Lockdowns & Online Church: Time to Evaluate?

September 4, 2021September 4, 2021 / Peter Mead / 10 Comments

There are few subjects as controversial as Covid-19. Many churches are feeling the stretch of a full spectrum of views within the congregation. It certainly feels safer to not venture into writing about this subject, but I feel it is important that we evaluate what we do in church world – whatever our view of the actual issue may be. Obviously, each context is different. What my church was allowed to do will be different than the rules in your country or state. What my church decided to do may have been inappropriate for another church in the same town because of different facilities, congregational demographic or local context.

At the beginning of the global crisis in early 2020, most churches saw the situation as a no-brainer. We were confronted with a new virus and we did not know the extent of the risk (although early predictions were anticipating hundreds of millions of deaths globally). What we did know was the importance of everyone pulling together to save lives. To illegally meet as a church during those early weeks could easily have been the talk of the town (and it would have made Jesus look very bad). So for us, and probably for most churches, it was time to get creative and adapt to this unforeseen and temporary lockdown.

Now, 18 months later, we are in a better position to look back and do some evaluating. In our context we had a long first lockdown, followed by a summer of restrictions, then a shorter lockdown in October/November. The third lockdown, for the first half of 2021, did not apply to churches (although there were plenty of restrictions).

Our church experienced the sudden move to “meeting” online without a budget for setting up a high tech studio. When we were allowed to meet again, we experienced meeting in different venues because our normal venue would not rent to us during the pandemic. We met in a place where our numbers had to be limited way below our congregation size. We met in a field, actually two different fields, a large English garden, and as guests of a very kind Anglican church in our town.

Every church will have its own story. Every church situation is unique. I am not writing to criticize anyone. But we should all evaluate. We are so thankful for the way our congregation responded with flexibility and enthusiasm to the constant changes. As leaders I am sure we made mistakes during these months. We probably all did. None of us ever took a seminary class in how to do lead a church during a never-before-seen global health crisis!

So as we look back at online church under various levels of lockdown, let’s take stock of both the costs and the benefits.

There have been benefits – I have spoken with many church leaders and church members who have spoken of learning to be flexible. Having to adapt to new technology and changing circumstances is probably healthy for all but the most fragile Christians. Many of us are now as capable of hosting a Zoom call as a business executive, or as familiar with streaming live on YouTube and “speaking to camera” as a social influencer (even if we are still not as comfortable with it!) Perhaps the reach of your church has extended to people who would never have stepped into your building. Perhaps, moving forward, the blessing of your live-stream will also be felt by church members at home with a sick child or travelling for work.

And it is not just about technology and livestreaming. We have had to think through how to shepherd people that we don’t see in person multiple times each week. We have had to think about unity more than ever before since Covid has scattered people across a spectrum of responses and perspectives. We have possibly been given greater clarity on the spiritual condition of many in our churches than was obvious under “the old normal” of predictable church routine. We have hopefully been pushed to our knees to recognize that we rely on God alone for the health of the flock and not that predictable structure of church life. It is right to recognize the benefits and thank God for His faithfulness during these challenging months of change.

There have been costs – Some people will only speak positively of the impact of lockdown on their church experience. Perhaps there is something in the air these days that makes it feel forbidden to critique any aspect of Covid response? But we must evaluate. Our calling is too significant to do otherwise. What has been the cost of the loss of fellowship? What has been the cost of loneliness for believers living alone or as the only believer in their home? Have people grown to see church as merely watching a sermon and perhaps singing? What value does corporate worship have in the spiritual life of the believer? What about the relational dynamic at the heart of biblical Christianity? What about discipleship? What about serving others? What about unplanned conversations, warm greetings, handshakes, smiles and hugs?

Have people thrived spiritually with online church, or have they just survived? There is a cost to not meeting for weeks, or even months on end. Remember how we would be very concerned pastorally about people who stopped participating in the life of the church for extended periods of time before Covid-19 came along? That concern still applies. As churches come out of existing online to meeting in person, they discover that they have lost people. Some are lost to “pajama church” while others are lost to no church connection at all. Sundays have taken on new rhythms for them.

And what about the loss of opportunities? We can and should celebrate the people that found church online, but what about guests that never came to church, never experienced believers worshipping together, never experienced the love of a community of God’s people welcoming them warmly? What about the loss of in-person communion and group prayer? What about the loss of other opportunities: childhood friendships and life transition moments, mission trips for teens at that key stage of transition to adulthood, youth group heart-to-heart conversations after youth group adventures, and so on?

What do you think? Personally, I believe that online church and lockdown has had far more costs than benefits. If we had to do it again, what would we do differently? And are we now happy to switch to online church whatever reason is given for future lockdowns? Are we really settled with the idea that the authorities can mandate what we do as a church, who we meet with, what we wear, etc.? Is the plan to do what is commanded, or what is culturally popular, whatever the reason? Or are we making different plans to handle what may still lie ahead of us? Whatever your perspective, it is vital that we all take stock and evaluate.

