Did the lockdown of 2020 help Christianity grow in numbers, reform or renewal?

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I am unable to access the article published in the Express newspaper and cannot comment on the claims made therein. What this “Christmas lockdown” might involve is probably speculative at this moment in time. Apart from that, I seldom believe claims written in tabloid newspapers unless they are supported by irrefutable sources.

Having said that, I wholeheartedly agree with you that Christmas should focus on Christ Jesus rather on eating, drinking and spending money, which is nothing more than commercialisation.

If I understand your question correctly, you are not really asking about what might or might not happen in Gibraltar but whether the previous lockdowns have resulted in the growth of Christianity and whether there has been reform and/or renewal.

I can only comment on what has been happening in my town, which is located in a rural area of Scotland. I hope this will not be viewed as opinion-based because I can provide simple statistics to support the growth, reform and renewal of one Christian church.

Pre-lockdown a small Baptist church in my town had gone into decline. There were only five members and the old church building was structurally unsafe and had to be sold. This left the very small congregation of believers renting a very small building (it used to be a toilet next to the ruined abbey and the car park). They had been praying for many years for revival and, more urgently, for an accredited minister to accept the vacant position.

Weeks before the first lockdown, a Baptist minister was offered and accepted the post and moved himself and his family to our small town to answer the call. There were still only five church members.

Two lockdowns and 18 months later, there are now 25 church members and the possibility of renting a much larger property in the town centre where we can reach out into the community to serve and to share the gospel. This is not as a result of technology (although on-line services were deployed) or government intervention, but can be directly attributed to answered prayers – heartfelt prayers for revival in this small town.

My friends in the local Evangelical church (non-denominational) have also experienced growth and are now back out into the community to reach out to people who have suffered, who are lost and lonely and who have yet to experience the love of God.

In spite of Covid-19, lockdowns and vaccination programmes, the good news of the kingdom, which is all about Christ Jesus, continues to be declared without apology or excuse and God has blessed us.

Edit: I agree with you that there is a spiritual imperative to give thanks regardless of what might happen (1 Thessalonians 5:18). There is also a spiritual imperative not to judge others, but to leave the judging to God. Just because some ‘conservative’ Christians might refuse to be vaccinated is no reason to tar all of them with the same brush. We stand or fall before the judgment seat on the basis of our individual words and deeds. Let us focus on our own standing before God and leave God to deal with the rest.

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