On the front end of this Covid-19 crisis in our country, I wrote my observations about many of the churches and ministries in my country. Through personal conversations with various church leaders, I heard the questions they were asking themselves: How will we communicate with our church members once we close our facility doors? How will we maintain connections with our people? Will we livestream or conduct meetings via Zoom? Do we need to upgrade our technology? To which classes and ministries will we give an extended sabbath and what other ones will we continue to engage? How will we receive the needed offerings for the bills we must continue to pay? How are we doing in comparison to the other guy down the street?

I grieved over the questions that I did not hear: How will we be a beacon of hope during this time? How will we help people who have family members who are sick? How will we help those in our neighborhood who lost jobs and can’t pay bills and buy food? How will we communicate the peace that surpasses all human comprehension that the Living God graciously gives to us in times of trouble?

Now as we are nearing the tail end of this crisis, these are the questions I am hearing: What will Phase 1 of our rollout look like? What will Phases 2 and 3 look like? When will we begin having people come to the church again? Will we remove seats or block off sections to maintain social distancing? Will we open all functions again or open a few at a time? How will we upgrade our cleaning and disinfecting of the facility? How will we social distance our children?

Here are the questions I am not hearing: How soon can we walk the streets of our community to connect with people? How can we bring a message of hope face-to-face with the hurting? How can we help lift the burdens of people who are struggling? How can we brightly shine the Light of the world? And how can we sow unity and love in the streets around us during this difficult time of pain and division?

I vividly remember when the Iron Curtain fell and the Soviet Union collapsed. A great economic, political and emotional void was left in its wake. One of the first businesses that went in to fill that void was pornography. It was followed by human trafficking. Many cults entered, deceiving people. Those with the true Answer responded, but often after others were already filling these voids with things that would harm more than help.

The Covid-19 crisis is still among us. Racial tensions are high in our nation. Hurt, pain, disappointment, fear, anger, and division are rampant. Recent months have brought an increase in depression, alcoholism, drug abuse and domestic violence. Should our priority really be how we will define Phase 1, 2 and 3 or how we will bring Eternal Hope and the Light of the world to those in the community God has placed us?

What we should be asking: How will we make a difference? How will we bring healing and hope? How can we change things on the streets around us? How will we touch those whose hearts are hurting? How will we bring positive influence in this time of fear and pain?

Instead of looking at the other guy, maybe we need to ask ourselves, what are we doing?