I want to recognize that it has been a challenging season to be in church leadership. Thank you for all you have done where you are. It has not been easy. Hopefully, your congregation have expressed their gratitude for all that you have done to make it work in these strange times. Hopefully, you have seen God at work despite the challenges. Jesus promised to build his church!

Our contexts are different and rules seem to be constantly changing everywhere. How vital it is to think it through, pray it through, and learn lessons in the late summer before another winter comes (whatever that may look like where you are).

(I have sought to gently provoke with questions in this post. I am not looking to stir a political debate, but prayerful reflection. Please do share in the comments anything that could be helpful for others.)

Endurance

January 30, 2021January 29, 2021 / Peter Mead / Leave a comment

We all knew this would be a long and difficult winter. The COVID-19 global crisis did not end quickly last spring, and so we knew this winter would be challenging. The pandemic is discouraging, the various government lockdowns many of us are living under are draining, and even when we look beyond the health news, the rest of what is going on is not uplifting. As it says in Hebrews 10:26 – “You have need of endurance.”

When I was in school, I enjoyed all of the sports except for cross-country running. It was a miserable experience. It was lonely, it was uncomfortable, and it was disheartening. I could not understand anyone enjoying that weekly run around the perimeter of the school grounds.

Fast forward almost thirty years and I began to find myself enjoying the odd Park Run. I am no runner, by any stretch of the imagination, but the Park Run event was different. This weekly global event resulted in hundreds of people gathering together on a Saturday morning to run the standard 5km in my local park. The community feel meant that everyone encouraged everyone else. And at strategic locations on the course there were the Park Run marshals, smiling volunteers in high-visibility vests that would clap and encourage us to keep going.

In our church, we have said that we want this winter to feel more like a Park Run than my cross-country experience from school days. It will be a difficult season either way, but it need not be miserable, lonely, and disheartening. As believers we have each other, and we need each other, to encourage us to keep pressing on through a difficult season. And as believers we also need the Park Run marshals: strategically placed personal encouragement for the race that is marked out for us. So, each Sunday, our church has heard from a book of the Bible offering that special encouragement to keep on going, like a strategically located Park Run marshal.

Here are three quick encouragements to help us during this difficult time:

God the Father understands our need for encouragement. In Romans 15:5 he is called the God of endurance and encouragement. Just before that, Paul refers to how God invests in our endurance through the encouragement of Scripture. God is an active participant in the challenges we face and he wants to help us.

God the Son knows exactly how we feel in tough times. We are not asked to run a race that God has not run already. So, in Hebrews 12:1-2 it says that we have a race marked out for us, but it also says we run it while looking to Jesus, who has already run his race and sat down at the right hand of the Father. Our forerunner, our champion, is Jesus – the one who has first run and suffered for us.

God the Spirit is given to us – exactly what we need when we are exhausted. In John 14-16, Jesus speaks to his disciples at a time when they are discouraged, drained, fearful, and concerned for the future. Jesus points them to knowing the Father and to their need to remain connected with the Son. What’s more, Jesus makes it clear that they are to receive another Helper, the Holy Spirit, for their difficult days to come. In Romans, when Paul talks about suffering and the need for hope, he then goes on to speak of the help and empowerment of the Spirit (see Romans 5:5; 8:26ff, 15:13, etc.)

The Father, the Son, and the Spirit are all active participants in our lives this winter. The world will tell us to look within and to find in ourselves the resolute fortitude to keep pressing on. This is simply not enough. Maybe the world can give a taste of the mutual support that a community can offer in tough times. But what the world cannot give is the unique reality of fellowship with the Trinity.

Yes, in Romans 5, we are called to persevere in the midst of suffering, knowing that our suffering produces endurance, and character, and hope. But this is not just a passage telling us to dig deeper and hang in there. Immediately, in verse 5, Paul reinforces this endurance by referencing the active participation of the Spirit inside us.

In that upper room, in John 14-16, Jesus urges his disciples to obey him and live for him in the difficult days ahead. But Jesus does not give a team talk that is full of enthusiasm and motivation, but with no practical help. Jesus points them to the participation of the Trinity in their experience, and at the beginning, middle, and end of that section he urges them to do the most logical thing of all in turbulent times: to ask. Ask God for help. Ask God according to his will. Ask God when the world hates you. Ask.

We cannot get through 2021 alone, but God does not ask us to get through it alone. Instead, we are encouraged to get through it together: together with other believers, and together with God.

Maybe 2021 will be a year that stretches some of us in ways we have never been stretched before. Let’s pray that the challenges of 2021 will push us up close against God. May this be a year when we learn to lean on God as never before. May this be a year when we learn to pray to God as never before. And may this be a year when our strength to endure obviously comes not from within us, but from someone who is at work in and through us.

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Here is a clip from an interview with Neil Todman, pastor of Headley Park Church in Bristol. See video description for information on how to access the full interview.

Preparing to Preach in 2021

December 26, 2020December 26, 2020 / Peter Mead / 1 Comment

We don’t know what 2021 will bring, but we can guess. We can guess there will be more to the COVID story. We can guess there will be further political and social tensions in various parts of the world. We can guess that it won’t feel like preaching during a honeymoon period of stability and global contentment.

