Global Voices for A Global Pandemic

Strangely enough, a global pandemic makes some people less global and more local. To make sure our global voice is still being heard, we reached out to our missionaries for their perspectives on COVID-19 in the countries where they live and serve.

DATELINE—SAN FRANCISCO/WORLDWIDE, APRIL 2 AT 10:55 A.M. SUSAN PERLMAN

COVID-19 will change the way all of us do ministry going forward. We are engaging with a world that has had its security shattered. The message of hope in Jesus is being heard through a new lens. For me, I have stepped up my work in live chat on our 24/7 platform. Three Jewish people came to faith there this past week. We are also serving as first responders in cities like Tel Aviv, where the municipality has called on us to deliver food to the homes of elderly Israelis who cannot do this for themselves. One of missionaries in Paris has started a Faith & Fitness YouTube program which is growing daily. I can go on and on. All this to say that as a church we are more relevant to our community today than ever before.

DATELINE—PAKISTAN, APRIL 2 AT 8:15 A.M. BETH AND JIM TEBBE

The Pakistan government has put us all on a two week lockdown, due to “expire” April 4. I’ve frankly been amazed at how the government and others have communicated the realities of an infectious disease to an often illiterate and uneducated public, including the Christian community— drawing circles on the ground where people are supposed to stand in line the appropriate distance apart, when the culture calls for crowding up as closely as possible. That sort of thing.

I think the church is somewhat catching on, but sees the controls as largely something that others in authority have imposed on them. Because they are so much a part of everything, it isn’t seen as just a tool of Christian persecution. The so-called good side is folks are used to submitting to authority and just accept the controls.

A few churches (maybe more than I would have thought) have tried to do online church for two Sundays now with mixed success for the technology. This tends to reach just the more literate and middle-class parts of the church. Others continue to meet for small groups. Back when my house helper lady was coming, she’d arrive in the morning with reports of glorious prayer meetings the evening before. I didn’t have the heart to suggest to her that these meetings could be problematic in terms of the disease. People really need the encouragement of being together as they are used to. Some, more educated, have moved to Zoom and Facebook and various technologies. (WhatsApp is big here for smaller groups) to keep in touch. Those that use these media are quite comfortable with them, though they will still get together with friends they know, “who couldn’t be sick” as they are asymptomatic!

The big problem is how close to subsistence many Christians live. Those who are fortunate have a proper job as sanitation worker with the city or situation like that. Many live as daily laborers (think Jesus parable in Matthew 20) and if they don’t work a specific day, the family really doesn’t eat that day. With many or most all construction efforts stopped, more people are out of work. We’ve gotten involved in some efforts to help, but the need is enormous and hard to know how giving can be wisely done.

Easter is the biggest day of the Christian church here. On the one hand, it is the day the terrorists attacked a place where they knew Christian families would gather in 2016. On the other hand, unless active persecution, it is the one day when churches will lead a procession with a bit of police support, marching down the middle of the street singing and so on. Everyone (literally, if possible) buys new clothes for the day—a bit like the 1950s in the U.S. when I grew up, when it was really important to get a new Easter dress. This might be their only new clothes for the year, but it happens on Easter. I frankly can’t imagine them not having a group celebration. On the other hand, we are waiting until the end of the week to hear if the government extends the lockdown. (And if I believe in social distancing at all, I hope they will. Otherwise folks will flock together and presumably really spread the virus further.)

No one here is big on planning ahead. The upside is a lot of flexibility; the downside is my desire to plan everything ahead as much as possible.

DATELINE—KENYA, MARCH 31, 2:09 p.m. KIM AND JAMIE VIANDS

In many ways, things are much worse in the U.S. right now. It has been such a strange time, one that I'm sure our children will remember for as long as they live . . . "Remember when we were all stuck at home for (fill in the blank) weeks?"

We are navigating the new normal with the help of our church and friends. It's strange to socially distant as a way to actually love our neighbors. I instinctively want to bake or bring meals to people, but now I'm not sure that would be a good idea! Our church sent out a list of all its members, coded in color in groups of seven. We are supposed to pray for the group listed below our name and try to connect with those seven people as we pray for them this week.

Our church is pretty big, so we don't know even the seven people we have been assigned, but I hope we can indeed make contact this week to support each other as the body of Christ. Also, our church sends a daily devotion that is timely and helpful in keeping our focus on Christ. The people we have been in closest contact with the past weeks are four people who work for us in various ways. Making sure they continue to have an income while staying home from work or cutting back is a big priority for us. There are students on campus who did not go home because they are from outside Kenya or didn't have the means to travel. Many of them struggle daily to have enough to feed their families, so we are trying to be aware of how people are doing and help where we can. How sad it will be to celebrate Easter in isolation. We haven't really thought that far ahead yet and are eager to hear what College Church and other churches are doing.

DATELINE—CZECH REPUBLIC, MARCH 24, 5:34 A.M. NATHAN AND VERA BECK

We are doing well. We have been in mandatory home quarantine for over a week, with all school and ministry activities moved online. All our regular connections with our disciple-makers and ministry partners are now either online or by phone.

Over the past several days we’ve managed to connect with many of our local Bible study leaders. The most common sentiment we’ve heard is honest,

profound gratitude for the daily reading through Bible passages and worship they’ve had in their families. So many times, the pace of life fills our schedules to the point where we do not have time to do this more than weekly. Some have led Bible studies more often with strangers than with our own children. Now the mandatory home quarantine gives each of us the opportunity to gather around God’s Word daily in our families. A couple of people have told us that the home quarantine has also given them time to work through unresolved relational issues that have lingered for months or even years. We are grateful to hear of these things. God seems to be cleaning house starting with his church.

Several pastors that I’ve connected with since the quarantine started have commented that this crisis may be God taking away the activities that fill our time and distract us from the fact that we’re not really walking with God daily. We have prayed together that God would use this time to return us, his church, to what is fundamental—walking obediently in God’s presence as his people. A couple days ago I de-thatched our lawn and was once again amazed at how much green there was that was not grass. There were a lot of moss and weeds. It was a good picture of what God is doing here, removing unnecessary growth for the right things can grow strong.

There are a handful of people I’ve connected with who have moved their Bible studies with non-believers or training online, not nearly enough, but a few. We have managed to connect with some neighbors over the fence, keeping the required two meters between people. So far, we have not experienced the openness to the gospel that we long for, but it may be too soon to see this. If God is indeed bringing us into a new season, then this openness will come. Until then, we will pray that his church learns the lessons that are necessary for the things he is preparing.

DATELINE—CARNARY ISLANDS, MARCH 31, 1:47 P.M. BRIAN AND WARRIE BLACKBURN

We just arrived in the Canary Islands after a four-day sail from Senegal. We are safe. No one from our 200+ crew are sick. We may be quarantined for three to four weeks. Warrie is exhausted from endless meetings. The kids and families on the ship are well as our school provides a normal environment for them. We are not allowed off the ship.

God is good and faithful. I am sitting on deck as I write.Thank you.