer prompts, sermons, and hymn listings in newspapers—effectively taking the Sunday morning service into individual houses.  

On account of the ban laid upon congregational assemblies there will be no public services of the churches until after October 20. During this period of time there should be no cessation in Bible study or worship. The home is still fundamental and the basis of all good government. . . . Let the home then be true to its highest privilege and around the family altar keep the home fires burning adding even a brighter glow while the churches are closed.

—Excerpt from a letter by A.F. Mitchell of the Richmond, Indiana, ministerial association, published in the Palladium Item on October 12, 1918

One inventive pastor even coordinated with the local phone company to conduct a phone-in church service! (That sounds a bit like a modern-day Zoom call.)

The church survived the 1918 flu pandemic, which killed at least 50 million people worldwide, including about 675,000 Americans, and it will survive the coronavirus. The choice is ours in how we choose to respond to this new obstacle. This Scripture should instill confidence: “And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it” (Matthew 16:18).

Hindsight will show how this pandemic ultimately impacted missions. But missions surely will continue, and perhaps even be strengthened. Missionaries will continue to share Jesus. Churches will continue to bring people to Christ and disciple them. Mission organizations will continue to physically meet needs, and share Christ, and empower those suffering economic hardship.

While post-pandemic mission trips may look different, we will almost certainly travel again. In The Innocents Abroad, Mark Twain shared his reasoning for this: “Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one’s lifetime.”

We need to learn from others as we explore God’s kingdom. We need to visit and encourage and share Christ with our brothers and sisters around the world, just like Paul.

In his Great Commission, Jesus told us to “go and make disciples of all nations . . . teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.” He then offered this reassurance: “And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age” (Matthew 28:19-20). Jesus is with us! Missions will go on.

Trends in Missions Will Speed Up

Several trends in global missions will speed up after the pandemic.

The global church will lead missions into the future. The Joshua Project, in its summary of global mission trends from 2018, observed that 77 percent of all Christians now live in Latin America, Africa, and Asia—up from 10 percent in 1900. The global church will become the leader in global missions to an even larger extent. A greater need for mission partnership between the West and Global South needs to be emphasized . . . “not a passing of the baton, but a cooperative equal partnership.” The article stated the benefits of the “West providing expertise, training and innovation and [the] Global South providing manpower, cultural-nearness and zeal.” Such a partnership would lead naturally to the emergence of international mission teams.

North America will become an even more significant mission field. According to Barna Research, since 2000 the percentage of active practicing Christians in the United States has dropped from 45 percent of the population to 25 percent. Church leadership, mission pastors and teams will need to develop strategies to grapple with how to address this issue.

Mission trips will transform from simply providing for others to developing relationships with them and empowering them. Many mission teams have done great work around the globe for decades—building houses, churches, schools, and clinics, and drilling wells. But, in the process—as books like Toxic Charity have documented—harm has been done to the dignity of the very people served. Organizations must continue to refine their mission programming.

Economic and food insecurity will grow. A June 2020 article by Reuters shared, “The economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic could plunge an extra 395 million people into extreme poverty and swell the total number of those living on less than $1.90 a day worldwide to more than 1 billion.”

Additionally, the number of people in the world living on less than $5.50 a day could swell to over 3 billion.

The pandemic could undo decades of progress.

“The scale and depth of financial hardship among families threatens to roll back years of progress in reducing child poverty and to leave children deprived of essential services,” said UNICEF executive director Henrietta Fore. “Without concerted action, families barely getting by could be pushed into poverty, and the poorest families could face levels of deprivation that have not been seen for decades.”

Missions Innovation Will Lead to Further Growth

Innovation within missions will lead to a new wave of growth in the kingdom. Technology will provide greater opportunities. Already among Lifeline’s field country leaders, the use of Zoom video conferencing has led to advancements in discipleship. Training for missionaries is just one click away. Also, the use of video for missionaries and agencies in connecting with U.S. churches has advanced the connectivity that previously had to wait for newsletters or mission fairs or furloughs.

Organizations like Lifeline will work to adapt to new methods of connecting the church to God’s greater mission through such innovations as virtual mission trips.

It may surprise some that YouVersion—the online and mobile Bible platform—did not exist until 2008. Today, YouVersion’s website claims it has been downloaded on more than 400 million devices in every country in the world. The app offers more than 2,000 Bible versions in 1,372 languages for free! Just imagine the future innovations that will come.

The Great Commission and Great Commandment, which have driven Christians for more than 2,000 years, do not include asterisks with this notation, “*not applicable during pandemics.” A pandemic won’t end missions; rather, this pandemic may very well help spread the gospel even more!

May every tribe, tongue, and nation come to know Jesus as Lord and Savior!

“After this I looked, and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands” (Revelation 7:9).

Ben Simms serves as president and CEO of Lifeline Christian Mission and Lifeline Christian Mission Society Canada. He also serves as a corporate officer for the International Conference on Missions.