As I walked through my neighborhood the other day trying to clear my mind of all the overwhelming thoughts and feelings about COVID-19, I was struck by the different signs on the doors of all the churches. The sign on one church said, “In an overabundance of caution, we are not having service until further notice.” Another church I walked past simply said, “CLOSED.” As I continued to walk further down the street, I noticed a blinking LED sign in front of a church flashing, “Church CLOSED.” I stopped and stared at the sign for a few moments. “How can you allow this to happen Lord? How can you let your church close?” I thought to myself. On my way home, I couldn’t stop thinking about all the CLOSED signs. All the churches that are not open. As I got to the steep hill at the bottom of my street, the Lord gently whispered to me, “The church is not closed. The church is open. You are the church.”
The word church comes from the Greek word, ekklésia. According to the Nelson’s Bible Dictionary, the definition of ekklésia is a local assembly of believers as well as the redeemed of all ages who follow Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord. In Matthew 28:16-20, Jesus commissioned the church (his followers) to go and make disciples of all nations. The commission wasn’t to a building, it was to a people.
Yes, the buildings we typically gather in are closed until further notice. However, the church is not closed and we (as Christians) are not absolved of our responsibility to “go and make disciples of all nations”. Although we can’t invite our neighbor to a physical building for a Sunday service, we can invite them to the Bible study that is being held via conference call or the service on Facebook Live. We can literally have a service in the house with our family. We can send a text to a friend with our favorite Bible verse or call our neighbor down the street to offer a pray. We don’t need the mass choir to worship God. We can still pray and read the Bible without the pastor. Although we are in unprecedented times, the Great Commission is still the charge.
The church is not CLOSED.
The church is OPEN.
I am the CHURCH. You are the CHURCH. We are the CHURCH.
The Great Commission
“Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” (Matthew 28:16-20 NIV)
