Weekly Update | June 30th

The Pandemic: An Opportunity for Fifth Street

Part I

As I sat at my desk and began writing this article, a news update flashed on my computer screen. It read, “Beaches in the Keys will close this week in advance of July 4 due to the COVID-19 spread.” My first thought was, “Here we go again! When will this end?” I am sure some of you feel the same way. I was excited to get things going again here in Key West. I must confess that I enjoyed our season without the tourists, but knowing that so many of our people rely on the tourism industry to support their families I was happy to open the checkpoint. As we approach what seems to be another wave of COVID-19 illnesses, I asked myself, “How does the Lord want to use Fifth Street at this point in the pandemic?”

That question prompted me to see how churches have responded during pandemics in the past. I found an interesting article written by Caleb Morell, a staff member of Capital Hill Baptist Church in Washington D.C., that discussed the way churches there ministered during the second wave of the Spanish Flu (1918). His article answered the question: “What did DC churches do when the Spanish Flu struck again?” Morell makes several important points that I think are applicable to our ministry at Fifth Street during this second wave of cases. I will discuss each of these over the next couple of weeks.

RESPONSES TO THE PANDEMIC VARY

Ministering during a pandemic requires church leaders to make decisions on a regular basis that are based on limited, evolving information. The consequence of making decisions in this kind of context is that we have almost unlimited options. Of course, when we consider our decisions prayerfully dependent on the Holy Spirit and through wise counsel from brothers and sisters in Christ, we should choose to act in a God-honoring, appropriate way.

Morell noted that the D.C. pastors responded in various ways when the churches closed during the Spanish Flu. Some felt that it was wrong to stop meeting for worship. Other pastors thought that it was the right thing to do for the physical health of the community. He explained thatRev. Dr. C. Ernest Smith of St Thomas’ Episcopal Church lamented that churches were declared  “non-essential” and closed while liquor stores and bars remained open in some cities.

We’ve experienced the same type of response in churches across the country.One church in New Jersey challenged the governor’s order to stop meeting for worship while he allowed liquor stores to remain open. Thankfully, mis-categorizing churches as non-essential seems to be a corrected error. 

Our response to stop in-person worship services for a time during this pandemic was based on much prayer and consideration. Our leadership sought to fulfill the will of the Lord and felt that it was the best action to take and that it helped us to demonstrate God’s love for our community. Our ministry continued to flourish during our closure. The Lord blessed us with the opportunity to offer a worship experience via social media. For that I am grateful. The gospel was preached three times a week, we engaged in a number of evangelistic ministries, and people were saved.

While I am grateful for those who labor on our behalf to ensure that we may freely exercise our First Amendment right, the response by some to consider the church a non-essential entity bothers me at a deep, spiritual level. I am challenged to ask this question, “Why do some people believe the church is non-essential?”

The first and most important answer to this question is that some people have not experienced a life-changing, radical transformation provided by the Holy Spirit through repentance of sin and belief in Jesus as Lord and Savior. They believe the church is non-essential because they do not have a relationship with the essential Savior. Why should they believe the church is essential?

That truth reminds us that we need to be sharing the gospel. We should care about the same thing that Jesus cares about. He said, “For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost” (Lk 19:10). We shouldn’t be mad that some don’t believe the church is essential. We should be sad and burdened to share the gospel with them.

The second answer to the question, “Why do some people believe the church is non-essential?” is because it is not an essential part of their lives. Sure, part of the problem is that we are in a spiritual war with the enemy Satan and our battleground is a fallen world that perpetuates an evil world system (1 Jn 5:19). Therefore, the world system will always reject God’s truth and the church as His truthbearers. BUT, I think churches also drift toward non-essentialness. Pastor Tim Keller wrote, “If you and your church were to disappear off the face of the earth tomorrow, would anyone in the community around you notice you were gone?”

If we want more people to recognize the essential nature of the church, then we must be an essential part of our community. We accomplish this by engaging our community with the gospel and doing good works that demonstrate our faith in Jesus (Mt 5:15-16). Fifth Street should be the place where people turn for hope, love, and the truth from God’s Word. We should love and serve the community in such a way that they would miss us if we stopped ministering here.

The churches in Washington D.C. responded in various ways to the Spanish Flu. How will we respond to COVID-19? Will this be a season of unprecedented gospel ministry? Will we show our friends, families, and coworkers that Fifth Street Baptist Church is an essential part of Key West?