Coronavirus and Plague: Lessons From Church History With Glenn Sunshine

The COVID-19 pandemic is challenging churches to be more bold, evangelistic, and loving towards our neighbors than we’ve ever needed to be. But this isn’t the first time in church history that Christians have faced the challenge of a plague. In this episode, our friend Glenn Sunshine returns to share a history of pandemics, the Black Death, and how believers over the last 2,000 years have stared illness in the face to faithfully live on mission.

Glenn Sunshine is Professor of History at Central Connecticut State University and a Senior Faculty Member of the Colson Fellows. An award-winning author, Glenn has published books, articles and book chapters on history, theology, and culture, online and on both sides of the Atlantic. His most recent book, The Kingdom Unleashed: How Jesus’ 1st-Century Kingdom Values Are Transforming Thousands of Cultures and Awakening His Church, was co-authored with Jerry Trousdale. Glenn has taught a variety of Bible, history, and worldview seminars and courses to churches around the U.S., Europe and Asia, as well as leading church retreats, seminars, and renewal weekends. He is the founder of Every Square Inch Ministries, and he and his wife Lynn have been married for over 30 years and have two children. They live in Newington, Connecticut. Glenn can also be heard weekly on The Theology Pugcast on the Fight Laugh Feast Network. You can hear our previous episode with Glenn here.


T4G Live Webcast April 27th: In the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, it’s never been harder to figure out how to do overseas missions. So when Jesus told us to make disciples of all “nations,” what did he mean? Who are the nations, and how can struggling, ordinary churches reach them in days like these?

Join our T4G missions expert lunch panel, The Local Church and the Nations, on Monday, April 27. Hear from Paul Davis, Zane Pratt, Darren Carlson, Brooks Buser, John Klaassen, and more debating the important issues raised in Darren’s 2019 article on the meaning of the Great Commission. See you on Facebook Live and YouTube!


Free John Piper Book Download: In the show, we mentioned that Desiring God is giving away John Piper’s latest book, Coronavirus and Christ, absolutely free. Subscribe to ABWE’s blog and podcast and you’ll get a link to download the ebook or audiobook in a variety of formats. Special thanks to Desiring God for their generosity.


Discount From Kregel Academic: If you enjoyed last week’s interview with Matt Bennett on his newest book 40 Questions About Islam, you can purchase it here from Christianbook.com and receive 40% off using the exclusive discount code “ABWE.” Check it out!


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The Missions Podcast is powered by ABWE International and the Global Gospel Fund. This episode is also sponsored by Radius International.

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