Canadian Baptists of Ontario and Quebec

by Carol Gouveia, Team Coordinator, Church Life and Leadership

I’m looking out my window at a world that is springing to life, trees budding and birds building. A perfect picture of the resurrection, God making all things new. Here we are in the midst of a pandemic that feels like it will never end. What is God making new in that?

Dallas Friesen reminded us early in the pandemic that with every challenge, there’s an opportunity. If, when this is done, we simply go back to “normal,” we will have missed that opportunity.

In my role as Team Coordinator for the Church Life and Leadership Team at CBOQ, I’ve been in the background on innumerable Zoom calls, trying to keep things running smoothly. We’ve heard many people talk about Zoom fatigue – and that’s real. I, on the other hand, am energized!

Let me explain. I have had the opportunity and blessing to see you, CBOQ Pastors and leaders, gathered together from the corners of our constituency, from Montreal to Kenora, from Windsor to Ottawa. I have witnessed you love and encourage one another. You have had conversations and prayed with people you never would have been with at any other time, in any other place, even Assembly. Some of you have been able to participate in gatherings that you would not have been able to live and in person.

You have shared stories of how your reach has extended into your neighbourhoods and beyond, even beyond our provincial and national borders. You, the church, have demonstrated that the church is not the building – it is the people!

These moments may be virtual, but they are very, very real. These connections make us stronger. And they renew my hope and energy for another day.

We may dream, hope and pray that there is a day in the not too distant future when we can be together again physically. I, for one, hope that we don’t give up this new habit of meeting together virtually. It’s very clear to me that the presence of Christ has been among us.