"I come from Hubei, and my husband, my child and I planned to return to Hubei for the Chinese New Year. But a few days before going back, my parents called me not to return to Hubei. Later, the outbreak in Wuhan became more and more serious. During that time, I would be nervous and panicky after reading the news every day. I would be cranky, thinking, 'What should I do if my family is diagnosed?' " Sister Luo of Xiangcheng Church in Suzhou City shared the Easter greeting in a video.
Although there have been some Sunday sermons preached every week, there has been no face-to-face communication, and a priest in the church proposed the idea of recording Easter greetings via videos. Recording the pastor’s words would convey the pastor's recent feelings of serving. Also, some brothers and sisters were invited to record greetings and share their feelings, which could help everyone comfort each other.
As Sister Luo shared, when she was panicky, she clung to God and to the online worship service organized by the church. She carefully read the scriptures and prayed at home, having to adjust her personal spirituality. Slowly, she found that her relationship with God became more and more intimate. "Only when we fully trust God and look up to God, can we understand God's beautiful will in our lives," she said.
The pastor of the church Xu Enbei shared the joy of the Lord’s resurrection in a video, saying that, “Although we have no resurrection eggs, no baptisms, and no programs to celebrate the resurrection in the church this year, we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus in our own places, which is a great joy!" He also shared the progress of online pastoral care by the church for more than two months and expressed his gratitude to all the coworkers who participated in serving.
According to Sister Cao, the pastor of the church, the baptism preparation classes and step-by-step training held every year in the church were changed to online beginning from the first half of this year. Since there were no on-site meetings for more than two months, it was temporarily impossible to count the number of new believers. In addition, registration and classes online are difficult for those older friends attending the baptism preparation classes. After the pandemic, they could participate in on-site baptism preparation classes. The baptism plan could only be determined after the pandemic.
- Translated by Heirs Han
