I miss baseball. The Braves were supposed to play their home opener last week and I decided to watch an opening day highlight from a few years ago. That was… not a good idea.

We all have things that we’re missing right now. Like me, you may be missing sports, or maybe you miss traveling, spending time with extended family, or enjoying a meal inside your favorite restaurant.

There is nothing inherently wrong with missing those things or any number of other things. But are those the only things on our minds? During a season where we have been separated from the vast majority of face-to-face interactions with others, I wonder how much we miss discipling others and evangelism? Are we frustrated by the limitations social distancing has placed on these two essential parts of the Christian life?

Make no mistake: they are essential. We know this first and foremost because Jesus commanded it: “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you” (Matthew 28:19-20). Kingdom citizens make disciples. It is not something that’s reserved for the person we feel is more gifted or talented than ourselves. We are all called to it.

Paul writes about this in his letter to Titus:

“Older women... They are to teach what is good, and so train the young women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled, pure, working at home, kind, and submissive to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be reviled. Likewise, urge the younger men to be self-controlled.”  (Titus 2:3-6)

He also points to this in Ephesians 4:12 where he says that Christ has given shepherd-teachers (pastors) to the church “to equip the saints for the work of ministry”. In both cases what we see is that churches do not hire “professional” ministers to handle all the work of making and maturing disciples. While this is certainly part of what Pastors do, Paul shows that an essential function of the office is to equip the believer in the pew to engage their children, neighbors, and co-workers with the message of Christ crucified for sins and resurrected from the dead. No one is exempt from participating in Kingdom work. Every believer plays a role in seeing worship of God spread, specifically through the disciplines of disciple-making and evangelism.

But in the strange season we are in, social distancing has severely hampered these efforts because both of these tasks require proximity to people. Essential to disciple-making and evangelism is being with people, developing and deepening relationships for the purpose of seeing them grow in their affections for Christ.

Of course, for some, social distancing has increased opportunity to disciple and evangelize individuals we are with daily. Parents, your first obligation in this regard is to your children. You do not have to wait for restrictions to be lifted to go about this work. God has blessed you with the children you have and supplied you with the grace you need to teach them about Him. Perhaps you have an unbelieving spouse or relative and this season is giving you more opportunity to talk with them. In these instances, this season has actually increased opportunities you have perhaps overlooked – or simply shied away from.

Someone else might say “But I can still do those things. I can call someone on the phone. I can FaceTime or Zoom with people. I can write them an email” and those are true statements. We are not completely cut off from opportunities to continue or to begin discipling relationships or to evangelize the lost. Yet, I think you would agree with me there is something different, something missing, when we cannot have those conversations face-to-face. In fact, I think it is good if we close out a video chat feeling a bit unfulfilled. If you have been separated from a loved one for a period of time and only had video chats to carry you through until you could be together again, you know this empty feeling. Those chats are good but they simply are not enough.

Should we not feel that same tension, that same sense of lacking, about making and maturing disciples of Jesus? Video chats and phone calls might bridge a gap but it simply cannot take the place of face-to-face interaction.

Think of what has been taken away by social distancing:

• There is no inviting a college student to come over and help fold the laundry while you talk through the major life decision they are wrestling with.
• You cannot bring people into your home, allowing your manner of life to serve as a model of a Godly marriage, Godly parenting, or Christian hospitality.
• There is no inviting your neighbors over, getting to know them and coming to understand what they believe about Christ, while their kids play with your kids.
• There is no stopping by your co-worker’s desk to find out how or if they celebrated Easter, and to talk with them about the weekly gathering of God's people to celebrate Jesus’ resurrection.
• There is no chatting with the waitress at your restaurant or a stranger in the grocery store aisle about the good news of Jesus.

If you haven’t felt the loss of opportunities to disciple someone or share the gospel, a question worth asking is were they priorities to begin with? Let me ask: have you tended to take for granted that these opportunities will always be available to you? Because you expect that, do you often find yourself saying “next time”? The next time we cross paths or the next time we hang out, then I will ask them about their faith.

Kicking the can down the road is easy – but to do so is inconsistent with the expectations Christ has for citizens in His Kingdom. As citizens in His Kingdom, every area of our life falls under His rule and reign. That means we go, making and maturing disciples for His glory.

Hopefully the COVID-19 Pandemic and social distancing will serve to remind us all of the temporary nature of things we have taken for granted. We are not guaranteed the same opportunities tomorrow that we have today. We are not even guaranteed tomorrow. May God grant us repentance for our apathy.

But maybe that leads to the question of where do I start? Often times, we answer that question by looking for a program to participate in but that’s not what we need. What we need is to be captivated by the glory of Christ.

We need to marvel at the love, mercy, and holiness of God as displayed in the cross.

We need to be awed by His power as displayed in the resurrection.

We need to be floored by the wisdom He has displayed in how He has worked throughout human history to save a people for Himself.

What we need more than a program is for God to produce in us deeper joy in Him by His Spirit through His word, prayer, and sound preaching. We cannot manufacture these sorts of emotions, this type of everlasting, life-transforming joy. We are desperate for God to do so! And so the very first step is repentance and pleading with God to work in our hearts as only He can.

Love for Christ must drive us to the disciplines of discipleship and evangelism (John 14:15). These are a direct result of growing affections for God. Simultaneously, even as we seek to make and mature disciples of Jesus, the work itself serves to continue growing those affections as we get a front row seat to watch Him work powerfully in the life of another person.

During this season, may God be gracious to increase our appetites for discipleship and evangelism and may His people respond with renewed vigor to see worship of Him spread.