Mission FPC
At the beginning of quarantine, it seemed important to me to set up new ways for believers, who meet regularly, to be able to continue talking besides regular phone calls to each other. With the work of a small “tech” team, we helped those who wished to familiarize themselves with apps like Skype and Jitsi. It is a real joy to our brothers and sisters to both hear and see one another.
These group meetings have highlighted the need for everyone to express how they view this upheaval and sometimes the internal disruption with aborted projects, the difficulty of coping with isolation, or in other cases, 24-hour care of young children in a small apartment… Without realizing it, we set up small groups! It is a learning process of listening respectfully, an awareness that we do not all have the same psychological and physical resources, but we share a desire to connect with each other. Our relationships are deepening. These exchanges are a reservoir that feeds our prayers. And maybe for each person a practical course in counseling?
At the outset, to encourage my brothers and sisters to “usefully” manage this time of enforced rest, I began some of the first training for evangelization. It has had a snowball effect in the church. Many have committed to start Bible studies online, to take up a regular reading of the Bible…
During Sunday meetings – I will not talk about worship, but it is nevertheless about being more attentive to God – we exchange our reflections, questions, and desires to apply what we read during the week to the Scriptures. It is also a way to continue the task the Father has given to us: to make disciples. Quarantine does not drive us away from communion with brothers and sisters, nor from communion with God… and has it become an opportunity for many Christians to find a new taste for spiritual life?
Quarantine is not a choice! But this is a favorable time to study, to meditate, to praise, to intercede… to show our love for God and our neighbor. All our activities have been disrupted. Technology allows us to keep in contact (video conference, telephones, mail). Some people want to deepen their research because they have the time. I also send texts, studies, messages. My commitments to promote blood donation, to the ethics board at the hospital, as the ambassador for health to Armentières, all have given me true friends to whom I can bear witness, especially over the phone. There is also my neighborhood, with whom it is possible to still communicate and for whom I can be of service. And there is the mail. For some people it is a real joy and surprise to receive a letter, a card. It is a break from the monotony, like a small visit!
It is good to draw up a list of the people in our acquaintance. Then pray and select actions that seem appropriate. Catch up with people. This is an opportunity to listen, to reassure, to advise, to testify, to talk about the Bible.
According to Philippians 1:12-26, whatever the circumstances – freedom or captivity, sickness or health, unemployment or work, satisfaction or dissatisfaction, strength or weakness – in Jesus Christ, we always have the chance to be useful… for the Lord and for the good of others.
Mission FPC
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