19 Covid Lessons the Church Cannot Ignore: Why "Back to Normal" Is Not an Option

Review\nThis book is a genuine collection of the problems besetting contemporary mainstream Western Christianity, accompanied by a creative call to return to a genuine Christ-centered form of life and ministry. Truthfulness and fruitfulness are its marks. This is a sure sign of its true prophetic teaching, the very antithesis of popularity. If you are looking for significant disruption out of a worldly Church and a deeper discipleship walk with the Lord, read it as an act of indispensable submission on the way of the cross.\n--Rev. Dr. John Yates, Chairman (Evangelical Alliance Australia)\nDr. Natanael Costea is one of a new breed of Christian leaders who are being raised up by God to prepare the body of Christ for a new wave of the Holy Spirit. He knows who he is in Christ and has the courage to stand up and be counted as a true disciple of Jesus. This book encapsulates the very heart of God and is a wakeup call to the New Testament Church to consider in order to survive these and future dark times. I would encourage people to take the challenges this book makes and to have a major paradigm shift in their thinking as to who we really are in Christ.\n--Ps. Malcolm Innes, President (Dayspring Ministries - Apostolic Churches Alliance Board)\nIn the midst of restriction and disruption flowing from the COVID-19, the Church and particularly church leaders have been confronted with the need to quickly adapt to the changing landscape. Dr. Natanael Costea has provided here a challenging and thought-provoking resource to assist Church leaders to take hold of God's opportune time for RESET. By raising penetrating questions that need prayerful and careful exploration he provides a way to reevaluate how we think about church and do ministry going forward. Be prepared to be challenged and to push deeper!\n--Len Rossow, Facilitator (Gold Coast House of Prayer, Queensland, Australia)\nDr. Natanael Costea has written a very timely and much needed book. He writes not only as a strong teacher with clear biblical lessons, he also writes as an experienced coach, providing provoking questions at the end of each chapter, so we are challenged to make changes. And change is needed in these days. Natanael is a tender prophetic voice challenging the Church, you and I, to listen closely to the Lord and to reset, recalibrate, and be part of a much needed reformation in our day.\n--Wendy Yapp, Facilitator (Perth Together, Australia)\nIn the middle of this pandemic engulfing everyone with fear, the question should not be how to return to the old normal life. It should be, as Dr. Natanael Costea writes, what is the Lord teaching us for the season ahead. Read it with your ears tuned in so you hear what the Lord is saying to you, and move in that direction.\n--Vali Paul, Senior Pastor (Filadelfia Church, Baia Mare, Romania)\nThis book will make you think and act hopefully to respond to God's latest wake-up call to a sleeping giant Church. Wake up, Church! Awaken and influence the world by displaying power and authority, and equipping and mobilizing Jesus' disciples. Raise churchgoers from their spectator seats to become participants seeking and saving the lost and encourage disciples in obedience as they GO responding to Jesus' command.\n--Ps. Jeff Hocking, Board (Apostolic Churches Alliance)\nThis book is a one-of-a-kind resource that you must have in your personal library and a treasure to read. It is a true revelation of our current crisis and self-examination of every leader and pastor. Not only does it speak about the contemporary Church but it is a measuring scale, a plumb line, a temperature gauge of our motives and attitudes. This is a pastor's crisis management manual.\nDr. Costea takes a pastor on a journey from where the roots of the Church were to where it is, and it is heading. I would call it an extraordinary book, a must read for every pastor. As I was reading, I found it to be so true and so apt to our times and seasons. It is doctrinally soun