April 26, 2020 | Miami, Florida, United States | By Melchor Ferreyra, Inter-American Division
Fulfilling our mission requires three elements. We need a message, a messenger, and a means. In these difficult days during the current crisis, where the world is disturbed by the COVID-19 pandemic and our church members and pastors are under quarantine, one of those three elements has been substantially affected: messengers are under lockdown orders. This, however, should not break the logical chain for the fulfillment of our mission.
We must rise and proclaim in a loud voice that our message is not under quarantine, because our message originates and comes from God, and any thing coming from Him can never fail. Even during lockdown, messengers keep preaching the gospel of salvation to millions of people longing to hear a word of hope.
Many people need us to offer them a message of hope in the midst of the current chaos. Even in our confinement we can tell them encouraging words. Paul the apostle understood this very well when he wrote, “for which I suffer trouble as an evildoer, even to the point of chains; but the word of God is not chained” (2 Timothy 2:9). He was right: Our message and God’s Word are certainly not under lockdown.
A relative of mine called me from New York, telling me, “I ask you to please pray for us. My wife and I have been infected with the COVID-19.” Now, this person is not a Seventh-day Adventist; he’s not even religious or attends a church. In fact, in the past he had said that work and money were his religion. Now, however, in the midst of his difficulties with breathing, he is crying out for help, asking that the message he once heard would now be effective in his life. As a good messenger, I told him that there is still hope for him and his wife, that God is not under lockdown, that He is real and that they should trust that God will fulfill His will in their lives.
“We must plan wisely, that the people may have an opportunity of hearing for themselves the last message of mercy to the world. The people should be warned to make ready for the great day of God, which is right upon them. We have no time to lose. We must do our utmost to reach men where they are” (Testimonies for the Church, vol. 6, p. 40). We are under lockdown but the message isn’t. In this context, the messenger can be an agent of hope through the various social media outlets and communication platforms within our reach.
God could accomplish this work independently of us, but He doesn’t, because He wants us to get involved in this wonderful job. God depends on you, a messenger now under quarantine, to reach others with His message.
“As His representatives among men, Christ does not choose angels who have never fallen, but human beings, men of like passions with those they seek to save. Christ took upon Himself humanity, that He might reach humanity. Divinity needed humanity; for it required both the divine and the human to bring salvation to the world. Divinity needed humanity, that humanity might afford a channel of communication between God and man” (Desire of Ages, p. 296).
Both history and Scripture attest to the fact that when God needs men for His service, He does not look for them among the idle, but chooses those who are industrious and who are successful in their various lines of work, such as Moses, Gideon, Elisha, David, Nehemiah, Peter, Andrew, James, and John. And you, my dear brother or sister, there’s also a place for you. Don’t let the lockdown discourage or make you lose heart. On the contrary, let it drive you to give hope to those who need it.
“Divine and human agencies are combined in the work of saving souls. God has done His part, and Christian activity is needed now. God calls for this. He expects His people to bear a part in presenting the light of truth to all nations. Who will enter into this partnership with the Lord Jesus Christ?” (Christian Service, p. 83).
What about the means? Remember it is one of the chain-links in the logical sequence to fulfill our mission.
“New methods must be introduced. God’s people must awake to the necessities of the time in which they are living. God has men whom He will call into His service,-men who will not carry forward the work in the lifeless way in which it has been carried forward in the past…. There must be no fixed rules; our work is a progressive work, and there must be room left for methods to be improved upon. But under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, unity must and will be preserved” (Evangelism, pp. 70, 81).
We must infuse new life into old methods. We must redesign our methods. “Men are needed who pray to God for wisdom, and who, under the guidance of God, can put new life into the old methods of labor and can invent new plans and new methods of awakening the interest of church members and reaching the men and women of the world” (Ibid., p. 105).
To conclude, allow me to point out that we must:
May God help us to become more assertive to fulfill our mission.
Melchor Ferreyra is director of Personal Ministries of the Inter-American Division of Seventh-day Adventists.