{"id":31190,"date":"2022-09-10T15:20:33","date_gmt":"2022-09-10T20:20:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/not-so-unprecedented-times-what-we-can-learn-from-the-spanish-flu-church\/"},"modified":"2022-09-10T15:20:33","modified_gmt":"2022-09-10T20:20:33","slug":"not-so-unprecedented-times-what-we-can-learn-from-the-spanish-flu-church","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/not-so-unprecedented-times-what-we-can-learn-from-the-spanish-flu-church\/","title":{"rendered":"Not So Unprecedented Times: What We Can Learn From the Spanish Flu Church"},"content":{"rendered":"
People wait in line to get flu masks to avoid the spread of Spanish influenza on Montgomery Street in San Francisco in 1918. – California State Library photo <\/p>\n

By Dwayne McCrary and Reid Patton<\/em><\/p>\n

The year 2020 has been a year of change and upheaval. \u201cNormal\u201d seems like a thing of the past, and we haven\u2019t yet reached what everyone keeps calling \u201cthe new normal.\u201d<\/p>\n

Our current cultural moment\u2014this space between certainty and uncertainty\u2014drove us to look at history to find out who else had experienced what we are currently enduring.<\/p>\n

Throughout this year you\u2019ve likely seen or read news stories comparing the current pandemic with the Spanish Flu of 1918-1919.<\/p>\n

Then, much like today, a novel virus spread quickly all over the world, shuttering theaters, restaurants, and churches.<\/p>\n

Stores ran short of household staples (Vick\u2019s VapoRub then, Lysol and toilet paper today).<\/p>\n

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The economy halted, cities closed off from the world, people were urged to wear masks, and people protested wearing masks.<\/p>\n

If those challenges weren\u2019t enough, the world was also embroiled in a global military conflict.<\/p>\n

In addition to the mass illness brought by the pandemic, 1919 was also marked by escalating racial tensions which boiled over into riots in many American cities.<\/p>\n

When our current social unrest began, that initiated another search and revealed more similarities between then and now.<\/p>\n

The quarantines, the economic uncertainty, and the social unrest make it feel like we\u2019re in uncharted territory.<\/p>\n

The events of 2020 have left many feeling adrift, reaching out for any piece of solid ground but coming up empty.<\/p>\n

Since most of us don\u2019t know anyone who was alive in 1919, it\u2019s easy to feel like we\u2019ve never been here before. And yet, a brief look into the not too distant past shows that in some ways, this is nothing new.<\/p>\n

Specifically, the church in America has been here before and emerged stronger on the other side, which raises the question: How did that happen?<\/p>\n

People searched for truth and certainty.<\/strong><\/h3>\n

In times of fear and uncertainty, people long to find a safe place where they can find truth and have open and honest conversations about what matters most.<\/p>\n

During the pandemic of the early 20th century, open Bible study groups provided a safe haven for struggling and searching people who desperately wanted to interact with others walking through the same hardships.<\/p>\n

Difficult times caused people to ask difficult questions. The years 1918 and 1919 were devastating. Depending on who you ask, 1% to 5.4% of the world\u2019s population died from Spanish flu.<\/p>\n

To put that into perspective, if the same situation played out today that would account for 78,000,000 and 421,200,000 deaths.<\/p>\n

Sadly, unlike COVID-19, Spanish flu had an unusually high mortality rate among 20- to 40-year-olds.<\/p>\n

Then, like today, many struggled to find reliable information. Today we suffer from information overload.<\/p>\n

During the Spanish Flu, the newspapers of the day were unreliable and censored. Soldiers returned from World War I unable to reenter society and unemployment soared.<\/p>\n

Tensions ran high, finger pointing quickly escalated, and the ensuing social unrest swelled into a summer of riots.<\/p>\n

But in the middle of a once-in-a-lifetime challenge, leaders in the church seized the unique opportunity God had placed before them.<\/p>\n

The church responded. <\/strong><\/h3>\n

During a pandemic, church leaders recognized the vital importance of attending ongoing group Bible Study (what they called Sunday School).<\/p>\n