As we leave Christmas behind and start to move towards a new year that we know won’t be simple, what can we do to prepare? The simple answer would be to pray, but what should we pray about, specifically related to preaching? Here are seven things to pray about, just to get you started:

1. Love. Pray that your love for God and your love for your listeners will not be neglected in the coming months. Difficult times can helpfully toughen us, but they can also unhelpfully distract us from ultimate priorities. Pray for the love of God poured into your heart to flow out in devotion to Him, and Christlike selflessness towards others – including in your preaching.

2. Wisdom. Pray that your ministry will be marked by a profoundly biblical discernment in the coming months. We live in a swirl of contradictory information and sometimes the most affirmed realities are the most worthy of profound questioning. We cannot minister with our heads only in our Bibles, we also need to spend some time in the “newspapers” too – but be wary of simply parroting cultural values driven by the media of our time. It is easy to offer a slightly sanctified culture-shaped spin. Pray for wisdom to be able to know and speak God’s truth clearly in a time of great confusion.

3. Courage. Pray for courage in your ministry. It will be harder to speak the truth boldly in this decade than in the last. We may be able to anticipate where the pressures will be coming from, but we do not yet know how great those pressures will become. Your church does not need a bulldog in the pulpit, but neither does it need a wimp being pushed around by the increasingly brazen demands of the world. Pray for courage to speak God’s truth incisively in the coming year.

4. Patience. Pray for patience in your ministry. Someone said we can easily over-estimate what can be achieved in a single sermon, but should never under-estimate what can be achieved through a steady diet of solid biblical preaching. Pray for patience to keep on in your biblical ministry.

5. Endurance. Pray for the endurance that you will need in your preaching in the next year. This year has been draining. Take COVID – it is tiring to minister during uncertainty, with continual changes of government rules and guidelines, with uncertainty hanging over everyone, with different perspectives on the situation throughout the congregation, with the need to continually adapt and re-create church momentum, etc. Take a deep breath. Acknowledge that 2020 was difficult and tiring. And pray for endurance as we head into 2021.

6. Growth. Of course we should pray for the growth of our listeners, but pray for your own growth too. Pray for God to help you grow in your handling of Scripture, your theological insight, your pastoral sensitivity, your communicative ability, etc. Pray that you will become a better preacher this year.

7. Fruit. Don’t forget to pray for fruit. It would be easy to allow global events, national lockdowns, family struggles or even personal issues to distract you from the obvious. Pray for fruit in your ministry. Pray that people will come to faith in Christ this year. Pray that believers will grow closer to Christ this year. Pray for marriages to be healed this year. Pray for lives to be transformed deeper and further this year. Fruit doesn’t ultimately depend on your love, your wisdom, your courage, your patience or even your growth. Fruit depends on God’s kindness, so pray for Him to be powerfully at work whether you are “preaching well” or not, whether your church is meeting in person or not, whether your country is falling apart or not.

What would you add to the list?

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Why Return to Church In Person?

June 14, 2020 / Peter Mead / 2 Comments

I have friends in places where the church is now able to meet again. Here we are able to have small groups gathering for home groups (limited in number, and only outdoors). Eventually we will be able to meet on Sundays as a whole church. But even then, there will be limitations and hassle – social distancing measures, some restrictions, some unable to meet because of heightened personal vulnerability. It is going to feel complicated for quite a while!

So, after months of “meeting” online, or even just watching some elements of church services online, we have all grown accustomed to a much freer Sunday. It has become normal to just tune in on a Sunday, or if anything else is going on, to not bother at all without anyone knowing. And most churches will presumably continue to livestream in some way because some people can’t be there in person. So why return to church and meet in person if possible?

I was thinking about this and then saw David Gundersen’s article on the Crossway site giving 10 reasons to return to church. His reasons are: we’re embodied creatures, the church is one body, the Spirit is drawing us, we’re a spiritual family, preaching is a sacred moment, there’s nothing like singing together, we need baptisms and communion, you have a job to do, our worship is a witness, and greetings change lives.

Without repeating too many of those good reasons, here are 5 more reasons to meet, in person if possible, from me:

1. To let your shepherds shepherd you. I think I can speak for most in church leadership when I say that we have been trying, but it is much harder to care for people you can’t meet. So we have been praying for you, trying to stay in contact with you, and learning how to put elements of church online for you. But we’ve also discovered even more keenly how hard it is to shepherd without the regular interactions of normal church life. That is where little conversations and interactions allow people to notice when each other are struggling, or just “not themselves.” Meeting in person if possible is key to knowing where to pour pastoral energy.

2. To play your part in building the body of Christ. What is true for those in pastoral positions of responsibility is true for us all. Your brothers and sisters at church need you to care, encourage, ask questions, greet, smile, check in, share life, and every other aspect of lively fellowship. A normal Sunday may not seem spectacular, but just as others can make a difference in your life, so you make a difference in theirs.

