Tag: tim stephens

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Canadian Pastor Jailed for 21 Days for Breaking COVID-19 Rules Has Been Acquitted

Canadian Pastor Tim Stephens of Fairview Baptist Church in Calgary, AB, has been acquitted on charges of breach of Public Health Orders for his actions during the COVID pandemic, a judge has ruled.

Stephens was one of only a handful of churches that fought to stay open throughout the pandemic and was ruthless targeted by Alberta Health Services. Stephens, along with Pastor James Coates, was imprisoned for weeks.

Judge Allan Fradsham ruled that prosecutors failed to prove Stephens didn’t maintain social distancing during two church services in early 2021, meaning that all personal Public Health Act charges against him have now either been withdrawn or resulted in acquittals.

In an interview with Post Media, Stephens was overjoyed.

“All my personal matters have been dealt with so I feel vindicated. It certainly speaks volumes of the overreach of government actions during COVID…I praise God because those heavy-handed measures only enhanced the gospel of Jesus Christ. For that, I rejoice.”

The JCCF explains:

On May 6, 2021, Associate Chief Justice John Rooke of the Alberta Court of Queen’s Bench issued what might be the broadest restraining order in common law history. Justice Rooke’s injunction allowed police to arrest and detain immediately and take before the court any Albertan who exercised her or his Charter freedoms in the face of Alberta Premier Jason Kenney’s unscientific and unconstitutional lockdown orders and restrictions.

On May 13, 2021, at the request of the Justice Centre, the injunction was amended by the Court of Queen’s Bench to apply only to persons associated with the Whistle Stop Café. Nonetheless, on May 16, 2021, Pastor Tim Stephens of Fairview Baptist Church was unlawfully arrested for allegedly violating the terms of the injunction, even though he had no association with the Café and had not been served notice of the injunction. Pastor Stephens was released after spending three days in the Calgary Remand Centre.

Pastor Stephens was again arrested on June 14, 2021, for having allegedly conducted an outdoor church service violating a court order. As a result, he spent an additional 18 days in jail before being released on July 1, 2021. At the time of his release, the Public Health Orders in question had been revoked.

In addition to spending a total of 21 days in jail, Pastor Stephen had also been served with six provincial tickets for his alleged breach of Alberta Public Health Orders. Four of those tickets have since been dropped; today’s decision is in relation to the two remaining tickets.

In an interview with Post Media, Stephens was overjoyed.

“All my personal matters have been dealt with so I feel vindicated. It certainly speaks volumes of the overreach of government actions during COVID…I praise God because those heavy-handed measures only enhanced the gospel of Jesus Christ. For that, I rejoice.”

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Evangelical Stuff Featured In-person Church Righteous Defiance

Could They go Back to Jail? Alberta Pastors James Coates and Tim Stephens Face Renewed Persecution as they Defy Gov’t

With the news that the province of Alberta has reintroduced new restrictions on public gatherings, ones that previously had been lifted back in late July, Pastor James Coates of GraceLife Church and Pastor Tim Stephens of Fairview Baptist Church are likely to face renewed persecution from Alberta Health Services for their continued refusal to follow those terms, including disregarding the rules for their September 19th service.

Both pastors were arrested and jailed for their refusal to bend the knee and deny in word and in deed that Christ is head of the church, and He decides what worship will look like, not the government. When restrictions were lifted several months ago it was hoped that this would be the last of the persecution, but presently does not appear to be so.

Along with creating a two-tiered system in the province (fully vaccinated Albertans are limited to socializing indoors with one other household, whereas unvaccinated people are not allowed to attend any indoor social gatherings at all), the province has mandated three restrictions on churches, despite initially exempting them in early September.

Chuches are not allowed to gather indoors at more than 30% of their fire code capacity.

Masks are mandatory to be worn in church.

Mandatory physical distancing between households for both indoor and outdoor services.

Failing to adhere to these will result in fines and could even result in more jail time. During the Sunday service, GraceLife Church did not abide by any of the new restrictions, having a service of nearly 700 people, mostly unmasked and without social distancing.

The Church has grown by leaps and bounds since they refused to shut down during the lockdown, nearly doubling their size and having dozens upon dozens of people going through with completing membership classes. On account of their size, they are moving to a second service, particularly as the weather turns cold and winter sets in, and their overflow tents become unfeasible, with temperatures frequently dropping to -22 Fahrenheit (-30 Celsius) and colder.

Before the service began, several neighbors passersby stopped and took pictures of the gathered body, with the likely intention to report them to the authorities – an act that will certainly prompt a visit by AHS at their next service.

Pastor Coates elaborated on a bit of this uncertainty during the service, explaining:

Good morning everyone. I want to welcome you to GraceLife Church and invite you to come in and find a seat as we prepare to worship our Lord and Savior together. What a blessing it is to gather, to sing the praises of our great God and King.

