Covid-19 and the church: how we can help restore a hurting world

As the pandemic raged on, we set up online pastoral meetings with church and community leaders as places where they could share their experiences with other leaders and be encouraged and listened to. As exhaustion and burnout crept in, these places became havens of prayer and support.

Since February, cases of Covid-19 have been decreasing in Brazil. Restrictions are easing, but Covid-19 has left a legacy of trauma and hurt. People are weary. Perhaps you feel this too?

Hope and purpose

One of the projects we are now implementing in Brazil is addressing the collective trauma that so many people are experiencing. We are working with our church partners to plan events and training that bring hope and healing to communities.

It is important to address the hurt and the grief that we are carrying – not to push it deep down inside of us. If we want to move forward – we must find a way of processing what we’ve felt, and what we continue to feel. To be honest with God about where we’re at. And – if it’s safe to do so – to share with loved ones too, so we’re connected to support.

This is what going deeper with God looks like for me. Handing over these daily burdens and finding hope and purpose to continue to do God’s work here on Earth.

Sharing a table together

I am excited to visit our local partners and the communities we work with; to sit around the table, pray, and envision what the next few years together will look like.

The church has an incredible message of hope that the world needs right now. As Christians, we can be agents of change as we proclaim the kingdom of God. We can play a part in healing our communities. In speaking up for and aiding a recovery that is fair and just for all.

I would love to encourage you to dream big about what this could look like for your local community, and also for our brothers and sisters around the world. I invite you to bring it to God who can do more than we can ask or imagine (Ephesians 3:20).

Please join me in praying for a world that is still hurting and for God to meet us where we are at so we can help bring restoration.

Pray with us

This prayer is written by Pastor Lindon Carlos Vieira dos Santos, who leads Ação Evangélica – Evangelical Action, a Tearfund partner in Brazil.

Heavenly Father, with confidence in Christ, we come to you.

Thank you for hearing our prayer. Thank you for staying with us in difficult times; through conflict, hunger and terrible illnesses, like coronavirus.

We pray for all peoples and governments. Before you, we place all refugees and our siblings in Christ who suffer persecution. We pray for your church around the world. Father, we ask for your protection, blessing, and mercy upon us here and in the most inhospitable places.

Lord, the pandemic has caused horrors to millions of families everywhere. Death, pain and grief have hit our homes, churches, and communities. The most vulnerable still carry physical, emotional and spiritual pains.

Amid the desolation caused by disease, conflict, and governments' instabilities, we ask you to strengthen the work of your church in favour of those in need. Bring water, food, hygiene kits, help and relief. Bring words and actions of comfort and peace. Bring signs of your kingdom, flashes of light that illuminate the dark days.

Lord, we need your presence. We need your church and Christian organisations to unite and not give up when facing such complex challenges. We need your provision, wisdom and grace so we can follow you. We wait for your return, Lord. In the meantime, help us, Lord, to support those in need or who are oppressed.

In Jesus’ name, amen.