LIVE OUT LOVE
by Jane Knoop
IN IT TOGETHER A global crisis has shaken our country and galvanised the Church into action. Could the call to join together and Live Out Love be more timely than ever?
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n these unprecedented times it may seem to the onlooker that we—the Church of Jesus—are dispersed. Church doors have been closed. The latest buzzwords are ‘isolation’ and ‘social distance’. We are urged to ‘stay home’. And yet, amidst a crisis when we are told to be separate, the Church is coming together digitally; united by a re-invigorated desire for our world to know that hope is found in Jesus. Research conducted at the beginning of May by Tearfund (Tearfund.org) discovered that one in four adults in the UK have watched or listened to an online church service. People are seeking; looking for a hope that rises above the mounting uncertainty and anxiety. “This is a great opportunity to share the love of God with people,” Lawrence Tong (International Director of OM) reminds us, “especially those who need some hope and reprieve from the stress and pressure. This is a time for us as a Church, as a people of God, to come together and journey with our non-believing friends and assure them that in the midst of all this, there is a God who is in control.”
STORIES FLOOD IN Our churches galvanise to respond to the needs in our communities—phone calls, food parcels, online worship services. OM workers around the world become voices of reassurance and peace. Communities are educated about the virus, hygiene packs are
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