“And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” Romans 8:28
What church looks like now
Not too long ago we thought of social media as something for young people. It seemed like a fad or a trend, but not serious. Youtube content was not full of handy, useful and interesting stuff yet. Most of us (not all) older adults eventually bridged the cultural divide to embrace Facebook. Of course, we had many compelling reasons including keeping up with the grandkids, keeping an eye on our own kids, and reconnecting with long lost friends from high school or college. With the advent of smartphones, however, the use of social media skyrocketed.
When we got used to Facebook, the young people switched to Instagram and Snapchat. Radio shows became video shows on Youtube. Blogs gave way to App Store applications for your phone. Headlines in the news change all day long. And now, of course, the COVID-19 virus infiltrated all of our lives without warning.
An Online Cafe In Ukraine
Yulia from Mercy Projects Kyiv, Ukraine reports:
We wrote to our teenagers, that today we witness historical events. The whole world is quarantined and one day we’ll tell our kids about it. But how do we look at these events? We are not depressed or angry. We see this as a big opportunity to grow. The Lord brought us this opportunity!
Here in Ukraine, we started an online cafe for our teenagers. This made it possible, not only for the children from Kyiv to take part but also for the kids from other regions of the country. The kids living further away were not able to physically come to our meetings, but now they can attend online. We meet every Monday at our so-called online cafe. Everyone comes with his cup of tea or cocoa and shares about the week. Great discussions happen around bible topics or other questions.
We have been having online meetings at our www.mercyprojects.ua Instagram page. Every day we share biblical thoughts, encouraging videos, challenges, and questions. We also had a live broadcast of worship. That really inspired our teenagers. They want to have such online worship every Friday night. Soon we will have English club with video from our American friends.
This COVID-19 time brings us all closer together. Some of the children in our program, who were not so active, unexpectedly showed up at the online meetings. For all of us, our staff, the kids, our counselors, etc. these online meetings are building stronger connections. So the virus brings us a blessing and the opportunity to change and improve something in our lives. Thank you, dear friends, for your prayers and support for our children. We pray for all of us to go through and stand during all these events!
