What has ministry looked like for us over the past several months? Well, in short, nothing like we would have imagined a year ago, or even six months ago. While we had some fairly strict shutdowns here in Latvia last spring, cases over the summer fell dramatically and Latvia was almost completely opened up for business and social gatherings. However, in November, everything changed. Schools began to shut down or operate at 50% capacity; all events, public or private, were outlawed; all retail except for groceries and pharmacies were closed; and meeting with anyone outside of your own household was prohibited. These conditions still remain in effect as I write this on February 25. What has this meant for us? Here are some of the ways we have still been able to minister during this time:
40 Days of Purpose – Our church hosted a 40 days of purpose initiative back in the fall, which included a sermon series as well as small group studies through the book The Purpose-Driven Life, which was translated into Latvian. We hosted a small group comprised of both church members, and non-churched friends. Halfway through the 40 days, Covid restrictions were enacted and we had to finish our study and group meetings virtually.
Online worship services – Back in September, by God’s grace, our church was able to begin renting a full-time facility, as opposed to just renting meeting rooms on Sunday mornings. We had two wonderful months of in-person worship services and ministry events, but then were forced to go online. However, because we now have a place and equipment with which we can film/livestream worship services, our church has been reaching a much wider audience than we were able to in the spring.
Preaching/Worship leading – Luke has continued to preach and lead worship (usually on alternating Sundays) for our online worship services. Unfortunately, we are only able to have around 3-4 people in our worship space at a time, due to Covid restrictions, so Patty and the kids have had to stay at home and watch through the livestream and participate in the Zoom fellowship time after the service. However, Patty has contributed to our worship services by recording a Children’s Time almost every week.
Online outreach events – Along with our church, we have helped to host a number of online outreach events over the past several months. These include our Christmas Eve event, a women’s night, and a parenting seminar focused on raising adolescents during Covid lockdown. We are excited to see members of our church taking initiative and finding creative ways to meet the needs they see around them during these difficult days.
Women’ s small group – Patty has continued to help lead and participate in our church’s women’s group during this season. Over the past several months we have worked through a study on marriage over Zoom. We also were able to have two outdoor in-person fellowship times while maintaining social distance: a walk through our downtown when it was lit up at Christmastime and going cross-country skiing together!
Mentoring – Luke is continuing to mentor a number of young guys who have participated in the youth camps run by the Baptist Union. He regularly checks in with them, prays for them, and meets monthly with them and the other mentors/mentees for discipleship and encouragement (online, of course)
City Changers – Luke, along with the head of the Baptist churches here in Latvia, headed up an initiative called “City Changers,” a nine-month program encouraging pastors and church leaders here in Latvia to live missionally in their communities. Luke regularly led online discussion groups and facilitated training sessions for this group of 17 pastors and church leaders.
Online youth English club – For the four Friday nights in February, we have organized and hosted an online English club for youth. We have had a number of conversations with youth and families in our community about how teenagers are really struggling during this time. We began this English club as a ministry of our church to be a blessing to young people, help them with a practical skill (English conversation), and share with them the hope of the gospel. We are discussing topics such as family, school, culture, etc, discussing the ways that we see brokenness in our world, and then sharing with them the 3 Circles plan of evangelism, which explains how Christ came to bring hope and restoration into our brokenness. We regularly have 15-20 Latvian youth, as well as 10-12 Christian college students from Texas A&M university who are helping us lead breakout discussion groups.
So that’s what our life looks like these days! And of course, the everyday details of virtual school for three elementary students in a small apartment with a two-year-old brother running around!
