You Are the Church

The COVID-19 pandemic has drastically transformed the way that churches are doing ministry. As recently as March 7 our church was open, seats were full, and we had our usual programming. In the weeks that followed we scaled things back drastically and implemented social distancing in our services. Last Sabbath we had only a handful of individuals at church to facilitate our service via live stream, and we encouraged everyone else to stay home. Today, our church sanctuary will be dark and empty. The classrooms will be silent. The parking lot will be deserted. But church will go on. 

The impact of this pandemic has already been a challenge for us as a congregation. The task of replicating the experience of worshipping together in one place like we normally do while we are all stuck in our homes is not an easy one. However, this is not the first time that the church has faced challenges. The church has survived many tough times in the past. The Israelites kept the hope of the coming Messiah alive through the many years of the Babylonian captivity. The Jews persevered through the oppression of kingdom after kingdom that ruled the lands of Israel in the centuries before the birth of Christ. The early church faced persecution from both the religious establishment of their time and the Roman authorities. Early Christians often worshipped in members’ homes and sometimes even in catacombs because of logistical and safety reasons. Traveling was slow and tedious, and  written communication could take weeks or months to get a reply. The church has survived many other tough times, including the Middle Ages when access to Bibles was limited, the religious intolerance of the French Revolution, and the communist regimes in Eastern Europe and Asia. 

A key to the church’s survival in difficult times was the recognition that the church is more than just a building. It is a body of believers united in their commitment to Christ. “Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it” (1 Corinthians 12:27). The building where we meet and worship is called a “church,” but without a congregation it is just a building. If you take away the building you can still have a church. That’s because the church truly is a body believers, the body of Christ. You are the church.

This Sabbath we won’t be meeting at Altgeld Street. It might be weeks or even months before we can meet there again. That’s okay. We are still a church with the tools to stay connected that other generations only could have dreamed of. Technologies such as telephones, messenger apps, the World Wide Web, video streaming online, etc. allow us the opportunity to connect and check on one another. Who will you connect with today?

Join us online today for Sabbath School and the Worship Service. We are streaming services live on Zoom and Facebook. If you do not have an internet connection, you can simply call in through Zoom. 

Via Internet:

Via Phone:

Check this week’s bulletin for the listing of Sabbath Schools.

And since we are the church, let’s all do our part to stay connected with each other. Make a list of five people from church and give each person a phone call this week. (Let us know if you need access to the church directory.)

Happy Sabbath!

Jared Nudd
Associate Pastor