3. To show yourself who you are. I’m not sure how to write this one, but let me try. You can say you belong to Jesus and are trusting Him for your salvation and with your eternity. But if active in person participation in the body of Christ becomes an option again, but instead you would rather be less inconvenienced and just watch a bit of church online, or maybe not at all … what are you really declaring to yourself? I’m trying not to move into guilt trip zone and twist your arm to be there because you should. I just mean what are you saying to yourself? We are all capable of self-justifying with the “I can worship God just as much on a walk in the woods or in my living room at home as I can at church” type of statements. But do you? Maybe it would be healthier to be honest with ourselves, “I love Jesus and his people a bit, but I love my own comfort and this TV show more.”

Drifting spiritually is a danger for us all and being honest about it is much more helpful. The red hot coal soon cools off when separated from the fire. Maybe you have decided you aren’t trusting Christ for salvation any more and don’t want to be part of his people after all – that is desperately sad, but say so, say it so you can hear it yourself and make sure you are settled on that course. Don’t just drift and deny you are drifting – that is such a rubbish way to go. And if you aren’t giving up on Christ, then jump back into in person church when you can – its actually only a small statement to yourself in the big scheme, but it is an important one.

4. To reconnect with family. Your church may have handled the lockdown differently. We have combined livestreaming with some Zoom gatherings. But some people really struggle with Zoom for various reasons. You may not have interacted with those choosing to only view the church service elements for months. In person if possible will be a family reunion. You are part of the family and it will be precious to be together.

5. Because the Bible knows nothing of solitary religion. John Wesley said that and he was right. As you read through Acts and the epistles you will see reference after reference that assume ‘in person if possible’ is the context for church life and health. Lockdown hasn’t changed that.

5 Insights Into Your Feelings Under Lockdown

May 1, 2020April 29, 2020 / Peter Mead / 1 Comment

As we live through this lockdown, we are being given a unique opportunity to observe ourselves under different and difficult circumstances. It is as if we are in a laboratory, with lots of normal elements taken out of our lives. What we may be discovering is that we are experiencing emotions in a way that we are normally too busy to notice.

Traditionally the church has not been very good at talking about the subject of emotions. Many of us were raised to feel bad about feeling, as if good Christians should not really feel a whole lot of anything. Others of us were raised with a modified view that we should feel bad about feeling bad. It is as if there are some acceptable feelings, but also some that are automatically bad. If we feel these “bad” feelings, then we may blame ourselves and confess these feelings to God, looking for a quick escape into the good category. Or we may blame the person that made us feel that way, convinced that they must be wrong because of the feeling that was stirred up.

In real life it is not so easy to categorize every feeling as good or bad. Good feelings can come from bad choices. Bad feelings can be a good thing. The fear I feel when I hear glass smash downstairs in the night is a good thing – it wakes me up, keeps me awake and gives me the focus I need to go downstairs and confront whatever is going on.

Feelings are like the lights on the dashboard of your car. They indicate that something is going on, and they prompt you to connect. I don’t drive my car better by covering over and ignoring all the lights on the dashboard. Nor do I drive my car with my head through the steering wheel looking only at those lights. But when a light comes on, I take that as a prompt to action, a prompt to connect. With my car I call the mechanic who can figure out the issue and fix it. With my life, I need to seek out other believers and I need to seek out God. He created us with an incredible set of emotions to help drive us through the challenges of life, but he never intended us to travel that path alone.

Biblically, we could look at the Gospels and see the emotions of Jesus, with dozens of discernible emotional reactions evident in his life. We could look at the people who met Jesus, and notice how the numbing effect of this world was reversed by encountering Jesus – people left Jesus feeling so much more alive! But instead, I’d like to look at an old favourite Psalm for a few more observations to help us – Psalm 73.

This Psalm was written by Asaph, a worship leader in Israel. Let me just make some quick observations about this text that may be helpful to us today:

1. Conflicted – The believer, even the leader among God’s people, can experience contradictory and conflicted feelings.In the first two verses we see Asaph, the worship leader, declaring that God is good to Israel, “but as for me…” He has almost slipped over to the other side, almost stumbled into giving up on God. Even though we are in ministry, we can still feel conflicted on the inside. We can know and even feel the truth of God, but also struggle with contradictory feelings pulling us away from Him.

2. Convinced – What we feel is often based on what we see, and so we can be convinced that the feeling reflects reality. From verses 3-15 we see Asaph’s “reality.” He saw the prosperity of the wicked, how they arrogantly dismissed God, and yet thrived. Their lives were a contradiction to all he knew, and yet they lived long and happy lives, without being held to account, without consequences. He knew this was wrong, but it felt so true. Our issue today may not be envy of the wicked, although it could be. Maybe we only see difficult financial circumstances due to the pandemic, or we only see grief and people unresponsive to the gospel, or we only see and feel the hopeless tension in our homes. What we see feels so complete and so real. But it could still be wrong.

