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God is our Teacher. He is, of course, many other things too. But, among them, he is an excellent teacher. The Lord of all, who knows all things, instructs us. In John 14:16, Jesus promises the Holy Spirit, ‘But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you’. During COVID-19, the Holy Spirit has continued to teach us. He has taught us to pray. He has taught us to value home and family. He has taught us more of what it looks like to be the Church. Our Master is calling, he wants us to learn. Will we listen?

We’re learning to pray

Brisbane, QLD

Murray Lean, a TGCA Council member, thinks that God is drawing more people into conversation with himself. COVID-19 is making us pray. ‘My gut feeling is that there has been a lot more prayer going on in recent weeks’, Murray says.

Christians are praying more. In our homes, with our families and through mid-week Zoom meetings—for many of us, COVID-19 has pushed us into prayer. We have more time. And, we’re more keenly aware of our neediness before a sovereign God. The result? More prayer.

Non-Christians are praying more too. Anxiety is in the air—and people are turning to prayer. People who haven’t walked in the doors of a church for years are praying. People desperate for comfort and meaning are praying. Murray suspects that COVID-19 has tapped into a very human instinct, ‘It seems that many people are realising, perhaps for the very first time, that they are unable to confidently control their own lives.  They are anxious about what might happen to them or their family or their future or even their country.  So the instinct within the human heart is to cry out to God’.

For some, this might just be a comforting ritual or a kind of good luck charm. But, Murray thinks ‘for some it may just be a first step towards finding the truth in Jesus Christ’. That possibility should spur the rest of us on in prayer! It’s remarkable to consider just how many people have probably spoken to God in recent months—some for the first time.

Murray says, ‘Let’s pray as couples and families. Let’s connect online with one another to pray.  And as we hear reports from Australia and around the world, let’s face this trouble in prayer’.

We’re learning to be together

Nowra, NSW

COVID-19 has not been an easy time for families. Schools are shut. Everyone is working from home. Normal family rhythms and dynamics are out the window. In this—in the challenges and tantrums and unexpected joys—God is glorifying himself. One family, part of Nowra Baptist Church, has certainly seen this. Rosie Ellery is a mum of four, ‘I had imagined that spending extra time would simply bring us closer together as we share all of each day with each other. When you spend every day running in different directions you often miss the chance to talk over what has happened and what you thought of it or how you should respond. Instead you run to the next thing and then fall into bed too tired to really talk through the day. Doing life together every day means that those conversations happen. So you do share more of what you are thinking and wondering and learning’

She has seen this, and more, happen during COVID-19. ‘What I didn’t expect was that God would use the time together, with its increased intensity of relating, to peel the layers off and reveal the issues that needed addressing’, Rosie says, ‘Running from one thing to the next also means that you can miss seeing the dynamics in your life and the life of those you love that really need to be addressed. I am so thankful that God doesn’t leave us to continue in sin but loves us enough to reveal it to us and offers forgiveness and regeneration on personal and family relational levels’.

Imagine, for a moment, this effect rippling across Australia. In Christian families from Darwin to Hobart, God is moving by his Spirit. In the unique environment of isolation, families are being formed in Christlikeness.

We’re learning what matters

Winmalee, NSW

Luke Pereira is the Assistant Minister at Winmalee Presbyterian Church, in the lower Blue Mountains. During COVID-19, he has noticed something exciting. God has been teaching him and his church family. God has been reminding them of who they are and waking them up to the privileges and realities of that identity. ’It is easy to fall into a pattern of doing things because that is how they have always been done’, says Luke. COVID-19 has offered Winmalee Presbyterian—and churches around the world—an opportunity to step back and reassess.

Luke says that Zoom has reminded him of how vital physical presence and meaningful interaction is to the health of God’s family.  ‘We should actually expect zoom church to feel more comfortable in an individualised, self-focused society’, Luke says, ‘Comfort is not always the best way of determining what is good’.

Winmalee Presbyterian have been involving their children in Zoom gatherings. ‘Hearing from our children, while they may not be theologically trained or abounding in experience, teaches us that God speaks through the mouths of the most humble of us’, shares Luke.

Christ’s Body, the Church, is not to be static or passive. We are the ‘spiritual house’ of God created to be his family, his flock, his representatives. Through COVID-19, God has graciously offered us a wake-up call. There are lessons to be learned. There are ways we can better love, serve and teach each other. As Luke says, ‘The greatest tragedy would be for us to not learn from this experience’.

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