The forty-ninth album in an ongoing series documenting faithful churches gathering for Sunday service in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic.
With some churches still not gathering in-person in these dark times, others being persecuted by the government for being open, and others ending services for the rest of the year, these are the congregations who are meeting faithfully at the command of Scripture (Heb. 10:25).
These churches are preaching outside, are back in their buildings having in-person services, or are having drive-through services. Some with masks and social distancing, others without.
All are being safe. All are being obedient to the scriptures. All are loving their neighbors.
While many believed that his conditions hearing was on Friday, February 26th, where the judge would determine whether or not James had to abide by release conditions that said he could not step foot on church property, it was not so. Rather, it was only the day that they filed/submitted the paperwork and applications.
Instead, his conditions hearing is set for Wednesday, March 3rd, with lawyer James Kitchen filing an application with the Alberta Court of Queen’s Bench seeking the pastor’s release until his May 3 trial begins. Furthermore, according to some sources, the court will reconvene with lawyers on March 5 for a case management plan.
How he’s doing in prison
An update from Erin Coates, James’s wife, posted on Friday the 26th on Instagram:
James is okay. He received his canteen (extra snacks and hygiene products) so he’s a little less hungry. The lack of activity is starting to affect him, he’s very active in both mind and body so this is hard for him. He used to filling his mind with deep theological truth day-in and day-out. I asked him why our phone calls were so short and he had informed me that he only gets 2 15 blocks of time out of his cell.
When he has to shower he only has enough time to tell me he loves me and he has to go. This was the case this morning a quick “I love you.” And “the Psalms have been sweet to me”. And he was gone. This is so hard for me. I have unlimited access to him since he opted to work from home to care for us.
What you can do to help
First off, you can pray. Pray for James, for his family, and for unity within the church body as they go through this. Pray that Alberta Premier Jason Kenny opens up the churches and stops singling them out from among other businesses and establishments to remain closed. Also, pray that the conditions of his bail hearing would go well on Wednesday.
For Canadians, particularly Albertans, call your MPs and representatives. Be kind, and polite, but call them, email them, or send them a letter in the mail. Here is a list of MPs along with their contact information. While they can’t intervene in James’ case at this point, they can intervene in and impact current health policies and legislation that are restricting other churches in the province to 15% capacity.
If you’re in Edmonton or nearby, there is a rally planned for 1:00 p.m. at the courthouse. Please attend if you can.
I’m so thankful for each and every one of you. I have seen the Universal Body love us in a way that makes my heart leap for joy, a taste of our time in heaven…but actually together!
Until then; Rest in the LORD, and wait patiently for Him (Psalm 37:7), God’s time, though it tarry, and God’s deliverance, though delayed, when it comes proves always to have been best: ‘My soul, wait thou only upon God; for my expectation is from Him’ (Psalm 62:5)—Octavius Winslow
A church in Ontario has been handed down $83,000 in fines for a January Church service that resulted in several people baptized, according to their pastor in a statement released to the church website.
In a post that is a must-read all the way through, Pastor Jacob Reaume of Trinity Bible Chapel in Waterloo, Ontario, explained that while they incurred astronomical fines for having the service in contravention to Provincial shutdown orders which limits services to a maximum of 10 people, they would do it all over again, a choice made even easier by the fact that several baptisms arose out of their act of worship. Reaume explains:
On January 22, 2021, the Ontario Superior Court of Justice ordered that Trinity Bible Chapel and her elders not hold gatherings of more than 10 persons. Upon receiving the order, I invited the community to church on January 24…
I noted, this was done in love for God and neighbour. ‘Risking reputation and financial viability to offer eternal hope and warm Christian fellowship to a world in despair is an act of love that I am certain Jesus smiles on.’
That’s precisely what we did. Personally, I have never experienced a more palpable manifest presence of God’s Holy Spirit during public worship than I did on that Sunday. Many others – I have lost track of how many – shared similar experiences…
He continues:
On Sunday, February 27, we baptized 13 individuals, some of whom traced their conversion to those weeks in January, especially January 24.
This week the Ontario Superior Court of Justice handed down our sentence for having church on January 24. The service cost us $83,000.
That is our fine, and here is how it breaks down. Pastor Will and I each owe $5,000. Pastor Randy owes $4,000. Each of the other elders owe $3,000. The church itself owes $15,000. And we have been ordered to pay $45,000 to cover the legal fees of the Ministry of the Attorney General.
The Ministry of the Attorney General [MAG] claims their lawyers spent 104 hours to prosecute us for holding services on January 24 – charges for which we pled guilty. Evidently, the MAG was very motivated, and the prosecutors worked tirelessly against our church. So that is a grand total of $83,000. These fines will not and cannot be appealed. They are final.
