to do in a sense what we’ve always done. We’ve just done it very differently. We have a phrase that we’ve used quite a lot recently – ‘we’re married to our mission, but we date our methodology’. So, if you can be clear on why you exist, the ‘how’ you do it is flexible. We want people to meet and know Jesus. That can continue to happen even in the midst of Covid. We pivoted and went online. We have an online service that has multiple elements. And we continue to provide that service – it’s called “Austi Online”. Many of our particularly vulnerable members who have not been able to return still make use of it each week and, like all we do, it is publicly available to the community. People can have it in their own lounge rooms and through social media. We’ve created a YouTube channel, to engage with people who are house bound , and we’ve also now got people connecting with us from all over the world, including Canada and England. As part of our pivot, we changed what our regular Bible preaching and teaching would have been. What’s wonderful about the Bible is it’s a very rich, diverse document and there’s lots of bits that talk about faith in the midst of hard times. So On Monday, March 23, Australia awoke to news places of there’s a particular book that we have spent the last few months looking at in the New Testament called worship were among many venues that would shut from the Book of James and our sermon series was midday. Six months on, Nathan Sandon, senior pastor of called ‘Faith under Pressure’. Austi Thirroul Anglican Churches, shares his story. We’ve been talking about some of the big What a six months it’s been! Our pandemic reality questions a moment like this raises. The big one, of moment hit us the week, in March, when the prime course, is: if the church is right, and there is such a minister declared that big public gatherings were to thing as a loving God, then why does he permit something like the pandemic to occur? be banned. Places of worship were being directed Another big question: Is there anything that is to shut down. I can remember the moment well as my wife and certain or dependable or trustworthy in the midst of such uncertainty? That’s something that we’ve I had just dropped our two young ones off to explored in the Bible, by searching the scriptures. preschool when the press meeting was held and We think that the Bible has some great things to suddenly our social media feed just went haywire say in response to these questions. with all of these announcements. The Anglican In our lifetime, this is definitely a historical head office was quick to follow up with a public moment. Everybody is feeling the strain. statement: “All public ministries of the Anglican At the peak of the pandemic, social isolation Diocese of Sydney were to cease, effective amongst our seniors was very high – not just immediately.” within our church, but within the surrounding It was very sudden and shocking. community of the Coal Coast. We were coming However, it wasn’t unique. across people who were completely socially isolated The last time this happened was in 1919, with to the point of loneliness and despair. We were able the outbreak of the Spanish flu after World War to help them, serve them, try and connect. One. There’s old black and white photos of our We encouraged our people to ‘adopt’ their street. churches in 1919, with notices posted on the front We had a couple of our church members write a door of the church saying due to the pandemic, letter and put it in people’s letter boxes. Just to say, the churches are closed. The historical precedent was one of those things that helped us not to panic. ‘Look, we’re your neighbour, we live down the street. If you’re alone, we would love to talk to you.’ It’s been a good opportunity to think, well, who As a general pandemic thing, not just in church are we as a church? What is our core purpose? land, the issue of social isolation is huge. The rates Does this kind of decision, that’s outside of our of loneliness are skyrocketing. The rates of control, necessarily mean that we cease to exist? depression are skyrocketing. And also suicide, And the answer to that is no. We’ve still been able
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