As the cold and flu season approaches in much of the world, many of us find ourselves thinking about how to stay healthy. Just a few years ago, COVID-19 thrust the topic of infection into a global conversation, so the basic idea of how things spread is familiar.

Regardless of the illness, transmission typically occurs when one person is affected and passes it to another.

The same dynamic can be seen in movements of faith. Every movement, whether for an idea, a cause, or a way of life, spreads when it passes from one person to another. The movement Jesus began, and into which He sent His disciples through the Great Commission, has done the same. Across history, there have been surges and slowdowns, as Jesus fulfills his promise to build his church.

As we desire to be part of a kind of virtuous pandemic of the spread of Jesus’ Kingdom, the principles that stop a disease may reveal what to avoid. Two of the most effective containment strategies are to reduce the likelihood of infection and to limit contact. Spiritually speaking, these two dynamics can help explain why the gospel sometimes loses momentum in both lives and communities, and can inform missional enterprise leaders in particular to seize the unique opportunities presented to them to be part of this positive pandemic.

Reducing the likelihood of infection: Shallow faith

A virus stops spreading when exposure doesn’t take hold. Spiritually, something similar happens when people encounter Jesus only at the surface—familiar with His name but not transformed by His presence.

Jesus’ words in the Sermon on the Mount offer a vivid picture: “You are the salt of the earth… You are the light of the world.” Scientists will point out that sodium chloride itself never actually loses saltiness. However, when salt is impure, mixed with other minerals, as it often was in the first century, it can lose its flavor.

So it is with the people of God. When devotion becomes diluted, when Jesus is only one influence among many rather than the center, witness loses its distinctiveness. The gospel spreads through those who are deeply affected, whose lives bear clear evidence of transformation. The world needs believers not mildly touched by Jesus, but deeply “infected” with His Spirit, living in a purity of heart and love that makes the difference visible.

Limiting contact: Isolated faith

The other way a pandemic is slowed is through reduced contact. Spiritually, isolation has a similar effect. When faith remains private, contained only within church walls or personal routines, it may be sincere but not contagious.

Jesus’ image of light makes this clear. Light fulfills its purpose only when it shines where darkness lies. Salt does its work only when it is in contact: rubbed into meat, sprinkled on food, present where decay or dullness would otherwise prevail.

The life of Jesus spreads most naturally through relationships: through everyday presence and ordinary interactions. When believers stay close enough to others for His love to be noticed and proclaimed, the “infection” of the Kingdom spreads.

Pure and public: The rhythm of a contagious faith

Jesus calls His followers to be both pure and public, deeply changed within, freely shared without. Purity without presence becomes sterile. Presence without purity becomes empty. But when inner commitment and outward connection come together, the movement of Jesus gains momentum.

The question for each believer and each community is simple: Are we deeply affected and deeply connected? Is His life strong enough within to overflow, and are we near enough to others for that overflow to matter?

Missional enterprise can place believers in exactly that kind of position. It brings us into close contact with people and problems, markets and relationships, where belief can be both expressed and tested in the flow of daily work. In those spaces, if allowed, the Spirit refines purity and deepens intensity, so that the life of Jesus might spread again, one encounter, one enterprise, and one life at a time.

Verse of the Week:

“Let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.” — Matthew 5:16

Let’s thank God this week for the opportunities we have, especially in missional enterprise, to be deeply affected by the gospel and deeply connected to those who need its transforming power.