3. Clarity – We only see clearly when we come to God.In verses 16-17 everything changes for Asaph. He comes to the sanctuary of God and suddenly the whole Psalm turns upside down. The reality of who God is, where He chose to dwell, and all of the history and reality wrapped up in that tent pierce the balloon of Asaph’s despair and flood his heart with perspective. Actually, it is helpful to remember that only as we come close to God can we see reality clearly.

4. Confusion – With hindsight we often see how confused we were, even though we felt so convinced. From verse 18, Asaph now is seeing how precarious the wicked are, how their day of reckoning is coming. And in verses 21-22 he looks back on how he was before. Now with clearer perspective he sees that he was brutish and ignorant, like a beast. Maybe you and I have been there too. After a big mess up we can so easily look back and say, “I was so stupid, what was I thinking!?” Knowing our capacity to be so convinced, and so wrong, maybe it is good to not linger long away from God! Maybe this lockdown is causing you to consider something that later will cause you to cry out, “I was so stupid, what was I thinking!?” Starting a foolish relationship, ending a God-given relationship, restarting a problematic drinking habit, or whatever. People under pressure feel all sorts of things, and those feelings are based on something going on, and those feelings feel so real. Be careful.

5. Comfort – God’s presence is the comfort we need in the midst of difficult times. From verse 23-28, Asaph seems to be almost triumphant, but that would be to misread this passage. It is not saying everything changed when he came into the sanctuary and now those circumstances were all different. They weren’t. Everything that had bothered him before was still true. The difference is that now he is facing difficult circumstances with an awareness of the comfort of God’s presence. God holds his right hand. God guides him with counsel. These assurances wouldn’t be necessary if everything was now perfect. And so he finishes with another “But for me” – unlike in verse 2, in verse 28 Asaph can now say, “But for me…it is good to be near God.”

This lockdown is stirring all sorts of emotions and feelings in us. We will be tempted to trust those feelings because they are based on the reality that we see all around us. Our problem is not the feelings. Our problem will be if we leave God out of processing the feelings he created us to have. Our feelings indicate something about what is going on in our hearts. Our feelings should prompt us to connect – with trusted others, and especially with God himself.

God’s Great Story and You – Part 4 … What is a Christian?

April 18, 2020April 16, 2020 / Peter Mead / Leave a comment

God’s Great Story and You! is a 4-part series I wrote for LookForHope.org – a website for people looking for hope in the midst of this COVID-19 crisis. Please take a look at the site and spread the word so that others can find it. Click here for part 1, click here for part 2, click here for part 3. And here is the final part:

What is a Christian?

The name was originally an insult – a “mini-Christ.” But today the word gets used in so many ways. To really understand what a Christian is, we need to be clear what Jesus invites people to be and what he offers to people.

A follower of Jesus. Jesus invited people to become his followers. That is, to become like apprentices, following him, learning from him, copying him, becoming like him. A Christian is a follower of Jesus.

The problem is that naturally nobody really wants to give up their lives and live for Jesus. Take the example of Nicodemus in John 3. Nic was at the top of the religious, social, economic and cultural totem pole, as it were. He was highly educated, influential, wealthy and successful. But when he came to Jesus to talk about the kingdom of God, Jesus told him that they couldn’t have that conversation until Nic was born again. He literally told the teacher of Israel that he hadn’t even started living as far as God was concerned. In the same passage Jesus says that where the Spirit of God is, you can see the effects (but the implication is that Jesus saw no effects in Nicodemus!)

The bad news for every human is that we have sinned, which means we are guilty and need forgiveness. More than that, we don’t have the Spirit of God uniting us to God in the way we were designed to be connected. And there is more, our hearts are hard, cold and dead toward God.

The good news is that Jesus came to die on the cross, to rise from the dead, and to offer us the solution to these, our deepest problems. Because Jesus died and rose, we can have our sins forgiven, we can have the Spirit of God come to live within us, and we can have our hearts transformed so that we start to love God and want to live for him. When we accept the offer of forgiveness and new life from Jesus, this is called salvation, or being born again.

In light of this amazing offer, what is a Christian?

A Child of God. The Bible speaks about this new life in terms of both birth and adoption. A Christian is someone who has been both born into and adopted into God’s family. We have the Spirit of God within us, meaning that we gradually grow to resemble the character of God and look more and more like Jesus. (But we are also desperately flawed and while we may look nothing like our God at times, our status is secure with him!)

Part of the Bride of Christ. The Bible speaks of Christians as the bride of Christ. This is an amazing image in that it speaks of the closest union possible between Jesus and his followers. The millions of people who have trusted Christ and accepted his offer of forgiveness and life are not just an army of servants, but actually constitute his bride. We are united to him by his Spirit, and we are his most treasured beloved.

A Christian is someone who knows they are not good enough and that they deserve the righteous judgment of God. A Christian is someone who believes that Jesus was who he claimed to be and believes that Jesus fulfilled the mission his Father gave him when he died on the cross and rose from the dead. A Christian is a forgiven sinner, more than that, they are a child of God, part of the bride of Christ, brought into a close and personal relationship with God through Jesus.

