Author of The Purpose-Driven Life and influential Pastor in USA, Rick Warren (L) says Church building will remain closed amid President Donald Trump’s push to reopen. Before the pandemic, Warren interviewed Rwanda President Paul Kagame (R) at Saddleback on April 14, 2019. COURTESY PHOTO.
Political leaders in some countries have cautiously begun to lift their COVID-19 restrictions on Church buildings, nonetheless a section of Pastors remain uncertain about the wisdom of resuming on-site prayer services.
For example in USA, 70 percent of pastors have told the Barna Group, an evangelical Christian polling firm based in Ventura, California, that they don’t expect to resume services until at least June.
The pastors insist Church buildings will remain closed though President Trump last week called on states to allow places of worship to open immediately and threatened to “override” any governors who do not comply with his demand.
Pastor Rick Warren, author of The Purpose-Driven Life, released a video message saying Saddleback Church in Orange County will remain closed.
Like many others, Warren stated that his decision was motivated by love and faith, not fear.
“While we’re all eager to gather together for worship, we have decided for many important reasons that Saddleback is going to be patient and we’re going to wait for better conditions before we resume our large, public gatherings,” Warren said.
“Saddleback has never been closed during these past eleven weeks,” Warren continued. “On the contrary, we’ve been doing more in our communities than ever before. Our buildings have been closed, but the church is not a building. We are a living, breathing body …we are a people, not a place.”
For Zambia where political leaders suspended all church gatherings in March when COVID-19 spread, in-person worship services where allowed to resume in April, but only a handful of churches reopened.
Those defiant issued a statement saying public prayer services will not resume until “a clear guideline is given by the authorities”.
The Catholic Church intends to reopen for members countrywide 31 May, 2020, the Zambia Conference of Catholic Bishops (ZCCB) said.
South Africa’s churches will reopen their doors from June, but will be limited to 50 people, President Cyril Ramaphosa said.
At the moment, no report has yet been issued on defiance to the directive.
Pastors certain the Church will survive the crisis
Barna Group data showa that nearly all church leaders (96%) express confidence in their church’s survival rate despite current disruptions.
The data also shows that 17 percent of pastors believe their congregation won’t begin to physically gather together again until July or August, and the remaining 3 percent are holding out for even later in the year.
