The news of India’s worsening Covid-19 situation has been lingering in my heart. Last week, I spoke with Missionary K.H. Ahn on the phone, and this week, I contacted two local leaders.
Bancas, one of the leaders, is a friend I met when I first went to India, and it has already been 11 years since we first met. Salman is another leader, and it has already been 7 years since we first met. They are both faithful friends, and I am desperate to help them in any way.
How can I forget India – a country where the gospel is not properly preached, a country with twice the population of Africa, and a country with the most unexplored tribes in the world?
While chatting with Salman, he sent me a picture of the last meeting, saying he had been guiding 43 local pastors. Nowadays the meetings are held in Zoom, and Salman asked me to encourage the leaders with words during the next Zoom meeting.
As I contacted them today, I realized one of the amazing changes that Covid-19 has brought. There will be changes in many parts of our lives in the future, but considering the missionary work, I thought it would be possible to work beyond time and space. In the past, missionary work was possible only at a high cost for with significant amount of time invested, but now if you have a trust relationship with a local leader, you can contact them as much as you want here in London, socialize, and train at the same time.
Covid-19 has trained churches and people around the world to chat online. It is amazing that all India’s leaders and church members are also worshipping in Zoom. Who can train people all over the world in such a short time? With just one smartphone, we can preach the gospel and establish leaders anywhere in the world. Hallelujah!
In particular, an era has opened that, for areas where a missionary cannot enter or for areas where publicly preaching gospel would put a missionary in a danger, people can utilize this new technology to preach the gospel. We were already equipped with such tools, but Covid-19 has made people around the world and even missionaries familiar with them. That is why I will be able to do missionary works to the ends of the earth, from where I am. God is doing something new. He is telling us to use online to complete the mission.
However, I think this will also be temporary, because it is clear that the Satan will definitely act on it. During that temporary time, I thought I should do my best to preach the gospel to the end of the earth.