A Christian is a follower of Jesus – someone who is both transformed and in the process of being transformed. Christians are works in progress, but works in progress with absolute confidence – not in themselves, but in what Jesus did for them that first Easter, and confident that whatever this life may throw at them, the embrace of Jesus is waiting at the end of this chapter of our story!

God’s Great Story and You – Part 3…Why Does It Matter To Me That Jesus Rose?

April 17, 2020April 16, 2020 / Peter Mead / Leave a comment

Why Does It Matter To Me That Jesus Rose?

In part 2 we saw how Jesus’ death on the cross achieved so much for us. But in order to see that his sacrifice had been accepted, that his victory had been won, that his mission had been accomplished…Jesus did not stay dead. The hero of the story walks out the tomb victorious and history has been completely changed by that fact.

After Jesus died on the cross, his followers did not assemble to plan the greatest ruse in history and spread a fake rumour about Jesus conquering death. They went into hiding as they mourned his death. They were shocked to meet him again. They didn’t see a ghost, or get a vague apparition. This was not the vain hope of Elvis fans that the king might still be alive somewhere. No, the risen Jesus purposefully met with them and rocked their worlds forever.

For instance, one of his followers, Mary Magdalene, met him on that Easter Sunday morning. She didn’t look up and recognise him until he spoke her name. That moment of recognition was powerful and deeply emotional. Then Jesus said something amazing, he told her that he would be going back to ‘‘my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’ Jesus always spoke of God as his Father, but this is the first time he spoke of him as ‘your Father…your God.’ Jesus’ death on the cross had achieved what it was meant to achieve, and the resurrection confirmed it … God and humans could now enjoy a reconciled relationship! (See John 20:11-18)

That evening Jesus came to ten of his disciples and filled them with joy. He told them that he would be sending them out to continue his mission from his Father. But one disciple was missing. Thomas heard their report, but he was sceptical. He wanted proof. You probably should too. After all, claims of Jesus rising from the dead are nice, but we can’t live our lives and head into eternity based on fact-less claims. The next week Jesus came to them again, this time Thomas was there. Jesus didn’t rebuke Thomas for wanting proof. Instead, Jesus invited him to come forward and touch for himself. This was no ghost, no apparition, no vision. This was Jesus literally raised from the dead. We can’t touch him like that today, but we can investigate the evidence and test the fact of Jesus’ resurrection just like any other fact of history. In fact, if we do we will find the evidence is overwhelmingly in support of the fact that Jesus rose from the dead. (See John 20:19-29)

Because Jesus rose from the dead, this means that the claims of Jesus, and the teachings of Christianity, are built on the foundation of a fact that can be tested. We are not asked to blindly believe in fairy stories. The Christian faith is founded on fact.

Because Jesus rose from the dead, God has confirmed that all Jesus aimed to achieve on the cross was successful. He had paid for sin and satisfied the justice of God. He made a way for humans to come to God and defeated the enemy of our souls and death itself!

Because Jesus rose from the dead, death need no longer be the end of your story. Every other religious figure could teach his followers, but all of them ended up dead and buried. Jesus rose from the dead and so is in a category of his own. If he conquered death himself, then he can conquer death for his followers too.

Because Jesus rose from the dead, it means that this life is not all there is, but also that this life really matters. Christians have been willing to not only live for Jesus, but also to die for him, knowing that there is a life to come that gives great hope in this disease-ridden and violent world. No matter what happens, nothing can take away the hope of a Christian that reaches joyfully beyond suffering and death to the hope of being home with Jesus and more fully alive than ever.

At the same time, because Jesus rose physically, it means that human life is incredibly valuable. The world is not yet made right, but we can fight for what is right and good as we wait for God to purge sin and selfishness from this world and renew the wonderful creation again!

God’s Great Story and You – Part 2…What Does Jesus’ Death Have To Do With Me?

April 16, 2020April 16, 2020 / Peter Mead / Leave a comment

God’s Great Story and You! is a 4-part series I wrote for LookForHope.org – a website for people looking for hope in the midst of this CoronaVirus crisis. Please take a look at the site and spread the word so that others can find it. Click here for part 1. Here is part 2 of the series:

What Does Jesus’ Death Have To Do With Me?

The symbol of Christianity is a cross. It may look shiny and perfectly shaped on a necklace today, but two thousand years ago it was a symbol of execution, agony and shame. Nobody would ever choose to die exposed and humiliated on a Roman cross. But Jesus did. Why?

The simple answer to that question would be that Jesus knew it was the mission given to him by his Father in heaven. But still the question remains, why did Jesus have to die?

If Jesus’ death was somehow significant, let’s begin by asking why is there death at all? Death was not part of God’s perfect design for this world. In the beginning God created everything as an overflow of that generous love and kindness that exists within the relationship of the Trinity. He created a world that was both diverse and unified, a world of abundance and colour and vibrant life. And the pinnacle of God’s creation was the creature made in his relational image—the humans. Male and female, diverse but unified, ruling everything as God’s representatives. It was so so good, but sadly that didn’t last long.

