When the Church Went Online

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Visiting speaker Albert Tate and Associate Pastor Matt Reagan engage with the SE Online community. jumped more than tenfold overnight. A ministry

months, the digital team further honed their craft, adding more platforms and incorporating new technology to improve the user experience.

More important than the technological advancements, however, were the relational lessons the team learned. Connecting with people isn’t always easy. It’s even more of a challenge when you’re doing it across a computer Jesus has so much to do with what we do while respond, and the wells we draw from to engage

screen. Still, the SE Online team made it a point to keep relationship as their number one priority. SE Online Pastor Stephen Puricelli remembered, “We learned a lot in those early days about what it looks like to engage people online and value them one at a time.”

Church Online

Over the course of nine months, the SE Online in our life.”

digital environments. The arrival of COVID-19 gave them a crash course in getting it done. “No one was prepared for the pandemic,” Stephen said, “but by God’s grace, we were able to not be caught scrambling.” As the church moved online and away from meeting in person, SE Online emerged on the frontlines of that transition. Online viewership that might have seemed like a luxury suddenly became a necessity. Though the church never changed, the way we approached church had to be adapted.

The transition to online ministry came with its fair share of challenges, but also brought some amazing opportunities. For Stephen, the greatest of these is how this season has refocused the church on mission. “Following Jesus is more than worshipping together in a building. Following we are on our own, what we think, how we team learned about doing ministry across

This renewed sense of mission has sparked connections in unexpected places. Stephen points to the story of Mark and Marina Bromley, a couple from Alabama who began watching SE Online in the midst of the pandemic. Though they struggled to connect with the online experiences

of their local churches, they found a quick home within our digital family. The Bromleys’ journey has taken them from viewers to participants to leaders of an online group. They may be hundreds of miles from our campuses, but they are united with us in mission.

In a time when social circles were largely contracting, SE Online saw its reach expand. With participants from Wisconsin to Nevada and Africa to Australia, Southeast’s digital ministry has started to realize that original vision to engage people from different cultures and countries around the world.

While the online team’s footprint has grown, its focus has not changed. The emphasis on connection and community drives every aspect of digital ministry—from the chat hosts who converse with viewers during Sunday services to the online groups that meet throughout the week. No matter how ministry will continue to grow and evolve in the seasons ahead, the goal will always remain the same: Connecting people to Jesus and one another.

Learn More

To learn more and connect online, visit southeastchristian.org/location/seonline.

Prayer Requests

• Praise God for going before us and preparing the church for this season of online ministry.

• Pray that God will use SE Online to reach new people and places.

• Ask the Spirit to empower new leaders to help the digital ministry expand.

Social Distancing Everyday Life for an Isolated Missionary

solation often felt like my closest companion in the remote jungle location where I served for 11 years,” Courtney remembered from her experience as a missionary with her family in Southeast Asia.

During long nights, Courtney searched to understand the pain of human suffering and loneliness in her relationship with God. As the mosque call punctured the silence of her room, she longed for a closeness with the Father. In the midst of her loneliness and desperation, she turned to Scripture for guidance. She knew her priority was to connect with the Father. While studying the Word, Courtney learned that Jesus was a brother to her, taking on human flesh and emotions. He knows the loneliness deep inside, He understands the struggle with temptation, and He feels the pains of this life. He offered comfort in His words in John 16:33, “In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”

As Courtney wrestled with loneliness, she was continually reminded that God is with her and has made her human home His home. Paul said it well in 1 Corinthians 3:16: “Don’t you know

that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in your midst?”

Whether Courtney is serving as a field worker in another country or quarantining at her home in the U.S., she knows that the Lord is dwelling inside her.

In Trials and Suffering

Being cross-cultural workers, Courtney and her family have faced crisis after crisis, from medical evacuations to interrogations and flash floods. Courtney recalls a particularly difficult event concerning her son, who was napping upstairs. As she prepared dinner, she suddenly heard a loud crash. Concerned for her son’s safety, she rushed upstairs only to see that, miraculously, debris from the ceiling had fallen everywhere except his crib. It was as if a protective shield had been laid as a barrier, leaving him unscathed from harm. When she reflected on that moment, Courtney was drawn back to the presence and powerful protection of the Lord. She was reminded of God’s mighty control and the power He holds in our lives.

In the stringent circumstances of life abroad, coupled with the struggle of loneliness as a field worker, Courtney has continued to seek the Lord in all things. She has sought to be the branch through deeply abiding in the presence of Jesus.

John 15:4 says, “Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine.” She has remained in Him, not just in the intimate quiet time of Scripture reading, but also in the communal body of Christ. “Just as God lives in me, He also dwells in the Christian brothers and sisters around me,” Courtney reflected. She and her husband now regularly walk with, encourage, and care for other field workers. What a beautiful picture of God’s transforming work through Courtney’s surrender of her experience as a cross-cultural worker! May this be a reminder that the presence of God is within us, even through the depths of loneliness and the struggles of crisis.

Learn More

If God is drawing your heart to the nations, learn more at southeastchristian.org/missions/go.

Prayer Requests

• Praise God that even when we are alone, He is enough to sustain and supply our needs!

• Pray that God would sustain Courtney and her husband as they continue to catalyze the advancement of God’s Kingdom through training and equipping disciples among unreached peoples.

• Ask God to empower and encourage the local believers in the midst of the persecution they face as a result of their faith.