As you know, we opted to remain with a single service this week. And we did that primarily for two reasons. One, with the uncertainty of what to expect this Sunday, we thought it might be just nice to keep things predictable for all of you and make it a little more comfortable as it were to be here today.

And also, we’ve got a number of ministries that just aren’t quite yet ready to do double duty as it relates to two services and so we wanted to give them a little more time to work that out. Now, by this point, you know, the drill that we’re going to be taking things one week at a time. And so you have to just bear with us as we give thought and consideration to how to navigate the future.

But you need to know that we are committed to moving to two services, we really think that is necessary and beneficial for the health of our body and even to just improve what happens on a Sunday and the fellowship that takes place, and maybe even facilitating more fellowship because we’re gonna be able to stagger the number of folks that are here at one time, so we’re still committed to that. But obviously, whether or not it comes to fruition, is in the Lord’s hands and we’ll keep you abreast of that as things grow and develop.

As for Fairview, they are in a very similar boat, having also grown so much so that they have outgrown their church building and are meeting at another church in order to accommodate all the people, which they also did unmasked and without social distancing.

Pray for these pastors, and others like them who have the courage to stand.

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Coronavirus Evangelical Stuff Featured In-person Church

As Province Announces New COVID Restrictions and Mandatory Masks, what Will Happen to Pastors James Coates and Tim Stephens?

With the news that the province of Alberta has reverted back to the COVID restrictions that had previously been done away with on July 1, deeming that masks are mandatory for all indoor public spaces and workplaces until further notice, many have wondered how that would affect men like Pastor James Coates of GraceLife Church, or Pastor Tim Stephens of Fairview Baptist Church, given that ostensibly these masks would have to be worn during singing and worship.

Both have shown a steadfast refusal to bend or budge to the demands of the government to dictate how their worship services must be run, even going to prison for their convictions, and at first glance, it appeared the new edict would put them back again in the sights of Alberta Health Services.

Canada is in the ‘4th wave’ and Alberta has a population of 4.4 million people. There have been a total of 2390 deaths in the last 18 months, 515 people are currently hospitalized and 118 in the ICU. The average age at death is 80 years old, 78.3% of the population has received one dose, and 70.2% has received both. There are currently 1400 new cases a day and 1-3 people pass away from it every day. As a result of the rise in COVID cases, Premier Jason Kenney was pointed in what must be done.

“I wish we didn’t have to do this, but this is not a time for moral judgments — this is a time to get people vaccinated. We have done everything we can…If you just haven’t gotten around to it, for the love of God please get vaccinated now — and if you do, we will pay you $100″ (The province is giving any unvaccinated folks a $100 gift card as an incentive to get the shot)

If cases climb, it is likely that the government may return to lockdowns and institute vaccine passports, as other provinces have done. With Canada in the middle of an election and voting in a few weeks, and every political party now in support of a federal vaccine passport, the latter seems an inevitability no matter what outcome. So far all the provinces that have instituted these passports have granted exemptions for churches, meaning that people won’t have to show proof of vaccinations in order to gather for worship.

As for the churches, and their ability to gather and then gather unmasked if they so choose, they are fine for now. Tim Stephens shared the following graphic on social media.

He’s referring to this document, the RECORD OF DECISION – CMOH Order 40-2021 signed by Deena Hinshaw, the Chief Medical Officer of Health, which reintroduced the mask mandates.

For the time being, given that the Premier was publicly excoriated for the optics of imprisoned pastors in his province, churches are exempt from the mask mandates. Furthermore, there are no hard caps on gathering sizes, with Alberta Health Services only offering ‘strong recommendations’ that unvaccinated folk limit their gatherings to 10 people.

The way things are going, however, churches that refuse to abide may yet find themselves in the crosshairs of a government willing to do anything to stem the tide of coronavirus cases.

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News

Alberta’s Underground Church Ends Today, but Pastor Tim Stephens Remains In Prison

Today of the province of Alberta will allow their churches to re-open full without any restrictions or capacity limits, putting an end to what has been a brutal and dictatorial policy of the reigning conservative government which saw multiple churches closed down, and their pastors arrested and thrown in jail.

Pastor James Coates and GraceLife Church will come out of hiding and will be allowed to gather. The fence was taken down a few days ago but guards remain posted on the church property, lest anyone try to come in before the allotted time. Other churches who have been meeting virtually will come back in full, with no restrictions on gathering, all the while churches across the country are still bound by hard capacity caps and huge fines for any transgressions.

For Fairview Baptist Church in Calgary, they are allowed to open after being chained shut by the government and Alberta Health Services, but their Shepherd, Pastor Tim Stephens, remained incarcerated at the Calgary Remand Center until at least July 12.

