Lutherans around the world respond to COVID-19

Faith Lutheran Church (Batuan City, Philippines) distributes face masks to local residents during the coronavirus pandemic.

WORLD – As people across the globe struggle with the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, confessional Lutherans are reaching out with the comfort of the Gospel as well as practical care.

Since April, the International Lutheran Council (ILC) has been chronicling the response of member church bodies around the world in a series of reports on its website. To date, the ILC has highlighting the response of 24 Lutheran church bodies across the globe, including churches in: Argentina, Australia and New Zealand, Belgium, Canada, Chile, Germany, Ghana, Haiti, India, Japan, Nicaragua, the Philippines, Russia, Rwanda, Sweden, South Africa, South Sudan, Togo, the United States of America, and the United Kingdom.

“We understand this is not the ideal way,” said ILC-Chile Bishop Omar Kinas. “However, we have taken advantage of technology in order to continue proclaiming the Gospel.”

Many of these nations have banned church gatherings to limit the spread of the coronavirus. In response, churches have acted quickly to provide online resources for members during the pandemic—through live-streamed worship services, downloadable devotional resources, and social media outreach. The Confessional Lutheran Church of Chile (ILC-Chile), for example, launched a series of daily devotional videos online, featuring the church body’s pastors, vicars, and seminary students. “We understand this is not the ideal way,” said ILC-Chile Bishop Omar Kinas. “However, we have taken advantage of technology in order to continue proclaiming the Gospel.”

While many churches have focused on online outreach during the pandemic, this is still an imperfect solution in some parts of the world. In Haiti, for example, a majority of the population do not have electricity. The Evangelical Lutheran Church of Haiti (ELCH) is still ministering to its members through electronic forms—sharing sermons via WhatsApp, for example—but people without regular access to electricity often cannot read or hear these messages until several days later.

“Our church is in a learning curve as to how to serve our membership,” said CLCSA Bishop Mandla Khumalo. “We have learned and are learning even more the importance of households becoming the church, with fathers effectively being encouraged to go back to using Luther’s Small Catechism to minister to their families.”

The St. Peter Confessional Lutheran Church of South Africa (CLCSA)—which has many members in rural and remote areas, often without easy access to internet—has likewise found it a challenge to minister to members during this time. “Our church is in a learning curve as to how to serve our membership,” said CLCSA Bishop Mandla Khumalo. “We have learned and are learning even more the importance of households becoming the church, with fathers effectively being encouraged to go back to using Luther’s Small Catechism to minister to their families.”

That emphasis on encouraging a greater home devotional life has been true in churches across the globe—one of the good things to come out of the current pandemic. Lutheran Church–Canada (LCC), for example, encouraged pastors early on to disinfect and distribute hymnals to all members, along with a guide on using the hymnal for personal and family devotions.

The churches of the International Lutheran Council are also providing practical care in the midst of the pandemic. In the Philippines, for example, several congregations of the Lutheran Church in the Philippines (LCP) have given away face masks, as well as food supplies to families in need. In Ghana, where many people live hand to mouth, the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Ghana (ELCG) has rolled out a range of activities to support the needy and less privileged in their communities, thanks in part to financial support from The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod (LCMS).

The churches of the International Lutheran Council are also providing practical care in the midst of the pandemic. In the Philippines, for example, several congregations of the Lutheran Church in the Philippines (LCP) have given away face masks, as well as food supplies to families in need.

These are just some of the many ways confessional Lutherans around the world are responding to COVID-19. “This is a time to have faith, and for the Church of Christ to be a light to the world,” said Bishop Dieter Reinstorf of the Free Evangelical Lutheran Synod in South Africa (FELSISA). “This can only happen through the Word of God and His Spirit. We therefore humble ourselves before God, acknowledge our dependency on Him, call for mercy, rejoice in our salvation in Jesus Christ, and pray that God may use even the COVID-19 pandemic to our benefit to the salvation of mankind.”

For more information on how member churches of the ILC have responded to the coronavirus pandemic, visit: https://ilc-online.org/tag/covid-19/.

———————

The International Lutheran Council is a global association of confessional Lutheran church bodies, including Lutheran Church–Canada.

Print this article