George Bush has seen a lot of American death during his presidency. On and off our shores, many Americans have died as victims and they have died in battle. And, it looks like there may be more loss of life coming.

Its December 2005 and our President has set aside $1.2 billion “to purchase enough doses of [the] vaccine from manufacturers to vaccinate 20 million people" (http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2005/11/20051101-1.html). He and many other world leaders expect a global pandemic that could begin to spread from birds to people and then rapidly from one major global city to another. Most say we are “due” for such a strain. Most disease specialists say its not a matter of “if.” It’s a matter of “when.” National Geographic (October, 2005) reports that while the wrongly labeled “Spanish Flu” of 1918 killed 50-100 million world-wide, today’s coming Asiatic “bird flu” could kill 180-360 million. That, potentially, is more death’s worldwide than the entire U.S. population.
The coming pandemic has found its way (along with warnings of floods, earthquakes, and tornadoes) into a number of prophecies by well-known and not-so-well known prophets via both large venues and simple church networks. Some of these “words” simply seem to be proclaiming what the media has already alerted us to while others seem to carry (at least to this author) the sense of divine authority. The words which I have “held to” (1 Thessalonians 5:19-22) have centered less in the call to “flee” and more in the themes “be prepared” and “show compassion one to another.”
Epidemics and the Rise of Christianity
There is historic precedent for the church to turn to in this regard. The following comments are drawn primarily from Chapter 4: “Epidemics, Networks, and Conversions” in The Rise of Christianity by Rodney Stark (1997). Stark, a sociologist at the University of Washington, wrote this book to make sense of the amazing growth of the Christian church. He writes from a sociological – not a theological – point-of-view. Setting subjective faith aside, Stark minimizes attributing early church growth to miracles and message. Instead, he points to certain social experiences in the first few centuries, AD.
In 165AD and again in 251AD, two devastating epidemics hit the Roman Empire. The two probable diseases, “smallpox and measles can produce massive morality rates when they strike a previously unexposed population” (p. 73). Stark believes that the Christian response to these epidemics made a significant contribution to the apparent “miraculous” growth of the church. Consider the following reasons:
1. The Content of Christian Faith was Hopeful
Pagan and Hellenistic philosophies in the Roman Empire could not bring comfort to people’s suffering. Christianity, on the other hand, “projected a hopeful, even enthusiastic, portrait of the future” (p. 74). Cyprian, bishop of Carthage, wrote in 251AD that the plague allowed Christians the chance to learn “not to fear death.” For Cyprian, this had to do with both facing one’s own death as well as the way believers say goodbye to “our brethren who have been freed from the world by the summons of the Lord” (cited in Stark, p. 81). Those who are “of the world” can make no sense of Christian hope amidst the fearful probability of death.
The growth of the church, in part, was due to the practiced beliefs of Roman Christians. This hope – and the real life evidence that this was no “wish theology” – was compelling and attractive to “those without hope.”
2. Christians had a moral obligation to love others
Stark says that something “alien to paganism was the notion that because God loves humanity, Christians cannot please God unless they love one another….Moreover, such responsibilities were to be extended beyond the reach of family and tribe…These were revolutionary ideas” (p. 86). Consider, in contrast, the example of Galen, the famous classical physician who “lived through the first epidemic.” Stark asks, “What did he do? He got out of Rome quickly, retiring to a country estate in Asia Minor until the danger receded” (p. 86). The critique that this is just one’s man’s response deserves an answer: This is “what any prudent person would have done, had they the means – unless, of course, they were ‘Galileans’ [Christians]” (p. 86). In Rome, brother turned away from brother, child from parent and friends left friends to die. The pagans did not provide sacrificial care for one another. They cared only for themselves.
In his book Plagues and Peoples (1976) William McNeill comments, “When all normal services break down, quite elementary nursing will greatly reduce mortality. Simple provision of food and water, for instance, will allow persons who are temporarily too weak to cope for themselves to recover instead of perishing miserably” (p. 108). Pagans saw Christians do this for one another and they experienced Christians doing this, even for themselves as nonChristians. They saw Christian care-givers undergo the “miracle” of martyrdom and in this they learned about the One who gave His life for them. Others who were ill experienced the “miracle” of healing when they got well through the loving touch and drinks of water that accompanied the heart-felt prayers of Christian friends.
In drawing out the implications of this, Stark describes what would have occurred in the population of a hypothetical Roman city and offers some statistical analysis. I will try and summarize his insights here. (For more detail, see pages 91-93.)
First, Stark notes that the Christian population in Rome, prior to the plagues, was significantly lower than the pagan population.
Second, it can be assumed that the survival rate among Christians was much higher than it was among nonChristians, due simply to the impact of Christian compassion expressed in very elementary forms of nursing.
Third, many pagans fled when the afflictions came while a larger number of Christians chose to stay, offering care to one another and even to those outside their circle-of-belief. One can see how the Christian demographic would have risen while the pagan population would have decreased.
Fourth, when sick pagans were cared for by Christians, a natural bond of gratitude would be created. The unbelievers who “pulled through” due to Christian love, would want to continue to exist within loving Christian enclaves. But even pagans who did not get sick would have perceived the difference in the way Christians expressed compassion from the self-centered response of those who did not share the Christian’s hope. This would provide an attractive picture of the Christian community that a pagan would not likely have previously aware of.
Stark helps us understand the implications of all this by saying, “Another way to look at this is to put oneself in the place of a pagan who, before the epidemic, had five very close attachments, four with pagans and one with a Christian….[After the epidemic]…there is, in effect, one of each – a dramatic equalization” (p. 92). The consequence? “…pagan survivors faced greatly increased odds of conversion because of their increased attachment to Christians” (p. 93).

