A Renaissance Rebirth

How God Worked through the Pandemic to Move Our Church from Local to Global Ministry

One of the most potent theological tenets of Scripture is called the Providence of God. The doctrine of Providence provides us with insight into God’s care for his creation as he continuously provides for its existence and sustenance. Additionally, Providence suggests that God is guiding his creation according to his divine purpose.

A particular passage that accentuates this notion is Romans 8:28: “God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose” (New American Standard Bible). The pivotal terms in this passage are “work together” and “purpose.” The Greek word translated as “work together” is sunergéō, from which we get our English term “synergy.” The word’s meaning carries the idea of cooperation for an intended goal.

The term “purpose” comes from a Greek term prosthesis, which communicates the idea of a predetermined design or plan. To that end, the apostle Paul was making a clear statement that God has the power to cause all things to cooperate toward the intended end of his design. Contextually, this would include the idea of suffering, since the apostle Paul previously stated that this world’s suffering is not worthy of being compared to the glory that would appear afterward (Romans 8:18).

It is theologically safe to conclude we serve the God of Heaven who has the capacity to take all of our suffering in this world and use it toward the intended goal of his purpose. We see this truth within the context of the book of Acts, where the church is viewed as spreading from Jerusalem to the ends of the earth with the pressure of persecution resting upon their shoulders. Under the malignancy of persecution and disdain, the church continued to grow. God was able to take his followers’ suffering and use it to further his purpose of developing their character and expanding the kingdom.

In this current season, the world is experiencing a viral phenomenon known as COVID-19. This virus has impacted people in the United States and worldwide. Businesses have closed and travel was brought almost to a screeching halt. This highly contagious virus has drastically challenged the norms we once knew while simultaneously introducing new norms to which we have all had to adjust.

Churches have not been exempt from the terrible impact of the coronavirus; many were forced to close the doors of their buildings for a period of time. Churches worldwide were challenged to find a way to carry out Christ’s mission in the face of a tenacious virus that threatened the safety of mankind. However, many churches have continued advancing, as God has used this virus for kingdom expansion and character development.

Finding Another Way

Renaissance Church of Christ’s facility wasn’t yet two yearsold whenwe were forced to exit our building because of the virus. With a tremendous level of uncertainty, we had to rethink how we could effectively practice Christianity without a central location for members to meet. Additionally, the church’s finances were a concern in that many of our constituents still placed checks in the offering each week. In a period of seven days, we had to transition the entire congregation to online giving. While these mechanisms were in place before COVID-19, we had to ensure a user-friendly experience that was deemed safe and secure for those who did not typically engage in online giving.

Further, in that same seven-day period, we had to ensure our online worship experience was optimal so that our members would not feel disconnected in the absence of being able to meet in the facility. To that end, we invested significant resources in obtaining the proper equipment to provide the best virtual experience possible. The idea was to create an intimate worship service so engaging that the believer would feel like they were present. Concurrent with this, we embraced various preaching methodologies that ranged from lecture to dramatic sermonic displays (including skits) to ensure an impact in the virtual world. The current generation is a visual culture, so we added significant visual aids. These changes were made to help keep the congregation connected and united.

Seeing God’s Purpose

While we were focused on keeping the local church connected, we did not readily perceive the opportunity God had presented—the possibility of reaching literally billions of unreached people on Facebook and YouTube. It became evident to Renaissance Church of Christ’s leaders that the obstacle of not being able to utilize the facility was simultaneously an opportunity to access more people than ever before.

Suddenly, the church has moved from local to global. God, through his permissive will and the advent of COVID-19, helped Renaissance Church of Christ experience a drastic increase in attendance, so that now more than 3,000 people worship with us virtually each week. (Previous to the pandemic we averaged about 1,000 in person and 600 online.) The ability to access more people created an opportunity for an increased response to the gospel. The pandemic kept the congregation out of the building, but it increased the number of people who were baptized into Christ. To our surprise, people in states beyond Georgia’s border were accessing the gospel of Jesus Christ, leading to conversions across the country. Just like that, the church was no longer just a local entity but an organism that would have a global impact.

Will We Have Enough Money?

As COVID-19 was causing school, business, and church closures across the country, we had serious concerns whether we would have the capacity to meet the monthly mortgage on our new building. We were not alone in having to lay off several of our church workers to ensure some level of financial stability. Our hearts melted to make such a difficult decision; we recognized that some of our workers had families they supported.

While many banks promised relief for churches who were attempting to maintain a staff, we weren’t able to secure financial assistance. Still, we maintained our faith. In the heart of our despair, The Solomon Foundation came alongside and provided a grant that aided us in that time of difficulty.

While we were extremely grateful for The Solomon Foundation’s ministry, we continued to be concerned about what the coming months would hold. However, the God of Providence, who makes all things cooperate toward the goal of his purpose, not only gave us access to more people through social media platforms, he enabled us to receive global financial support from people who believe in the work of the Renaissance ministry. As a result, Renaissance Church of Christ has experienced double and (at times) triple its average offering. Global ministry has resulted in a global offering.

What Have We Learned?

The Renaissance Church of Christ has not resumed in-person assemblies [at the time of writing this article]. However, the church’s ministry continues to thrive. Like the persecution initiated through Saul in Acts 8 that resulted in the church going everywhere preaching the Word, so it is that COVID-19 has moved the church into a global ministry going everywhere declaring the gospel of Jesus Christ.

While we expect that our in-person assemblies will resume in the near future, we have also readily accepted the new norms of having a global focus as a local church. We have embraced the possibilities of reaching people in every conceivable geographical location and building ministry relevant to a virtual constituency. God is challenging the church’s comfort level, removing us from the confines of facilities into a mission-driven disposition that sees the importance of expanding the kingdom of God. Like many, we had enjoyed the blessing of our facility and allowed it to become a museum, when we should have maintained the posture of an unstoppable Christian movement.

Understandably, many have seen COVID-19 as the death of the church. However, I find it plausible that God has allowed the coronavirus to propel the church into a new level of ministry operation that will enable the church to have a more significant impact worldwide. COVID-19 has also been the rebirth of creativity, stretching the minds of leaders to think beyond the proverbial box of stagnation.

Furthermore, it is the rebirth of faith, for we have been reacquainted with trusting God in uncertain times. The humility of dependency has permeated church leaders across the country, but these folks now recognize that God can preserve us through a pandemic and prosper his people in the process. We have been reacquainted with the reality that God’s mission is not dependent on convenient circumstances. The church can function and operate under the weight of inconvenience and still find success in expanding the kingdom of God.