Rick Warren pandemic

Rick Warren and Hope over Fear

Derek Uejo on May 8, 2020

Tragic accounts and stories of loss make news during the crisis, but not every public voice is willing to accept the sentiment of the day. Prominent California Pastor Rick Warren of the Southern Baptist Convention-affiliated Saddleback Church has stated that he wants to “help you confront this crisis and turn your fears into faith.” Asked on CNN about where God is amidst the pandemic, Warren gave two answers.

First, God is present in the hearts of people. As Warren states to Anderson Cooper, and Dr. Sanjay Gupta, people that are “out there helping others, that’s God in the hearts of those people.” Warren also presents the passion of the Gospel, proposing that God is present and grieving amidst suffering in the same way that he was when Jesus died on the cross.

Second, Warren delineates between earth and heaven. On earth, there still remains imperfection, suffering, and loss. In heaven, there will be perfection, “no sorrow, no sickness, no stress.” The clip ends with Warren giving a theodicy of free will, stating that “the greatest gift is our freedom of choice, it’s also our greatest curse.

Warren’s responses are forays into contested theological waters, with biblical scholars and theologians debating the role of heaven, and free will theodicy in Christian belief. While theology needs be orthodox and accurate, it also needs to be lived out. Christianity is not a religion relegated to ideas, but is necessarily seen in “works of love” as Søren Kierkegaard wrote.

Warren makes it practical. Saddleback Church’s website offers opportunities to get help, give help, and get connected. In a very real way, Warren has noticed the needs of his congregation. Families and individuals need support in this difficult time, they also want to be able to help others and maintain some sense of community. We have already seen “the creativity and nimbleness of churches, charities and businesses” as Alan Dowd writes. Numerous faith based organizations are filling the breach, and working to address human needs both physical and spiritual.

While a debate remains about sacramentology, liturgy, and whether sermon broadcasts can replace the physical gathering of believers, under the current restrictions, tech savviness and broadcasting experience are valuable. As the Orange County Register reported, Warren made his Easter sermon available to “many smaller churches globally that don’t have the capability to broadcast online services.” This cooperation in a time of social fragmentation is encouraging. Still, the move to online services raises questions about what the Church is, and how we commune with one another. When Saddleback expected a “virtual audience of 1 million faithful” for their Easter service, on the front, this is a staggering number. Can life together exist in a virtual space where we simply watch a speaker deliver a message? We will not have a resolution to this question anytime soon, but what is clear is that Saddleback is making the best of the current restrictions.

Additionally, Saddleback has positioned itself to make a sustained global impact with 15 campuses in the United States and four internationally. Communication from the Hong Kong campus in January alerted Saddleback to COVID-19. This prompted Warren to prepare and begin relief missions, including the sending of 1,000,000 masks to their Hong Kong congregation. Moreover, “since the pandemic began and self-isolation was ordered in California by Gov. Gavin Newsom, Saddleback members have helped provide 30,000 households with food.

As Fox 11 Los Angeles reports, the Saddleback Cares Program is meeting the tangible, physical needs of their communities by handing out free groceries each week. This is a global congregation that is not simply praying for the needs of their neighbors, but seeking to meet them. As Warren stated to the Register, “thirty thousand volunteers have served in 197 nations. I’ve got a church full of people ready to move.

In addition to Saddleback’s aforementioned humanitarian efforts, Warren has also counseled other pastors who have asked his advice on whether they should have their churches continue to meet in person. Warren’s recommendation to these pastors was, “if you love your congregation, tell them to stay at home.” This is a concise message, not only for the sake of the congregation but their neighbors as well. This recommendation has merit when looking at a church in South Korea, and a church in Washington D.C., congregations which unintentionally transmitted the virus. No church wants to be responsible for the spread.

Warren has not limited Saddleback’s approach to traditional medical and food relief, remote sermons, or online small groups. With social media being one of the more prominent ways people get their news and digest information, Saddleback has capitalized on this trend. At the request of Dr. Robert Redfield of the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention, Warren had a “Quarantine S.H.A.K.E” video created for kids. The goal? To help them remember the five recommendations that the CDC has made to reduce the spread of the virus. Given the size of Saddleback’s network, and Warren’s own name recognition, this video is an easy way to communicate important information in a fun, and easy to follow format. Whatever you think of the medium, or the lyricism, Warren said it best, “at the end of the day, it’s a way of keeping kids safe.” With all that is going on, Warren and Saddleback are demonstrating that Christian charity is alive and well, and that is something to be hopeful about.


Derek UejoDerek Uejo is a Fall 2019 John Jay Fellow and graduate of Biola University and the Torrey Honors Institute. He is currently interning with the American Enterprise Institute, and will be pursuing his MTS in New Testament at Duke Divinity School this fall.

  1. Comment by Carr on May 8, 2020 at 3:26 pm

    My young grandchildren are totally enjoying the Saddleback Children’s online ministry. It is divided up by age groups to maximize its effectiveness. In my state of Illinois, the Governor declared yesterday, that churches will not meet normally for possibly two years or until there is a vaccine for covid -19. We had an emergency meeting among a few critical church workers as to how this would impact our small church; we are looking into buying expensive video equipment, opening a multiplicity of small ten person worship services; sending out snail mail with Pastor led Bible studies that could be conducted by phone for those who do not use facebook or you tube, engaging our kids with fun, Biblical mailings….. “The Church is out of the building”, folks. For now we can embrace it and seek to win people to Christ by any “legal” means.

    However, we should not sit back and ignore our Constitutional rights and our duties to God to assemble together. The Romanian Catholic churches of Chicago have told Governor Pritzger that they will meet next Sunday. “In light of our shared experience living behind the Iron Curtain- where discriminatory treatment of churches by authoritarian governments was the norm- we are determined to do everything that we can to ensure that our beloved country and our State remain the beacons of freedom that brought us here”.

    Echoing the same ideas, an “Appeal For the Church and the World” has also come from the decidedly pro-life arm of the Catholic Church (come on, Orthodox Protestants, speak out!).
    Here are some excerpts:
    “Public health must not, and cannot, become an alibi for infringing on the rights of millions of people around the world, let alone for depriving the civil authority of its duty to act wisely for the common good. This is particularly true as growing doubts emerge from several quarters about the actual contagiousness, danger and resistance of the virus. Many authoritative voices in the world of science and medicine confirm that the alarmism about Covid-19 by the media appears to be absolutely unjustified.”

    Further on this document states, ” Let us not allow centuries of Christian civilization to be erased under the pretext of a virus, and an odious technological tyranny to be established in which nameless and faceless people can decide the fate of the world by confining us to a virtual reality. If this is the plan to which the powers of this earth intend to make us yield, know that Jesus Christ, King and Lord of History, has promised that “the gates of Hell shall not prevail” (Mt 16:18).” Here is where you can find the full text:
    veritaslibera.bitvos.info/appeal/appeal/
    This was written with great clarity of both faith and thought. It is well worth your time to read it. Thanks.

  2. Comment by carr on May 8, 2020 at 3:32 pm

    There is only one “appeal/” ; I am unable to get this to hyperlink, sorry….

  3. Comment by barbara seddon on May 9, 2020 at 7:18 am

    Psalm 91 has been my nightly encouragement. Worshipping
    on line is alright, but can never replace the need to assemble
    together to praise and pray. There is an empty space in the heart without the company of fellow believers.

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