The Coming Pandemic and Simple Church Groups and Networks
This provides an exciting, albeit sobering, opportunity for simple churches. We have a few things going for us here that can make us an important key to meeting the needs that we, and our friends, may face in the days ahead. For one thing, we are committed to front-line relationship with nonChristian people. We have chosen to make relationship, not programs or paperwork, our strategy. That means that nothing should stand between us and the ability to offer care.
Furthermore, simple churches don’t have (or shouldn’t have) a complex “permission giving bureaucracy” that slows down obedient compassion. In contrast, I heard about a traditional church that three months into its fiscal year could no longer provide assistance to needy people because their budgetary “Love Fund” had been depleted. This leads to a further advantage simple churches have: we generally have no overhead – no pastor to pay, no building maintenance expenses, no curriculum to purchase – so we have (or could have) a large amount of expendable resources to meet the needs of people in desperate need.
So then, what can we do? Here are a few very practical ideas.
1. Actualize Paul’s instruction to Timothy
“Tell those who are rich in this world not to be proud and not to trust in their money, which will soon be gone. But their trust should be in the living God, who richly gives us all we need for our enjoyment. Tell them to use their money to do good. They should be rich in good works and should give generously to those in need, always being ready to share with others whatever God has given them…” (1 Timothy 6:17, 18).
It is not totally the case, but it is largely true, that the current house church explosion in North America have been among the middle-class those, in Paul’s words, who are “rich in this world.” As leaders and churches, we need to hold our hands open, prepared to meet needs where God makes that possible. This includes the victims of a tsunami or earthquake far-away as well as to the victims of a flood or pandemic that hit closer to home.
It is my opinion that we don’t need to feel obliged to give to or through a Christian organization, choosing, rather to give to those who are able to on the front line quickly. On the other hand, sharing resources with churches near the area of need may allow for churches to be agents of grace and to build deeper friendships with those whose lives they touch. This works best when churches across region, nation, or even world are in trusted relationships with one another. Finally, we may also choose to go directly to the need to offer food and care in direct and tangible ways, rather than simply writing a check.
What about setting up a “PantryX2”? A “pantry times two” is when you purchase and set up another pantry of goods to mirror the one you use week in and week out. Buying and having twice as much is a practical way you can “be prepared” to share with others if the opportunity should arise.
2. Prepare yourself spiritually.
The work of compassion is built upon the work of the Spirit in our lives. Growing strong in grace is God’s means of strengthening us for the work of ministry. “Prayer,” says Nouwen, McNeil, and Morrison, “reveals to us the Spirit of the compassionate God” (Compassion, 1982, p. 108) and “a growing intimacy with God deepens our sense of responsibility for others. It evokes in us an always increasing desire to bring the whole world with all its suffering and pains around the divine fire in our heart and to share the revitalizing heat with all who want to come” (p.109). Prayer is the calisthenics that get you in shape for the marathon of service. Hear, again the authors of Compassion: A Reflection on the Christian Life: “Prayer and action, therefore, can never be seen as contradictory or mutually exclusive. Prayer without action grows into powerless pietism, and action without prayer degenerates into questionable manipulation. If prayer leads us into a deeper unity with the compassionate Christ, it will always give rise to concrete acts of deeper solidarity with the poor, the hungry, the sick, and dying, and the oppressed, they will always give rise to prayer. In prayer we meet Christ, and in him all human suffering. In service we meet people, and in them the suffering Christ” (p. 116, 117).
Any intention to sacrificially meet the needs of sick and dying people – should the pandemic come, for us, that close to home, will only be actualized by people who are intimately connected to Jesus. Only those in his daily school of discipleship will have the inner stuff to nurse the dying the way 1st and 2nd century Christians did in Rome. It depends, not so much on how merciful we are, but on how deeply we ourselves long to know Christ.
3. Be prepared for Rapid Response
One of my favorite churches exists “on the alert.” When there is a need of national proportion, they are ready to send a team without delay. Is there need for nurses? There is a team ready! Is there a need for contractors? There is a team ready? Is there a need for people to deliver food and others supplies? The church will quickly assemble a team to go and meet the need. Again, simple churches, with hardly any complications, should exist “on alert,” prepared to make a rapid response.
David W is an experienced church planter and missionary. He and his family have been close to front line work in the harvest and have had the privilege of training many converts from Islam as they prepare to work among their people as Evangels and CPers. David has worked in a world where the believers have had to be ready daily for a ready response to whatever critical situation might arise. In countries throughout the Middle East and Asia brothers and sisters must deal daily with the fallout of their decisions to follow Christ. They are being kidnapped, beaten, fired from their jobs, and killed. This is a man-made catastrophe to be certain, but it has created an environment where the followers of the faith stand ready to meet the needs of one another as well as the general needs of their neighbors, even those who are persecuting them.
Today, Dave lives in New York City and is facilitating a movement called the “Simple Church Action Network.” (SCAN) This is a network, specifically focused on getting simple church networks mobilized for Rapid Response. The Simple Church movement to this point has been woefully marginalized when faced with the commands to serve the poor and meet the needs of the hurting. SCAN exists to network, mobilize and equip the brothers and sisters within the Simple Church Movement to be “on mission” with God as the world becomes increasingly burdened with natural disasters, pandemics, poverty, disease, and war.

