Let’s talk about “faith over fear” for a second.

I agree, we should have faith in God over the fear of our circumstances. 2 Timothy 1:7 says:

“For God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.”

In situations when we’re afraid to act because of fear, God empowers us with the Spirit to love ourselves and others as well as exercise self-control and not act rashly.

I’ve seen many Christians over the past few months use this phrase “faith over fear” as a reason to resume church services as normal. I understand that desire to be together. The truth is, online church sucks compared to being together in person. Being with each other is incredibly meaningful and sometimes, it’s even a transformative experience. God created us for community. There are, right now, plenty of ways for small groups to gather and experience depth of conversation, joy, grief, and life together.

I earnestly desire to be in our church’s meeting location again to see my family, share communion, play with the kids, and connect with my friends over coffee in the lobby. Born and bred by the Church, I often feel as if I’m operating without a limb if I don’t “go to church” on Sundays. Right now, our church isn’t meeting in our regular space at our regular time, and it’s been hard. We’re trying other things, and you’re right, it’s not the same.

But I agree with and support our church’s decision. Why? Because God gives us a Spirit of power and love and self-control. God empowers us to love our neighbors as ourselves and with the ability to exercise self-control in order to put the needs of others over ourselves. Right now, if we are being told there’s a higher likelihood than normal that people could get very sick, why risk it? I know a lot of churches are fully back at it, and that’s their decision to make. I don’t mean to tell other people what to do.

What I do think is that we really need to stop using “faith over fear” to shame others or claim that our freedom of religion is being infringed upon. I do believe that for many, there is a rush to get back together like normal out of fear. Fears that some of our folks will not come back to our churches. Fears that our churches will run out of money. Fears that things will never be the same. I have good news: we can have faith over those fears.

We can have faith that God is working all things for good. We can have faith that God is preparing new avenues for growth and transformation, even as we are filled with fear. We can be patient, understanding that the Kingdom of God is so much bigger than this moment, our times, and our church buildings. Nothing that we as individuals do is even close to big enough to limit God’s power in any way.

So I’ll end with this. God has empowered us with love and self-control. We can have faith that God works outside of our normals. God is good, and way bigger than this moment.