There is no question that the COVID-19 pandemic has had a profound impact on world missions. The global church has been stifled because of this disease as they have been locked down or activities curtailed throughout the world. In my case, as a teacher and trainer in cross-cultural church planting for the national church, the opportunities to work overseas continue to be more than challenging and not a little bit frustrating.
One of the most devastating effects of the pandemic is the division it has caused between those of differing opinions about the virus. Those who resist vaccines and wearing of masks are labeled as uneducated “science deniers,” while the proponents of such measures are dubbed by the former as extreme Branch Covidians or Covidianites.
On my recent trip to Senegal, I was struck by how the division of opinion of COVID has affected even the missionary community. Let me set the stage…Senegal is about 17 million in population. In the over two years of Corona, they have had less than 85,000 cases of COVID and less than 2,000 deaths. Granted, they don’t have testing sites in every village or on every corner of the city and they certainly don’t have home testing kits. Though the government requires masks in certain venues, it’s not mandated, and walking the streets of Dakar or Mbour you would hardly know there was a virus. In the villages and countryside, Corona is something they have heard about but has little to no effect on daily living.
How COVID has impacted missions is the effect it has WITHIN the mission community. Primarily from North America and Europe, it is the ex-pat neighborhood that suffers the same division of opinion on COVID as those from their homeland and how to deal with the virus. I was surprised that if some missionary or family member had a scratchy throat or a felt “flush,” they immediately went for a COVID test. If they tested positive, they self-quarantined and some of them haven’t left the house in two weeks! On the other side of the pandemic perspective, there are missionaries living life as though there was no such thing as an omicron, and went to work and engaged in the community as normal. If they did feel a bit sluggish they would just take an aspirin, and taking a “test” wouldn’t even cross their mind. Strange, isn’t it? People overseas act exactly as they would in their home country.
When Corona was discovered 24 months ago, the Africans called it a “white man’s disease.”
Of course, we know that thousands of non-whites have died from COVID and it’s not exclusively a Caucasian condition. However, I’m beginning to think that the fear and response to this bug has become a national/ethnic identity. No doubt our enemy is taking advantage of some with the preoccupation of this germ. However, because God is sovereign, His will is not thwarted and the message of Christ still goes forward. While Westerners hunker down in place, our national brothers and sisters remain faithful in their service for Him, oblivious to the importance of a swab or a jab.
