Midtown Baptist Church,
Grace and Peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
With much sadness and sobriety, the elders have decided to cancel services through March in light of President Trump's issuing of a National Emergency in response to the Covid-19 Coronavirus Pandemic. We are prayerful we can begin to meet again soon given the size of our congregation and the procedures we intend to put in place. We will remain in communication with the congregation.
This decision comes after much prayer, discussion with pastors in our city and all over the country, and in an effort to heed the various governmental directives and suggestions being issued. We felt it prudent to cancel the next two services for several reasons:
At this point, we don’t have the procedures (nor the supplies) to gather without putting members at undue risk—namely, we need to be able to clean Overton Chapel before and after service because it is an event venue that is used outside of our gathering. We want to serve all of our members well and especially those who are at higher risk.
Given the global scale and rate at which the virus is spreading, it’s all a bit unprecedented. We see wisdom in pausing our gathering for the next two weekends to monitor infection rates in Memphis and to give the government further time to advise groups like ours. We are not experts; we want to heed their instruction as they’ve been put in place to serve our good (Rom 13:1-4).
We are aware of several churches in the Memphis area canceling their gathering or facets of their gathering (i.e., children’s ministry); and, we’ve heard of folks interested in visiting this Sunday for those reasons. As much as we want to welcome visitors, we’re not in a position to take them right now without putting our members at risk (see reason 1).
Lastly, we see this as a means of loving our neighbor well. We want to join our country’s efforts to minimize contact between people in order to slow down the spread of the virus.
It’s important to recognize that our motivation is not panic but prudence. “The Lord has not given us a spirit of fear but of power, love, and sound judgment” (2 Tim 1:7). Unmitigated anxiety about death and the future aren’t Christian qualities. As we will see in Philippians soon, we don’t have to fear death like so many do; for us it is gain! God actually grants us to suffer that we might be conformed to the image of Christ’s death (Phil 3:10). Suffering is part of our sanctification on the way to death, on the way to resurrection. And most importantly, we don’t have cause to fear because our God is on the throne. Neither the sparrow falling nor a virus spreading happen apart from his will (Matt 10:29). We can trust that nothing—neither life nor virus nor death—can separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord (Rom 8:37-39).
With respect to the Lord’s Day, our Statement of Faith reads this way:
We believe that the first day of the week is the Lord's Day; that it is a Christian institution for regular observance; that it commemorates the resurrection of Christ from the dead and is a preparation for and foretaste of the rest that awaits the people of God; and that it is to be kept sacred to religious purposes by the devout observance of all the means of grace, both public and private. (Matt 28:1; John 20:1; Acts 20:7; 1 Cor 16:2; Heb 10:24-25; Rev 1:10; 1 Tim 4:13; 2 Tim 4:2; Col 3:16; Eph 5:19; Matt 28:19-20; 1 Cor 11:26)
To be clear, we do not understand not meeting together as neglecting the gathering. We would, however, encourage you to remember that tomorrow is the Lord’s day. Spend an extended period of time in the Word and in Prayer. Read Mark or Philippians in anticipation of the preached Word in weeks to come.
Our fear, for ourselves included, is that time away from the corporate gathering would lead to a neglect of the things of God. Please, fight and pray against spiritual laziness. Prioritize the means of grace. Disciple and encourage as you’re comfortable and able. Continue to worship through online giving. Use the google group to send out prayer requests and to keep in touch. Fill your homes with the hymns we sing. Joshua and John will work normal office hours (8:30-4:30 M-F) and we’re happy to meet in the evenings for prayer and counsel.
Let’s pray the Lord, in his kindness and mercy, uses this virus to awaken us all to the brevity of life that we may take seriously things eternal. Pray the Holy Spirit uses the fear of death to awaken our non-Christian friends, family, and neighbors to the weight of their sin and their need for a Savior and friend in Christ. Pray the pandemic opens doors for sharing the gospel. And pray the Lord spares our community, country, and world from any more deaths.
Come Lord Soon,
The Elders of MBC