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The Church Resilient

Benjamin J. Snodgrass

Allow me this opportunity to convince you that 2020 is the year to express overflowing thanks to God by your personal generosity to the Thank Offering. Why? For the hidden spiritual blessings that we received in 2020, attached to the trials we all experienced.

Despite the setbacks of 2020, each of our churches sought to revert rapidly and even cheerfully to the good work of building the kingdom. “Count it all joy,” the apostle James, by the Spirit’s inspiration, starkly and radically urged scattered believers. The key is to “count it.” We can do little to change our surroundings, but we can do much to change the way we consider them. Before his readers could discount him, James gave solid reasons for them to reinterpret their lot:

Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. (James 1:2–4)

As the OPC rebounded this year, we rediscovered in our living the same truth explained here in writing. As we encounter trials, we become stronger. A church graced with this sort of spiritual fortitude can be called the church resilient—a church with perseverance and spiritual toughness.

Twin-Pack Delivery

Our aim is higher than mere fortitude, although fortitude is certainly necessary. The apostle James did not write that we should hang in there, think positive, or even be happy. There is more expected of us than outliving the problems, inventing a good spin, or forcing a smile. Christ is doing a divine work in our perseverance. Only by the grace of a maturing vision can we peer through our trials to the other side.

For example, never before this year were most churches in America prevented from weekly worship for a dozen Sundays. Everyone was reckoning with that fact as we looked at the trial. But it was only as we maturely looked through the trial to its eventual consequences that we saw a potential for deepened steadfastness and the effect of long-lasting appreciation for the ordinary means of grace. That further perfecting is what we deem worthy of rejoicing in, according to James.

The OPC knows good theology, but the urging of James is that we must live what we know. During this year, we cried and laughed on our Zoom calls. We grieved and sang with joy on our livestreams. We missed each other in church, and then we showed thoughtfulness and good humor. One pastor propped smiling pictures of the church’s families in empty pews for encouragement while preaching alone in a church-turned-recording-studio. We joked with others on the phone and showed good cheer while delivering groceries to the elderly.

Declaring that all is joy is not becoming mindlessly upbeat; on the contrary, possessing true joy is a work of careful reasoning. Our Savior sanctifies us by his truth and shows us the full view of our trials. This unrequested suffering is delivered like a shrink-wrapped twin-pack from Amazon. Suffering is only one half of God’s intent! Our trusted Lord has conferred upon us two things together—both a new difficulty and a new perseverance. In the design of God, it is our testing that results in, or produces, our steadfastness. Every new testing is delivered with a new grace—God’s supply of steadfastness. God has sent us trials and character-deepening growth!

Resilient in Home Missions

The problems turned out to have a genius aftereffect for a batch of brand-new churches. Instead of waiting a full growing season to find out if a single pumpkin seed will become a pumpkin in the end, this year mission works fast-forwarded. No bringing along the worshiping newcomers with long patience and easygoing warmth and home-cooked meals. No, these quarantined newcomers found the livestream and tuned in for deeper reasons than meals and talking. The worshipers—every church planter’s dream—made it clear that they desired the message, above all else! In record time, it was obvious whether or not our newest pre-church seeds were nestled into the right soil and capable of growing. Just as James pointed out to us, our mission works were forced to lunge forward, letting “steadfastness have its full effect.”

The poet Douglas Malloch (1877–1938) wrote, “Good timber does not grow with ease; / The stronger wind, the tougher trees; / The further sky, the greater length, / The more the storm, the more the strength. / By sun and cold, by rain and snow, / In trees and men, good timbers grow.” In a similar way, the more the storm, the more the strength, in our 2020 mission works

Resilient in Foreign Missions

We can be so thankful for the determination of our missionaries to minister in Word and deed. Mission fields, although COVID-impacted, were not entirely hampered. In God’s perfect providence, each field had just the right people, positioned there at just the right time, to respond to the lockdowns with wisdom and love.

Looking forward, we can expect deeper credibility and appreciation from those members and seekers who directly benefited from the work of these OP missionaries in the fields where they serve. One missionary was geographically separated from his wife; other missionaries were restricted from travel, making them dependent on local friends to bring them food and supplies. But the virus does not get the last say. God is perfecting and completing the missionaries, their families, their missions, and the churches around the globe. Where there is a global pandemic, there is global grace as a beautifying gift. Our sovereign God has so designed it.

Resilient in Christian Education

What happens to interns during quarantine? What about seminars and conferences, teaching trips and writing projects? A menagerie of trials have met the church in lost opportunities for Christian Education ventures. In times of distress, where is the joy of the educators of the church? John Blanchard wrote, “For daily needs there is daily grace; for sudden needs, sudden grace; for overwhelming needs, overwhelming grace.” The shape and condition of the cheery outlook of mentors is recoverable, through the ongoing gifts of various grace from the risen Christ!

Resilient in Giving?

One thing is clear from this year. The church did not close. No way. Christ is building the church resilient, as he always has and as the church has often had reason to confess. Nearly four centuries ago, the writers of chapter 25 of the Westminster Confession pronounced, “Nevertheless, there shall be always a church on earth, to worship God according to his will” (WCF 25.5).

What the church does next will reveal our resolve. Now is when we equip our ministry programs to step out in the new year with their full plans. We only get to show this resilience during such a year. If the economy is booming, the watching world yawns at our increased giving. But when the economy has layers of struggles, how many eyebrows would be raised at the beauty of our Savior’s steadfastness in us if we gave resiliently? Our giving this year could demonstrate our steadfastness, sacrificial commitment, historical perspective, and the hope of Christ. That is the type of mature giving that comes from the church resilient.

The author is pastor of Falls Church—an OPC Family in Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin. New Horizons, November 2020.

New Horizons: November 2020

The Church Resilient

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