You Cannot Stop the Church!

Shortly before His arrest, Jesus reminded Peter, “On this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it” (Matt 16:18).  The same could be said of the coronavirus.  Despite the virus forcing churches worldwide to close their doors in precautionary measures, this truth remains: You may be able to close our buildings, but you cannot stop the church!

We were reminded of that this past week, as many churches around the state transitioned to a digital format of their services.  One church saw more than 1500 people join them for their prayer meeting, a number far greater than what their sanctuary could hold.  Another church, First Baptist Church of Hurricane, received word that a young viewer even gave his life to Christ!

The following are the words of Jeff Davenport, pastor, as he reflects on this exciting news:

The Bible declares in Romans 1:16 that “… the gospel is the power of God for salvation…” I believe that!  In fact, that’s my life verse! I have signed many letters and emails over the years with “Rom. 1:16,” but this past Sunday, I saw the reality of that verse in the middle of a pandemic. Like many churches, we only did a livestream of our service, and following our service, I received a Facebook message from a mom (one of our former church members) who had watched the service live with her son, in a town some 60-miles away. This is what she wrote:

“We went to FBCOH for years and moved away when this little guy (now 7) was 1-year-old. We chose to stream the service this morning because we are practicing social distancing. When the pastor talked about those who are lost, he asked me what that meant. It started a conversation. He said, “Are we Christians?” …..I have been worried and wondering when he would make the most important decision of his life…..Well, today, he decided to follow Jesus!”

That message from that mom reminded me that it’s indeed the gospel that God has chosen as the “power for salvation!” It’s not the cleverness of the preacher, or even the blessing of technology… It’s not even necessarily the location (although God clearly encourages us to never “forsake our local church gatherings” Hebrews 10:25). In the end, the thing that saves a soul is the truth of the gospel and the power of God. I’m convinced that during this challenging pandemic, we should continue to explore as many Chris-honoring options as possible to spread the gospel. After all, it’s the thing God uses to save a soul… even a little guy whose 60-miles away!

As a family of churches, this global epidemic certainly brings comes with challenges.  But it also comes with opportunities.  How might God want to use your church to reach your community (physical or digital) with the gospel?

Please know that the WVBC staff is diligently praying for you and ready to resource you however you need as we, as a family of churches, continue doing Christ’s work together.