Church Life

Church Life

Monday, April 13, 2020
Happy Monday, Everyone.

It feels strange writing those words. Can a Monday be happy? I think so. Something incredible has been happening that will shape the weeks and months ahead. To give you a little perspective, we’ve been tracking the number of streams and views of each service we get over a week. Many of those streams and views represent an entire household. For Palm Sunday, we had over 1000 streams and views. That’s nearly 4 times the amount of people we are usually able to impact with one service. That was over 7 days. We had nearly that many streams yesterday alone.

More people are being impacted by the gospel than ever before. I want to share some words from my friend, Chris Backert, that I think capture the power of yesterday beautifully.

“I am no statistician, nor have I read any reports, but I believe something happened yesterday that we cannot overlook. On April 12, 2020, it is highly likely that more people heard the good news of the resurrection of Jesus from the dead than any other single day in the history of the world.

Think about it:

Since the very first Easter, there has been no single day where more people were presented with the essential message of the Christian story – that Christ is Risen.

The beauty of this reality is underscored by the fact that the gospel was held forth to untold multitudes by the “big C” church. There were Catholics, Protestants, Orthodox, Pentecostals and those who don’t fit into those big categories. There were big churches, small churches, high churches, and low churches. Yesterday was historic.

Now it is Monday. Along with billions of people around the world, we have not yet been released from the confines caused by the pandemic.

This kind of moment should not be unfamiliar. In the weeks following the resurrection, the people of God were also in a “waiting game”. Yet, they were not idle.

Jesus used the days after the resurrection to ensure that his followers were ready for the coming Pentecost. They grew in the confidence of his resurrection, the power of the Holy Spirit, the knowledge of the kingdom of God and a strategy for bearing witness.

Jesus used their in-between time to prepare them for a day coming when the church would be released.

It is likely that many parts of the world will “re-open” somewhere between now and Pentecost. When this happens, the church will be released into a new world.

“We must be prepared.”

We will be prepared. We’ll be talking more about how we are preparing for what’s coming over the next several weeks. Now, more than ever, it’s important to stay connected. Talk to everyone you know about signing up for the ChurchLife emails (email Jason at admin@effortchurch.org). We’d also love to hear your ideas about broadening our communications capabilities so that we can share the amazing story of what God is doing.

Come, Lord Jesus!

Ben
7820 Thomas Jefferson Pkwy
Palmyra, VA 22963
(434) 589-8962

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