Since the beginning of the coronavirus crisis, several books have addressed the pandemic and how to deal with it from a Christian perspective.

Well-known authors John Lennox and John Piper are among the ones who have written about it.

Recently, Jason Mandryk of Operation World has launched an e-book called “Global transmission, global mission”, which “takes readers through an overview of the implications of the coronavirus for the global church, and specifically, its impact on global mission”.

From a prayer request to an e-book

Mandryk explains that the book “originally began as an outflow of prayer. Given the restrictions of lockdowns in Operation World team members’ countries, we started the online practice of praying for the nations together”.

“The best way to do that, was to hear from believers on the ground: local pastors, teachers, researchers, intercessors, and missionaries. We began to receive input from them, and felt that we shouldn’t keep such valuable and timely prayer material to ourselves”, he adds.

They started posting it to their Facebook page, but people requested “a way to access the content without having to log into that particular environment”, so that they created a website.

Mandryk was then asked to submit a short article to a publication about “how the world mission was being affected by the unfolding global pandemic”.

“We were able to invoke a stunning array of wisdom and information. The three networks we connect to most closely are International Prayer Connect, the Lausanne Movement, and the Mission Commission of the World Evangelical Alliance”, Mandryk recalls in the book.

According to the author, “that’s when the idea of publishing in this format arose. It is worth noting that this effort began as an op-ed article and not an academic dissertation or published book, and its formatting and annotation reflect that”.

“A holistic view of how Christian faith and the coronavirus are connected”

“Not all of what I write about is obviously related to mission, at least not in an immediate sense [...] this is an attempt to construct a framework offering a holistic view of how Christian faith and practice and the coronavirus are connected. Inevitably, the outcome is incomplete and subjective”, Mandryk points out.

He underlines that “some of it may be challenging, or even offensive, to some people. In an ever-changing situation, a good amount of what I write even now could be made obsolete as the situation develops across the coming weeks and months”.

Church life, mission, media, prayer and hope

Throughout the eleven chapters of the e-book, Mandryk “submits a numbered list of observations about the impact that coronavirus may have” on social cultural issues, the economy, as well as the Christian testimony.

In addition to those topics, he mainly focuses on the church life during the lockdown and the current mission challenges regarding “sending, mobilization and mission field realities”.

The author dedicates one chapter to the Christian media and another one to prayer, stressing that “now is the perfect season for the global Church, not only to cultivate the discipline of prayer, but to demonstrate the power of prayer”.

He concludes the book with a chapter called “Reasons for hope”, pointing out that “amidst all the uncertainty, mistrust, despair, and frustration, Christians above all should resonate with hope”.

You can download the free e-book here.