Much like today, the leaders were creative and made adjustments to meet the demands of the occasion.<\/p>\n

Many groups met on days other than Sunday and away from the church building, even though they continued to use the name \u201cSunday School\u201d as a placeholder for the general idea.<\/p>\n

Arthur Flake was a businessman turned church leader who understood the connection between studying in a group and individual Bible study.<\/p>\n

Flake believed the Bible provided answers to life\u2019s big questions and that group Bible study helped individuals connect the truth of the Bible to their everyday lives.<\/p>\n

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The group dynamic held everyone accountable and created a place to share and process what they learned from their individual study of the Scriptures.<\/p>\n

Flake also believed Bible study should be for all people. He argued race, age, education, and work schedules shouldn\u2019t keep people from experiencing God\u2019s Word.<\/p>\n

He believed all<\/em> people\u2014even the skeptic\u2014needed to study the Bible and found ways to make that happen.<\/p>\n

They pivoted to be innovative in ministry. <\/strong><\/h3>\n

After the Spanish Flu, World War I, and the social unrest of 1919, life was different. There were no easy answers.<\/p>\n

Instead of focusing on what once was, church leaders got busy and charted a course for what could be.<\/p>\n

They created and launched many small group Bible studies. They found savvy ways of recruiting and training new teachers.<\/p>\n

They got creative and found new ways for groups to meet. They put Bible study resources (including resources from what is now Lifeway) into the hands of people who needed them.<\/p>\n

They embraced a difficult year of ministry and trusted God would build His church despite their current struggles.<\/p>\n

It took work and lots of prayer, but the church emerged stronger and found new and innovative ways to bring the hope of the gospel to their communities.<\/p>\n

When times seem uncertain, we can gain perspective and wisdom from those who came before us. The COVID-19 and Spanish Flu pandemics are by no means the first time God\u2019s people have faced uncertain times.<\/p>\n

In Haggai 2:1-7, we read about Zerubbabel and Joshua leading a group of returned exiles to rebuild the temple. But the work had stopped.<\/p>\n

Verse three gives us insight into the stoppage\u2014the new temple wouldn\u2019t be like it had been before the exile.<\/p>\n

While it\u2019s good and natural to mourn the loss of what was, God\u2019s people had work to do.<\/p>\n

God promised His presence in the process and wasn\u2019t God\u2019s presence the point of the temple anyway? God reminded them a better day was coming.<\/p>\n

The building they built would become the walls and temple visited by Jesus in the flesh.<\/p>\n

This alone made the temple they were about to build a greater temple than the one built by Solomon that they were so distraught over.<\/p>\n

They simply lacked the perspective to see what God would do with the work of their hands.<\/p>\n

Like the exiles of ancient Israel and the 20th century church, we have been here before and should be encouraged to pick up a stone and start building once again.<\/p>\n

Only God knows what He will do if we are willing to step out in faith and attend to the work He\u2019s given us. Through much uncertainty, we can be certain He will be faithful to us.<\/p>\n

DWAYNE MCCRARY<\/strong> leads in the creation of ongoing Bible studies for adults, is an adjunct professor at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, and teaches ongoing Bible study groups in his church. Dr. McCrary is married with two grown children, two grandchildren, and a third to be added in December.<\/em><\/p>\n

REID PATTON (jreidpatton)<\/strong> is an editor and content creator for Lifeway Christian Resources. For the past ten years, he has developed Bible study resources for pastors and churches across the country. He lives in Spring Hill, Tennessee with his wife, Kristen and daughter, Ceile.<\/em><\/p>\n

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People wait in line to get flu masks to avoid the spread of Spanish influenza on Montgomery Street in San Francisco in 1918. – California State Library photo By Dwayne McCrary and Reid Patton The year 2020 has been a year of change and upheaval. \u201cNormal\u201d seems like a thing of the past, and we … Continue reading “Not So Unprecedented Times: What We Can Learn From the Spanish Flu Church”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-31190","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sermons"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31190","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31190"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31190\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31190"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31190"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31190"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}