This is the church that we wrote about previously, whose elders were all fined and whose church could have incurred $10,000,000 in charges for being open, being considered a corporation under Provincial health regulation.
Noting that they had a GoFundMe to cover the fees and hoped people might be able to donate, they conclude:
We will pay $83,000 for having church on January 24. I could say it was the most extravagantly priced service I’ve ever held, but that would not be factual. Every service I’ve held has cost Christ His very own blood, which is worth infinitely more than any dollar amount.
I was heartened by something Pastor Steve Richardson recently pointed out. In reference to Matthew 26:6-13, he explained the anointing of Christ by Mary with the alabaster jar. The alabaster jar of ointment would have been worth the equivalent of a retirement savings. It was expensive, and that dear woman paid a lot of money for one quick act of worship. She thought Christ was worth it. The disciples, however, were indignant, saying,’ Why this waste? For this could have been sold for a large sum and given to the poor?’ Jesus defended her saying, ‘She has done a beautiful thing for me.’ Chief among the woman’s accusers was Judas (John 12:4-5). The woman thought Christ was worth the money, but Judas thought He wasn’t. She went down in history for doing good, but Judas was a traitor who would have been better off not being born.
On January 24, we worshipped Christ extravagantly at the price of $83,000. He is worth that and so much more. Our fine is nothing near what Mary spent on Jesus for her one quick extravagant act of worship. And we cannot compare it to the price of blood He paid so that we would worship Him. As we’ve sung many times:
A new study from Lifeway Research found that 25 percent of churches did not meet in person in the month of January, and of the ones that did meet, practically none are near pre-pandemic level, with 1 in 3 pastors reporting that their current Sunday service attendance is half what it used to be before the national lockdowns in March 2020.
Scott McConnell, executive director of Lifeway Research explains that “churches continue to evaluate when to meet in person based on local conditions and cases within their congregation. Even when a church determines it’s safe to meet, their individual members will return on their own timetable.”
The study further found that 88 percent say that a church attendee has been diagnosed with COVID-19 and 29 percent say a member has died from it. Small groups have been decimated, with 40 percent no longer meeting. Children’s ministries have followed suit, with only 25% of churches having exclusively in-person activities.
With the odds of young, healthy people dying from COVID-19 being infinitesimally small, there is simply no excuse for churches to remain closed and congregants to be staying away. If your church is not open yet, it is time to leave that church. And unless a church member has very real co-morbidities and tangible health challenges, it is time to enact church discipline on wayward members who still are not gathering for either in-person services or drive-in services.
While their pastor remained incarcerated in prison, more attendees than ever flooded to GraceLife Church on Sunday, forcing the church to turn some people away as they began to burst at the seams. The continued influx is the result of hundreds of people visiting one of the few churches taking a stand and opening to capacity in the province, including some guests who drove more than 2 hours to attend the service and show their support for the church body that has become a rallying cry across the province to open the churches amid strict COVID-19 lockdowns.
Assistant Pastor Jacob Spenst, a recent Masters Seminary graduate who studied under John MacArthur in California (Pastor James Coates is also a Master’s Seminary grad), preached on Phillippians 1:27-30, which was about striving and suffering for Christ.
He told the congregation that James was doing “fine” and that “more importantly, he wanted to let you know he loves you, he misses you dearly and certainly he’s very concerned for this church. We need to remain strong even as he is remaining strong, even as the Lord strengthens him moment by moment, even as he continues to remain in jail.”
Within 10-15 minutes before the service, the church reached the fire code capacity and had to close its doors. GraceLife set up large speakers outside the building by the door where another 30 people could listen from outside, or could listen to the livestream from the parking lot.
The province currently restricts church services to 15 percent of fire code capacity.
A half-dozen police cars hovered around the church, saying they were there just in case there were any problems with counter-protesters, although none showed up. A spokesman for the law enforcement agency said they were continuing their investigation into the GraceLife Church “as part of and ongoing allegations into the church’s non-compliance with the Public Health Order.” and noting that “observations were made that the church held a service beyond the designated capacity.”
Fairview Baptist Church, a church in the city of Calgary, likewise announced they were having church services in defiance of the restrictions, explaining in a statement on the church’s website, “It is…Jesus Christ, not civil government, that defines what is essential for the gathered church.” The pastor at Fairview, Tim Stephens, has been instrumental in encouraging the churches to gather and open at their full capacities.
Police in Alberta are consulting with Alberta Health Services over what their next course of action will be – if they will similarly arrest Pastor Jacob Spenst, begin mass ticketing of congregants, such as what Ontario police did a few weeks ago when they issued 47 congregants $880 tickets for violating lockdown orders, or some other action.
The forty-eight album in an ongoing series documenting faithful churches gathering for Sunday service in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic.
With some churches still not gathering in-person in these dark times, others being persecuted by the government for being open, and others ending services for the rest of the year, these are the congregations who are meeting faithfully at the command of Scripture (Heb. 10:25).
