[Dr. Rex Butler is the John T. Westbrook Chair of Church History at the New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary]

During Spring 2020, the Coronavirus pandemic dominates our lives, our families, and our ministries. When you turn on the TV, the news is all Coronavirus, all the time! Medical advisors and civic authorities are urging, if not requiring, us to stay at home, isolate or even quarantine ourselves. In order to comply, churches are improvising multiple ways to reach out to their members and their communities by means of a variety of online platforms. I heard one anecdote in which a church of sixty livestreamed their worship service for the first time and received eight hundred views! So to apply Paul’s words to a very different circumstance, “what has happened … has actually advanced the gospel” (Philippians 1:12). God’s plan for the church always is to advance the gospel in spite of, or because of, our circumstances. Church history tells many stories of Christians who reached out to the neighbors during times of crisis in order to share the love of Jesus.

The Plague of Cyprian

During the middle decades of the third century of the church, a widespread plague nearly brought an end to the Roman Empire. Historians often call this epidemic the “plague of Cyprian,” named for the bishop of Cathage, North Africa, who described its gruesome symptoms in his treatise On Mortality. These symptoms included diarrhea, vomiting, blood-rimmed eyes, loss of hearing and sight; and the disease most often ended in death. Some Christians in Carthage were dismayed that they, too, were susceptible to the disease, but Bishop Cyprian assured them that those Christians who died were liberated to eternal life. The bishop urged his people not only to care for their Christian brothers and sisters but also to show benevolence to their non-Christian neighbors. In this way, they showed love to those who persecuted them, and they overcame evil with good.

Christian nursing might have been as simple as providing food and water to the ailing, who otherwise were too weak to provide for themselves. Christians’ care both for themselves and for their unbelieving neighbors reduced mortality possibly by as much as two thirds. The healings that resulted from their ministries gave rise to their reputation as “miracle workers.” While nursing the sick, Christians offered assurance of salvation through Jesus and rewards in the afterlife to those who did not survive. Outcomes of this epidemic, therefore, included healings, conversions, and the growth of the church.

Ulrich Zwingli

Fast forward to the sixteenth century, and an even more virulent plague was devastating Europe – the bubonic plague, or “Black Death”. Once the disease took hold of its victim, death came within days or even hours. Reports told that a person went to bed healthy but was found dead in the morning. A doctor or priest would attend to the sick and then die even before the patient. Few people dared to help the afflicted. Most barred themselves inside their houses or fled from the cities. Wherever and whenever the plague struck, a third of the population died.

In 1519, the plague reached Zurich, Switzerland, where Ulrich Zwingli served as pastor and later became a leading Reformer. In spite of personal danger, he ministered to the sick and dying, which included his own brother. Soon, he himself contracted the life-threatening disease.

In spiritual crisis, Zwingli cried out to God in the form of a song, known as his “Plague Hymn” He wrote the first four stanzas at the onset of the disease, asking help from the Lord, his strength and rock. As he perceived death approaching, he wrote the next four stanzas, in which he claimed no fear of Satan because he rested beneath the cross of Christ. Finally, after his victorious recovery, he pictured himself standing healed upon the earth once again. And yet he recognized that, although delayed, his hour still will come, and then he will rise with joy to the skies to sing his praises to his God and Lord. Zwingli’s hymn reflected his faith in spite of difficult, even life-threatening circumstances.

New Orleans

New Orleans, because it is a port city, surrounded by swamps and subject to heat and humidity, often suffers from epidemics of various diseases. For example, Yellow Fever broke out almost annually during the nineteenth century, although some years were worse than others. Back then, the cause was unknown, but we know now that the disease is spread by mosquitoes in warm, humid places, making New Orleans a ready target. Victims of Yellow Fever experienced jaundice (hence the name), fever, nausea, convulsions, and bleeding. The death rate was as high as half of those who contracted the disease.

In 1847, over two thousand deaths from Yellow Fever were recorded. One victim was Isaac Taylor Hinton, pastor of First Baptist Church, New Orleans. Hinton came to the church from St. Louis, Missouri, two years earlier. During his tenure, his church grew from 27 members to about one hundred, but that growth was halted by the outbreak of Yellow Fever. As a pastor ministering to members of his church and the community at large, Hinton contracted the dread disease and died five days later on August 27, 1847.

In 1918, a different epidemic, the Spanish Flu, swept across the nation, affecting New Orleans and the fledgling Baptist Bible Institute, which is known today as New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. In October of that year, the health authorities of New Orleans ordered all schools, colleges, and churches to suspend gatherings for the duration of the crisis. Faculty members, therefore, developed a curriculum that could be delivered at a distance. They assigned lessons and administered weekly exams by mail. This process continued until the quarantine was lifted on November 19. In response to the lifting of the quarantine and the end of World War I, the faculty and students of the Institute gathered in the dining room for the first Family Thanksgiving Dinner.

A Contemporary Story from China

Ground Zero for the Coronavirus outbreak was China, beginning in December 2019 in the city of Wuhan. The new disease spread quickly throughout China and then rapidly around the world. Although the Chinese government responded slowly and guardedly to the new disease, by the eve of the Spring Festival on January 25, 2020, most of China was on lockdown.

These restrictions impacted China’s immense Christian population and thousands of churches. In Beijing, Chongwenmen Christian Church suspended meetings, while its members worshiped at home. The congregation donated 500,000 yuan to the disaster-stricken city of Wuhan.

One member of the church is Sister Ma Wenshu, who made her own contribution to the needs of her community in Beijing. She works as an elevator driver at the Maternal and Child Health Hospital. Working in an elevator in a hospital places her at risk of the Coronavirus, but she does so, trusting in the Lord and thereby bringing peace to those she serves. For spiritual direction, she prays every day and recites Psalms. To provide practical safety for herself and her passengers, she disinfects the elevator every two hours during her ten-hour shifts. Sister Ma Wenshu is only one of thousands of ordinary Christian Chinese workers who do their jobs unto the Lord.

Lessons to Learn

Church history tells countless stories of Christians who ministered in Jesus’s name to their neighbors during times of crisis. As we face the Coronavirus crisis in 2020, we can learn lessons from our brothers and sisters of yesterday and today as we respond to the needs all around us and across our nation and globe.

First, we are blessed with knowledge, which our forebears lacked, about the causes of diseases and ways to stop their spread. Therefore, we need to observe the directives issued by our healthcare and government authorities: shelter in place, practice social distancing, wash hands frequently and thoroughly, cough into our elbows, and do not shake hands.

We give praise to the Lord at all times, whether in sickness or in health. But we also cry out to him in times of our distress. Like Zwingli, we can compose a hymn or find other creative ways to express our feelings.

Schools as well as churches must adapt to the current reality of social distancing. The early teachers at the Baptist Bible Institute provided good examples of alternative delivery systems, which were much more limited than the online options at our disposal.

Many of us continue to work in public places and to help our communities in practical ways. Let us do so in the name of our Lord with grace and peace toward those with whom we connect.

Along the way, a Christian brother or sister or an unbelieving neighbor may contract the Coronavirus and need a touch from us – literally. By whatever means available and necessary, we must serve others in the name of Jesus. Yes, there is a sense in which serving others means staying at home. But in another sense, when serving others requires human contact, we must reach out without fear and with God’s love. In the early centuries of the church, that’s what Christians did, and as a result, Christianity spread around the world.
Finally, remember that the end of this crisis will come – it always does, although we never know when. But when the Coronavirus crisis passes, restrictions are lifted, and our lives resume some semblance of normalcy, remember to give thanks! Give thanks to our God who heals, our God who provides.