God did not force his creatures to love him. So when opportunity came, they desired to pull away from God’s good rule and try living as independent mini-gods, setting their own rules and living for their own desires. In that moment, as God had warned them, they discovered only the inadequacy of their own nakedness. Turns out humans separated from God are not the super-beings we would like to be. Curved in on ourselves we become black holes of selfishness, draining the life from everything around us as we ourselves have lost God’s life within us.

What did God do in the face of this rebellion and mess? He promised to send a human to rescue us and defeat the enemy who had led humanity into this living death. For centuries the Old Testament unfolds the story of God’s anticipated deliverer who finally arrived that first Christmas just over 2000 years ago.

Jesus was God’s rescuer, sent to stand in the gap between a good God and a rebellious humanity. He came to reveal God’s goodness to us, but more than that, he came to do what we could not do for ourselves and make a way for us to come back into relationship with God.

One time Jesus told the story of two men: a righteous religious man and a nasty traitorous tax collector for the occupying forces. Both of them went to pray. The righteous religious man prayed a prayer full of pride, describing how good he was in comparison to others. The traitor stood off at a distance, beat his breast in desperation and pleaded with God for mercy. Literally, he asked God to provide the kind of sacrifice that would cover for his sin, the kind of sacrifice that took place inside that temple every day. Jesus shocked his listeners by declaring that only one of these men went home justified, or declared righteous, in God’s eyes. And it wasn’t the “good” guy—it was the desperate sinner. (See Luke 18:9-14)

Fast forward a few stories and we find another tax collector (See Luke 19:1-10). This one is called Zacchaeus and he wanted to see Jesus, but couldn’t because he was short. He ended up climbing into a tree for a secret vantage point. To his shock Jesus stopped and spoke to him. The crowd hated Zac. But Jesus rescued him from their anger by showing kindness to him. Zac was blown away by Jesus’ kindness and his life was changed at the tree.

Later in Luke’s gospel we find that Jesus travelled to another tree, the cross outside Jerusalem. There he voluntarily died, taking the anger not only of the crowd, but also of God in heaven, against the sins of humanity. Jesus died hanging on a tree to set us all free from the righteous judgment of God against sin, to buy us out of our slavery to sin, to win a decisive victory over sin and death, and to reconcile us back to God.

Jesus offers us all a great exchange. He wants to give us all of his righteousness, goodness and life, in exchange for all our sin, wrong, death, shame and brokenness. He is willing to take our great debt on himself and die—in fact, he already did.

5 Post-Lockdown Regrets

April 13, 2020 / Peter Mead / 1 Comment

The initial novelty of lockdown has worn off. Now people are settling into this new normal and understandably longing for it to end. Pastorally we are probably being drawn to people suffering with grief, loneliness, marital difficulties, financial hardship or mental health struggles. But even those who seem to be doing well need to be shepherded.

What regrets can we all anticipate already and pre-empt with changes now?

Lockdown initially stirred feelings of concern and uncertainty at levels that are rare for most of us. Some commented about how helpful this time could be, and how they don’t want to come out of lockdown without being changed in the process. Now as we settle into the rhythm of it, that internal sense of having our world shaken may start to fade.

As I spoke with a good friend yesterday, we were pondering how lockdown does not create new spiritual or emotional issues for us. It is the kind of pressure that merely reveals issues more blatantly. So now is a good time to anticipate how we will feel coming out of lockdown. Why? Because now we still have time to make adjustments.

Some will emerge grieving. The very nature of the pandemic means that many will lose loved ones during these weeks. If you have not lost anyone yet, don’t just cross your fingers and hope you won’t. As Christians we can do more than just avoid spreading the virus. Be sure to get close to the One you will need when death does strike closer to home.

Some will miss the simplicity of lockdown. I don’t think this is as simple as extroverts craving interaction while introverts love pottering around at home, although there may be some truth to be found there. So much of life is stripped away right now that some people are discovering joy in time with family, or in time spent in the garden/yard, etc. For some who emerge untouched by personal grief, the lockdown may well be remembered fondly.

But many will emerge saddened by missed opportunity. I don’t mean the missed opportunities in “normal life” that we are missing by being at home. I mean the unique opportunity this time is presenting to us, but that we may miss. How much time are we not spending travelling, commuting, running errands, watching sport, participating in activities outside of work, church ministries, etc.? And for those furloughed from work – how many hours a week does that add? When does life ever present us with extra tens of hours in a week, for week after week? How easily those cumulative hours have already filled with other things!

Here are five post-lockdown regrets to anticipate and act on now:

1. Bible time. In the busy swirl of “normal” how often do we say, “I was just too busy to read my Bible”…? Don’t emerge from lockdown saying “Actually, I regret to announce that I have discovered I just don’t have any real appetite for what God has to say.”

2. Prayer time. Again, normal life can so easily squeeze out times of extended prayer, or even any prayer at all. But with hours added to our weeks, are we finding ourselves to be Daniels normally thwarted by the modern world, or actually just not very prayerful? That too can be changed now.

