A prominent ministry leader has expressed concern over megachurch pastor and author John MacArthur’s decision to keep Grace Community Church open despite a state order.
Earlier this month, California announced that churches and other in-person public gatherings in 30 of its counties would be closed to help curb an uptick in COVID-19 cases.
MacArthur said that Grace Community would remain open despite the order, arguing that the state government had “no right to interfere in ecclesiastical matters in a way that undermines or disregards the God-given authority of pastors and elders.”
“… we cannot and will not acquiesce to a government-imposed moratorium on our weekly congregational worship or other regular corporate gatherings. Compliance would be disobedience to our Lord’s clear commands,” MacArthur stated.
“… when any government official issues orders regulating worship (such as bans on singing, caps on attendance, or prohibitions against gatherings and services), he steps outside the legitimate bounds of his God-ordained authority as a civic official and arrogates to himself authority that God expressly grants only to the Lord Jesus Christ as sovereign over His Kingdom, which is the church.”
Jonathan Leeman, editorial director of the ministry group 9Marks and an elder at Cheverly Baptist Church in Maryland, penned a column in response to MacArthur’s announcement.
Leeman warned churches about following the actions of Grace Community, noting that while he respected some of what MacArthur had to say, he was concerned about certain conclusions.
One was that churches can still meet outdoors under the guidelines and that, in the past, churches have altered their worship patterns in light of national calamities due to government orders.
“Churches in coastal cities during World War Two accommodated evening black-out requirements in case enemy planes hit the coasts. Those churches didn’t insist the government had no right to ‘restrict our worship,’” wrote Leeman.
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SOURCE: Christian Post, Michael Gryboski
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