Moving From Pandemic To Endemic

For the past 1-2 weeks, we thank God that we kept hearing some heartening news from our (Singapore) government. Apparently, there is a paradigm shift in the way we’re dealing with COVID-19, i.e. we are starting to move from treating it as an endemic rather than pandemic. Now, I would say this perspective is wise, astute and forward thinking. And today I will talk about why the church should embrace such a perspective.

Clearly, for the past one and a half years, we’re all stricken with fear and apprehension. As infection and death rates kept going up, countries close their borders and went into lock down mode. No doubt, governments has done that in good faith to protect the lives of their people. But obviously, this cannot be a long-term solution. Yes, no country will want to risk more death and infection. But suppression of movement and interaction will cause other problems to arise.

At the individual level, more people will turn depressive or become more indifferent without social support and interaction. At the societal level, we will see human beings function mechanically. Cities and neighborhoods will lose its soul. Friendship cannot be built. Rapport cannot be sustained. Work will be just making sure KPI are achieved without deeper understanding between different groups in society.

Is that what we want of our society?

At the global level, less exchange and trade could mean hostility, or even wars. I mean if we give the matter a deeper thought, these are not far-fetched. Imagine a world that will not interact for 5 good years. What would the world become?

After one and a half years, almost every country would have known the danger of the virus. And many have suffered from it, directly or indirectly. With a crisis, the initial mindset of men is to stay guarded. This is the only sound thing to do. But sometimes, staying guarded for too long without seeing much light at the end of the tunnel means no hope.

Till today, many countries are still practicing opening and shutting down due to the fluctuation of infection rates. And people suffer in silence, with many starting to grow tired. As we could see, fears and apprehension only keep us in a standstill, while fatigue and tiredness can provoke recklessness. So the answer is we need to look forward and take decisive step. Even as we stay guarded, we need to be looking forward. So good leadership cannot be driven by prolonged fears and apprehension. Someone or some country need to test hypothesis and make good decisions with regard to moving forward in opening up. So moving from pandemic to endemic, with vaccination being the key to doing so, in my opinion, is the right move.

And why should the church embrace such a move?

For 3 reasons I would say.

First, the calling of the church is to preach and to shepherd. And with that, engagement and interaction is the key to doing so. Ask yourselves preachers, can you go on preaching behind a screen and expect people to be edified? Can you preach a sermon and thereafter usher people out of the church straight after meetings? What sort of a communion is that? People need to be prayed for, to find comfort in handshakes and hugs. People need to be engaged and to be understood. So to give people the idea that you can go on using zoom as the legitimate way of church life is simply suicidal. In fact, big churches need to disintegrate into smaller groups gathering to worship, to allow sheep to be shepherd. In fact, Christian surveys conducted have told us that more than half of the churches are going to see less than half of their believers coming back even with Post Covid. And this is not because believers are fearful of the virus, but because of what I call “spiritual lethargies”.

Many young people are already used to worshiping online or doing it in their convenience. And if we as church leaders encourage that, we are actually planning the church suicidal route.

Yes, I understand there are numbers restriction, and there are still fears in people’s heart. But the church must send a clear msg by first, keeping the church open. Keep meetings alive even with fewer numbers. If need be, have more meetings. Then, send a clear message out by encouraging believers back to physical meetings. For those fearful ones, encourage them to go for vaccination, and after that, encourage them back to church. When the message is sent out clearly, with moral imperative, trust that the Holy Spirit will work in the hearts of men. In fact, this is the way to “save” the church in a pandemic.

Second, why should the church support the endemic perspective? Because the church is called to mission. Throughout church history, there has never been a stop with mission. Even during wars or in war torn countries, missionaries are being sent out to reach the unreached in many parts of the world. So why should we let the pandemic halt the work of great commission? While we can carry out conferences online, but it can never replace the traditional way of having missionaries physically bringing the word of God to the physical crowd in places that yearn for the word. The joy on our countenance, the passion in our demeanor, the emphasis of our tone together with the spoken word given through the scripture is what discipleship and mission is all about.  As it is, physical presence is still the key for World Evangelism.

Lastly, we must know that the function of the church is to save the unsaved who are in close proximity. And who are they? They could be our relatives, our close friends, or even our aging kin. Without the pandemic moving toward an endemic, inviting these people to church or sometimes visiting them remains a primary difficulty. Within these 2 years, I’ve seen many aged kin of my brethren passed on. Some of them are aged people whom we’ve been ministering to, but because of the pandemic, it is hard to reach out to them.

Now, of course we shouldn’t let the pandemic be an obstacle to evangelism. But sometimes, fearful and apprehensive friends and relatives may not welcome our visitation. So just as we worry about the pandemic, or some may worry about the danger of taking the vaccine, do weigh the pros and cons practically. Think about how opportunities to witness can be lost if we go on remaining guarded or close our church. Think about how people can just leave this world in the midst of the pandemic without people reaching out to them with the gospel. Now, we are talking about the souls of men at stake here. So church, let’s pray for the pandemic to move toward an endemic, not only in Singapore but all around the world. It’s about time, my brethren.