These churches are preaching outside, are back in their buildings having in-person services, or are having drive-through services. Some with masks and social distancing, others without.
All are being safe. All are being obedient to the scriptures. All are loving their neighbors.
The forty-seventh album in an ongoing series documenting faithful churches gathering for Sunday service in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic.
With some churches still not gathering in-person in these dark times, others being persecuted by the government for being open, and others ending services for the rest of the year, these are the congregations who are meeting faithfully at the command of Scripture (Heb. 10:25).
These churches are preaching outside, are back in their buildings having in-person services, or are having drive-through services. Some with masks and social distancing, others without.
All are being safe. All are being obedient to the scriptures. All are loving their neighbors.
The province of British Columbia has announced that they are extending their pandemic restrictions “indefinitely,” with all churches prohibited from gathering for services under threats of crushing fines and jail time.
The province, which has a population of 5.1 million people and has had 1259 COVID-19 related deaths, all but 65 that occurred in nursing homes, made the announcement on Friday, after passing a midnight deadline.
“Right now, we need to stay the path,” said Provincial Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry, the woman in charge who is controlling policy. “We need to protect the progress we have made and not squander our progress.”
In BC, all non-essential gatherings have been prohibited for months, as well as any interaction or social gathering with anyone not within a “core bubble” that may only include a maximum of two people from one other household. Bars are allowed to be open, as well as dine-in restaurants.
For churches though – not a chance. The province has banned all church gatherings and has been aggressively ticketing and fining those who seek to gather. Weddings, funerals, and baptisms are permitted with a maximum of 10 people, so long as they don’t include a reception.
Doctor Henry further stated that it was only when she saw a “diminished impact from the virus” that discussions could begin over when that timeframe might be to re-open. She warned there are no guarantees, and in fact, things may get more regressive and restrive if they continue to see COVID-19 variants emerge.
I will be continuously reviewing the data that we have to see if we can do it earlier. But I want people to start thinking: It’s not going to be, ‘Yay, we’re out of this, we’re back to normal.’ It’s going to be, ‘Can we slowly and thoughtfully find an increase in those social connections that we all really want?’
The Supreme Court ruled late Friday that the California government cannot ban and prohibit indoor church services, giving a small victory to churches that have been defying the government and staying open, while also only being a half-measure that will continue to invite persecution.
Church-hating tyrant Governor Gavin Newsom’s office issued revised guidelines for indoor church gatherings services on Saturday. The new missives allow the people to gather but continued limiting attendance at 25% capacity. It also left in place restrictions on singing, chanting and social distancing, with fines in place for those who disobey.
Newson’s office stated that they will continue to enforce the ban on worship and capacity limits, citing that it is for the church’s own protection, with press secretary Daniel Lopez, saying in a statement:
We will continue to enforce the restrictions the Supreme Court left in place and, after reviewing the decision, we will issue revised guidelines for worship services to continue to protect the lives of Californians.
The court victory, which will benefit all churches, has largely been driven by Che Ahn of Harvest Rock Church in Pasadena CA, who has sustained criticism for almost a year while embroiled in on-going expensive litigation against the state in order to lift the ban. He was ebullient after the victory but said it’s not over yet.
While we have come under fire from some community members, we stand firm that the fruit of meeting in person lies in the spiritual, emotional and physical healing that worshipping the Lord Jesus Christ has brought to so many throughout the world.
Commenting on the awfulness of California blanket ban, Chief Justice John Roberts said of the case “that the maximum number of adherents who can safely worship in the most cavernous cathedral is zero—appears to reflect not expertise or discretion, but instead insufficient appreciation or consideration of the interests at stake.”
As far as the singing ban and still being in place, Justice Neil Gorsuch and Justice Clarence Thomas stated that they would have kept California from enforcing its singing ban, yet Justice Amy Coney Barrett disagreed, speaking on behalf of her and Justice Brett Kavanaugh.
She wrote that it wasn’t clear whether or not the prohibitions on singing were being applied “across the board” and that “if a chorister can sing in a Hollywood studio but not in her church, California’s regulations cannot be viewed as neutral.” While the ban could remain, for now, she said that the churches who sued ought to “submit new evidence to a lower court that the singing ban is not being applied generally.”
The forty-sixth album in an ongoing series documenting faithful churches gathering for Sunday service in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic.
With some churches still not gathering in-person in these dark times, others being persecuted by the government for being open, and others ending services for the rest of the year, these are the congregations who are meeting faithfully at the command of Scripture (Heb. 10:25).
These churches are preaching outside, are back in their buildings having in-person services, or are having drive-through services. Some with masks and social distancing, others without.
All are being safe. All are being obedient to the scriptures. All are loving their neighbors.
