Letter 16
My Dear Friends of Sion Baptist Church, we in Britain are not alone in entering into what is a critical phase in the pandemic-process as lockdown restrictions are gradually being eased by the Government. This will mean that certain parts of our economy will be opening up and that many Britons will have the opportunity at least, to do rather more than they have been doing for the past 14 or so weeks. Some of you may be pleased, some of you may have reservations about these developments, some of you may be somewhere in the middle.
At any rate we are all exercised by the state of the world, the health of its people and economies. We are deeply concerned by discrimination and injustice of all kinds. There is no group more oppressed or discriminated against in this world than Christians, many of whom live in countries whose governments routinely refuse aid, medicine or food to the followers of Christ, a situation compounded during the Coronavirus crisis.
So, remember them when you can’t find that particular item you’re looking for in your well-stocked shops. Stop and think about what you have; maybe, stop and think about what is in your power to give to the church and hence to Home Mission, BMS World Mission and Open Doors. Be generous!
July 4th has been proposed by Boris Johnson as the day from which Places of Worship – and that includes churches like us - can open again provided they are Covid secure; or, more accurately, provided we have undertaken an assessment of risk and can produce a Coronavirus safety policy. That process has already been started. Over the weeks certain church members have been preparing our building for the day we might in, some form or other, be able to reopen for services of worship.
There is a sense of risk or even experimentation about the changes that the next couple of weeks may bring. Your church leaders will soon meet to discuss these things. Reaching a decision about whether we open or not will be far from easy. It will require all the combined wisdom we can muster and it will require of us a genuine desire to seek the Lord, the Source of all wisdom, and discover his will in these complicated and perplexing matters.
Please be in no doubt, however, that the first priority of the church leaders is to protect, strengthen and equip the people of God, regardless of our circumstances or forms or places of worship. As I have said more than once, I am thankful for the help and support of the local churches, the NWBA and the wider Baptist Union during these challenging times.
Finally, I would ask of you, please, to devote some of your time to pray for the minister and the deacons as they bring these decisions before the Lord. Please find attached with this letter a suggested pattern for an hour of prayer. Join us, wherever you are, and pray for this and for some of the points suggested.
While we consider what it is to lead and make decisions I close with a quote about leadership from an anonymous source: “The best kind of leadership is that which produces fellowship…”
Every Blessing! Mark & Susan (02/07/20)