4. Know non-Christians!
Do you have, within your circle of friends, people who don’t know Jesus whom you can be prepared to care for? Well, enough has been said about that in other places. To belabor the importance of this would be preaching to the choir.
Right?
I hope so.
I also hope that the pandemic doesn’t come (see “NOTE below). I hope that neither me, nor my children, nor my children’s children ever experience an earthquake here in S. California. I hope that no terrorists will ever board a plane that you or I are traveling on.
But it is probable that these kinds of things will come to pass. It is likely they will happen – to me, around me, or to and around someone/s I know. If, or when, something tragic occurs, I want to be ready to spread the gospel-virus…in word and deed.
How about you? How about your church or simple church network?
Scott Wilson is a house church planter in Summit County, Colorado. One of the things God has given Scott is a Big Red Bus that is used in many creative ways to reach into the community. Recently, Scott and some friends (Christian people and non-Christian people) from the County took the bus – loaded with food and fun – down to Gulfport, Mississippi. They blessed many children and families during the week they were there. Not only was this a very tangible expression of love to the people of Gulfport, but leading this project has increased Scott and Tina’s credibility in their own community. They were able to meet the needs outside their community rapidly, while also serving as honorable members of their community. You may not have a Big Red Bus, but can your cluster of churches be ready to go and care when needs come to your awareness?

If you would like more information as SCAN develops, send an email expressing your interest to groverbonfire@yahoo.com. Exciting things are in the works for those who want to be prepared for Apostolic Mission on the front lines of the globalocal harvest!
NOTE: When this article was completed, a Special Report came to our attention in which reasons were given why the bird flu may not be as certain as the citations in this article have suggested. The author, Dr. George Friedman of Stratfor. Friedman notes,
“Although we are not medical experts, among our sources are those who are. And here is what we have been able to conclude based on their input and our broader analysis of the bird flu threat:
Calm down.
Now let us qualify that: Since December 2003, the H5N1 bird flu virus -- which has caused all the ruckus -- has been responsible for the documented infection of 121 people, 91 one of whom caught the virus in Vietnam. In all cases where information on the chain of infection has been confirmed, the virus was transmitted either by repeated close contact with fowl or via the ingestion of insufficiently cooked chicken products. In not a single case has human-to-human communicability been confirmed. So long as that remains the case, there is no bird flu threat to the human population of places such as Vietnam at large, much less the United States…”
To access the full article, go to https://www.stratfor.com/products/premium/search_new.php?searchStr=%2Bbird+%2Bflu&page=10&limit=10 and go to “Special Report: The Bird Flu and You”
We do not believe that the perspective in Friedman’s article invalidates the themes and recommendations that are presented above. Whether the bird flu comes or not, “being alert” and “ready to share” are the calls upon the lives of Christian disciples and disciplemaking communities. May God give us the grace to offer love and compassion to one another and to others in need.

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