After the deluge

Mark Thompson / Principal

2020 HAS SEEN US FACE ALMOST UNPRECEDENTED DISRUPTION AND DISLOCATION IN THE WAKE OF COVID-19.

The world looks very different, just at the moment, from the way it looked even a year ago. What is more, we know that we are yet to feel the full weight of the consequences of what has happened and our response to it. The level of government intervention to enable us to survive from moment to moment has been huge, and there is already considerable anxiety about what will be left when that support is removed. What will the world look like in 2021 or 2022 when the pandemic is behind us? How will we survive the crippling debt we have incurred? What jobs will have gone forever? What will our churches look like? Will this new awareness of our vulnerability open a wide door for ministry or provide another reason for hardness of heart? One thing seems sure, we won’t just be carrying on from where we were before. Some things will have changed, perhaps forever.

Change ought not to frighten us though, for two reasons. First and foremost, because we know what has not changed, and cannot God’s declared and change. We know that unchanging purpose is a sure anchor in the tumult God’s determination to rescue a people for himself has not changed of a changing world. and cannot change. Whatever happens around us, he is bringing all things forward towards that day when a multitude from every tribe, nation and language will be gathered around the throne, rejoicing in the salvation he has effected for them. God’s declared and unchanging purpose is a sure anchor in the tumult of a changing world. That is because God himself does not change and his character is constant.

Secondly, change ought not to frighten us because change is such a regular feature of the Christian life. The Christian life begins with change—a monumental, totally reorienting change. ‘God has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son.’ (Col 1:13) Our life in that kingdom continues to be characterised by change. Most often we speak about that aspect as ‘repentance’: turning our back on aspects of our old life and turning towards God and the new life he offers us. ‘Putting off’ and ‘putting on’, as the apostle Paul calls it. Indeed, we welcome change, since we are being conformed to the image of God’s son (Rom 8:29) and are being transformed ‘from one degree of glory to another’ (2 Cor 3:18).

So we can look to the future with confidence, even though we know it will involve change, and even if some of those changes are things we would not choose for ourselves. We know that God is good, he has not abandoned us, and his wonderful and generous purpose will prevail in the end. We know that change is something God uses to further that purpose in us, through us and for us.

I am praying for the wide-open door: a new, wonderful season of evangelism on the other side of this pandemic. The greatest need of human beings remains the need to be saved from the judgment we deserve. The proclamation of the gospel remains the powerful way God saves people, because that gospel both announces what God has done in Christ and calls on us to entrust ourselves and our futures to him. That makes the need for a multitude of men and women, who will share that message with such a needy world, an urgent one. Indeed, on the other side of this pandemic (and before we get there) this need seems more urgent than ever.

God is putting this need on the hearts of a new generation of godly and gifted men and women. I have spent the last few weeks in a series of interviews with some of them, as they explore the theological education and ministry training they will need for long-term ministry in a variety of settings. It is thrilling to hear how God has taken hold of their lives, to learn of those who have mentored them and influenced them towards a life of ministry, and be given a glimpse of their dreams of service in a Christian congregation, in a school or university setting, in the defence forces, in cross-cultural mission. It has been a wonderful reminder that whatever is going on around us, God has not given up on his strategy for bringing all things to their wonderful conclusion on the last day: raising up labourers to go into the harvest, taking the word of life to those who desperately need to hear it. They are invariably committed to evangelism, to training and mobilising God’s people for mission, to seeing Christ honoured as Lord and Saviour in all the world. It is one of the best parts of my job as principal of this extraordinary college: the opportunity to hear these stories, share this vision, and pray with these willing participants in God’s eternal, unchanging plan of bringing all things under the feet of Christ.

What will the future hold? Only God knows that. But what can we expect God will do? We can expect that in the midst of a changing world, even a world in the midst of massive disruption and dislocation (and it’s not just the virus, is it?), God will be at work saving men and women and raising up gospel workers so that even more might be saved. We at Moore want to play our part in that, and provide the best possible evangelical theological education. We want to prepare men and women to live for Jesus Christ, to proclaim him, to grow healthy churches and to reach the lost. This new generation of gospel workers want to be thoroughly prepared, because they know there will be real challenges in a world like ours, and because they know it is an enormous privilege to be a part of God’s unchanging mission. This is an exciting moment. Thank you for praying for us and supporting us in this vital work.

Dr Mark D Thompson, Principal