Sunday night’s Church at the Catch witnessed even more interaction — the most interaction we’ve had involving many who otherwise would have attended a local church but couldn’t because services were canceled due to self-imposed quarantines as an aid to prevention against the spread of the coronavirus. There may be a silver lining on this pandemic (indeed, I bet there will be many good things that will come out of this one truly bad thing) and that is that the Catch Ministries have already “bought our place in cyberspace” and we have a place for you that is “social” and safe.

In case you haven’t noticed, we have grown way beyond the daily Catch. We are an online body of Christ; we have a church that is already worshiping, training, praying, healing, counseling, encouraging, and putting boots on the ground everywhere anyone can still go, introducing people to the Gospel of Welcome — Grace Turned Outward — to everyone, everywhere.

So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip the saints for work of the ministry, so that the body of Christ may be built up. (Ephesians 4:11-12)

The notion of unity in the body is of great importance, since it places equal value on each man and woman as a servant, uniquely and individually gifted and responsible to the Lord, the Head of the church. This observes Jesus’ warning in Matthew 23:6-12 that His disciples must not follow the example of the Pharisees who loved places of honor and hierarchical titles: We have only one Master … the Lord Christ, who said: “The greatest among you will be your servant. For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.” (Matthew 23:11-12)

Little did any of us suspect the phenomenal current events for which the Spirit was equipping us. The principle of caring for believers in teaching Biblical truth, preparing them to reach beyond themselves to a needy world, is God’s way of preparing us for the radical changes that are taking place in our culture, which opens up the wonderful opportunity to combine the teaching of the Word with the sharing of life experiences. This marks the inception of the Catch Ministry’s “body life,” occurring first at the Church at the Catch and soon in many other arenas within the Catch.

Most notably in our Wednesday night International Video Conferencing Bible Study via the Zoom format where up to 100 people can meet online, see each other and talk to each other. You must get in on it. It’s the only place I know of where you can join a gathering of over 10 people and not defy the health authorities. Wednesday’s Catch will have all the instructions, so join us and experience what we call Body Life online.

To the extent that this ministry is rooted and grounded in basic biblical principles, it is right and good. And this type of contagion is indeed exciting. For you and others, it is essential to realize that this is a movement of the Spirit of God, whose action is like the wind. To again use the words of Jesus, “The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.” (John 3:8.)

The fire lit by the Spirit to illumine Biblical principles becomes the paradigm for the life of the body here at the Catch Ministry. Wherever God’s people meet together, the principles of edifying one another with Biblical truth, along with honest sharing and earnest prayer, will become the norm. The goal of Ephesians 4, a growing maturity along with a commitment to serving, is the foundation that I pray will always continue to flourish as the members of the body respond to the faithful teaching of the word of truth.