Pastor Joey Zorina of The Bridge Fellowship in Tokyo says he’s “saddened that his church cannot meet in person.”
Gathering restrictions are having a severe impact on discipleship and outreach in a country where less than 1 percent of the population is Christian.
But Zorina can see a glimmer of light in this crisis — one he hopes sticks around even after the doors are reopened.
He told Baptist press, “Meeting online forces us to see who is missing on the screen, who is cared for and who is sick or needs encouragement, and the whole community has taken the responsibility to listen well and extend pastoral care to everyone.”
He said, “They’re able to ask how everyone is doing and pray specifically and personally for each other.”
Loren Holland, pastor of Rome International Church, said the COVID-19 gathering restrictions have done unexpected things for his congregation’s ongoing discipleship too.
Rome is a difficult city to gather in But he said meeting on Zoom has knocked down some barriers.
He said “Doing things online like this has made me think that this is something we could do — not permanently [for church gatherings] — but we could use it more often for meetings and discipleship.”
He’s also seeing spiritual growth in the way church members are praying as a result of the pandemic.
Both pastors believe they’ll come out of the crisis stronger as “relationships are forged in the furnace of the COVID-19 pandemic.”