3. Fears Revealed But Unaddressed. So much of “normal” life and busy activity insulates us against deeper feelings like fear – we are often simply too distracted. Don’t emerge from lockdown simply having discovered a fear of death, or of change, or of financial lack, or whatever, but without having gone to God for help to process that fear.

4. Being a Taker More Than a Giver. “Normal life” may have filled your week so full that one volunteer role at church felt like you were giving a lot. Don’t emerge from lockdown and realize that you did even less during these weeks. Inhaling multiple series of a show on Netflix is no achievement. If you only consume, it will feel empty. What can you do for others, now? Practical help? Prayerful support? Personal encouragement? Pastoral concern? (That also applies on social media – don’t just moan personally or politically, don’t simply purvey time-wasting opportunities, instead look for ways to build others up.)

5. Idols Still Standing. God has stripped away so many things that may have stood as idols in our lives, even without us realising it. Are you craving clothes shopping, or live sport, or travel, or hobbies, or socialising? Maybe this lockdown is letting us see the flashing lights of warning on our personal dashboard. When lockdown ends, will we hold these privileges with a looser grip and more gratitude toward God for every blessing? Or will we rush to bow at the feet of our dear missed idols that could and should have been smashed during this unique time?

Feel free to add more to this list of anticipated regrets we can adjust now. The bottom line is really this: Some will look back on lockdown with a deep sense of regret at having missed a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to grow closer to God.

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Here is the latest video playlist … Bible highlights from 2 Corinthians:

And a short sermon highlight that may be encouraging (originally preached several weeks before lockdown began, but increasingly relevant)…

Who Will Be There After Lockdown?

April 4, 2020 / Peter Mead / 4 Comments

We don’t know how long we will be locked down, but it will be longer than any of us would prefer. I think it is important for us to think and pray about the gaps that this unique season will create in our churches, as well as the new people that could be added.

For the first couple of weeks most churches have leapt into action learning how to livestream Sunday services and how to create some sort of face-to-face replacement for home groups. Some have thought about offering extra resources for people stuck at home. But as this situation wears on, we will become more and more aware that when we are allowed to come back together as a church, it will probably not be with the same people as before. Let’s prayerfully ponder these two lists and consider what steps we can be taking now that will change the face of our regathering:

Gaps Created

Some may be promoted to Christ’s presence. Statistics tell us that this will most likely be the vulnerable through age or underlying medical conditions, but in human terms, nobody is as safe as we used to feel. Let’s pray about how to support not only those who feel fear at this time, but also for those who may come to the end of their time here during this time, and also the families of any that are lost to this disease (or to any other cause during this time of separation).
Some may drift and grow cold. The burning coal, when separated from the other coals, will quickly cool down. Pray about how to pursue, support, encourage and maintain the connection of younger or less-well-rooted believers who are more prone to drift. We all know people who don’t have the same convictions about the need for fellowship, teaching, worship, community, etc. The casual approach may seem to work in comfortable times, but it may be seen in its true light under these pressures.
Some marriages may implode. It would be naive to think that every Christian couple are thriving under lockdown. We have a newly married couple living opposite us and it is fun to watch them learn to skate together and playing games, but this is no honeymoon for the vast majority of couples. Some are desperately struggling already and don’t have the release valve of work or time apart with friends. We have to pray about this and be proactive in supporting every couple in our churches.
Some may grow embittered or lose heart. The constant bombardment of negative news will overwhelm any of us. I pray that people in my church will see God answering prayer in specific ways, but what if some don’t? Pray for the people in your church who are more likely to dwell on the negative news than feast on the hope in God’s Word. They are extra vulnerable without church fellowship to influence them.
Some may be beaten down by circumstance or enemy attack. Remember the parable of the soils. If only everyone in our churches were good soil and now leaning into this crisis ready to bear multiplied fruit. Sadly some will find this season is the time where the heat of the day, or the seed-theft of sinister birds will undo their apparent participation in the community of God’s people. Perhaps it is helpful to reveal those who aren’t really truly receptive, but pastorally it is painful to see it happen. Let’s pray for the spiritually vulnerable and pray about how to pursue the straying sheep – whether they are already saved or not, they need Jesus.

Gaps Filled

Returning drifters need somewhere to land – There are people who used to be actively involved in the life of the church, but life took its toll and they drifted. Whatever their state was spiritually, this shaking of their world may be God’s tool to draw them to Himself. Pray about how your church can not only be church to each other during this crisis, but how can you be welcoming and inviting to others who may be looking to reintegrate into gospel community?
The lost can be found – God is an expert at winning the hearts of those who have been hard to Him. Again, pray about how your online church can reach people – not only the formal streaming (is that accessible?), but also evangelistic resources that your people can share with those who may be open in a new way. We can’t just expect people to flock to church some months down the line when our doors open again, we need to be proactively welcoming and engaging with people now. Wouldn’t it be awesome to look back on this as a season of wonderful evangelistic fruitfulness for our churches?!

Who else would you add to this list? I am not offering answers, but my prayer is that this post can help us to pray and adjust for the sake of the people in and around our churches at this time.

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This Bible highlight from last week relates to this post: