Though limited to online-only services in response to the coronavirus, pastors across the North Texas metroplex are calling on Christians to look to Jesus during this time of crisis.
“We have a pandemic facing our world right now,” Pastor Robert Morris of Gateway Church said Saturday evening. “And we as the church need to pray, and we need to worship God, [and] we need to bring Heaven to Earth.”
“With all we’re facing today, worship is absolutely critical because we need God,” said Dr. Tony Evans of Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship in Dallas. “And we need Him individually; we need Him nationally.”
Morris led Christians in corporate prayer to God for help regarding the virus.
“We are asking You, in Jesus’ name, for the cure for the coronavirus,” he prayed. “We are asking You for no more deaths.” He also led the church in praying for our doctors and government leaders.
“We pray for the whole world right now, because God so loved the world that He gave his only Son.”
At his church, Evans, surrounded by his family at a table in the sanctuary, led Christians in taking communion.
“Communion is your reminder that [God’s] not a distant God, He’s an up-close and personal one,” Evans said.
As to questions of whether churches should be closing large gatherings, Watermark Pastor Todd Wagner said in his sermon on Sunday, “Being prudent is not sin. In fact, the scripture tells us we should be prudent.”
At Watermark, Wagner encouraged believers to not be filled with fear or act out of panic.
“Of all people, we should not be the ones that panic,” Wagner went on. “Proverbs 24:10 says, ‘He who is slack in the day of distress, his strength is limited.’”
Pastor Derrick Bledsoe of City On a Hill DFW also addressed the panic gripping people now.
“As bad as it may seem right now, it’s not the first time that our world has faced circumstances that have led to this level of hysteria.”
Wagner also called for believers to encourage each other through the present situation.
“We know also in Hebrews 3:13: ‘[E]ncourage one another day after day, as long as it’s called today, so you won’t be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.’ So, all of us need to be doing that right now.”