Stephens was arrested June 12 when his outdoor gathering was spotted by a police helicopter and he was promptly arrested in front of his wife and kids, an officer quoting scripture to him as justification of why he must be arrested. Rallies have been held outside the maximum-security prison, with hundreds of supporters coming out to tell the world that they will not abandon their brother or forget him in prison, and that they honor him for his sacrifice and faithfulness.

For now, he shares in the affliction of the Apostle Paul and many others who have been jailed on account of their faith and insisting, when few others would, that Christ is always and forever the head of the church.

Please keep Tim, Raquel, their children, and their congregation in prayer today.


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Evangelical Stuff Featured In-person Church Righteous Defiance

Canadians Rally At Prison for Jailed Pastor Tim Stephens

A crowd of over 200 people gathered outside the Calgary Remand Center on Saturday, holding up Canadian flags and “churches are essential” signs, protesting the continued imprisonment of Pastor Tim Stephens. The Fairview Baptist Church pastor was taken into custody a week ago after police helicopters discovered his church service, resulting in him being arrested and booked for defying the government’s lockdown order which prohibits churches from gathering at more than 15% capacity.

Earlier in the week, Alberta Premier Jason Kenny announced that the province would be opening up in full on July 1. At that time the province will enter stage 3, whereby almost all COVID-19 public health restrictions will be lifted, including restrictions on churches.

Stephens’ trial is set for June 28, a mere 3 days before gathering for full church services becomes legal again.


In an interview with Rebel News, the Justice Centre’s Litigation Director Jay Cameron says Stephen’s arrest is completely illegal and based on a court order that was issued to another business and doesn’t even apply to them, accusing the government of targeting pastors and those critical of their pandemic policies.

He’s been arrested and what the grounds that these guys are saying is because he was served with the amended order of (Judge) Rook…The important thing…is that that order does not apply to him, that order applies only to the Whistle Stop Cafe and people acting under its instructions or in concert with them. And so Alberta Health Services is deceiving the public and twisting that order in order to arrest people who they say have notice of it…that order cannot be stretched to the general public, that’s not the plain wording of the order. And so our position is that Pastor Stephens has been wrongfully arrested, and that AHS is engaged in a public deception.

This led to the rally on Saturday at the Remand Center.

The crowd gathered to pray and sing hymns, including “It is well with my soul.” Several local pastors gave brief, rousing sermons and messages condemning the government and the culture that has allowed these pastors to be imprisoned and their Charter Rights shredded in front of them.

One of the speakers was Pastor James Coates, who himself spent over a month in prison for the same offenses, and has been doing underground services in hiding ever since. His full message below, courtesy of Devin Davis.

I have seen him faithfully minister the word of God. He has been a stalwart of faithfulness to Christ, in shepherding his church, and so I just want everyone to know that I stand by Tim Stephens. He is a precious brother of mine…

The fact that pastor Stephens is in that [jail] is injustice. This county has lost its conscience. That man is in there because he cannot sign a condition, a condition that would preclude him from fulfilling his mission as a pastor and follower of Jesus Christ. And our country is silencing the conscience, it’s a seared conscience that our country has.

Continue to pray for our brother in prison.

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News

Write to Our Dear Brother in Prison

Much like we did when Pastor James Coates of GraceLife Church was imprisoned, we want to encourage our dear brother Pastor Tim Stephens, the Canadian Pastor incarcerated by the government for violating church lockdown restrictions after his church service was discovered by police. This is the result of their church building being seized and shut down, and the congregation choosing to worship in person rather than forced online.

From his wife, Raquel: “Due to health restrictions he’s in a mandatory 10-day quarantine where he gets 30 minutes/day outside of his cell. Please keep praying that the Lord would comfort him in his affliction and that he would rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, and constant in prayer (Romans 12:12).”

It’s for this reason that we would encourage all our readers to send him some mail, which can be received at

Tim Stephens
c/o Calgary Remand Centre
12200 85 St NW
Calgary, AB, Canada
T3R 1J3

Prisons are very strict about what can be received and what the incoming mail must look like. It will all be searched and cannot contain any perfumes, contraband, or gifts.

Letters sent must be:
-written in normal blue or black ink
-sealed in a basic white envelope
-clearly addressed
-unmarked by stickers, crayon, paint, or marker.

Please send some love and encouragement his way.

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Breaking Featured In-person Church Righteous Defiance

Breaking! Pastor Tim Stephens Arrested After Police Helicopters Find Secret Church Location

Canadian Pastor Tim Stephen of Fairview Baptist Church in Calgary has been arrested again for the great crime of holding a church service in Canada, being led away by the police and taken to jail in what will be his second arrest for insisting that Christ is the head of the church and determines how and when they gather, not the government.

This new arrest comes a month after his previous incarceration, where he spent a few days in jail before being released, with the charges being dropped several weeks later.

In Alberta, it is against lockdown orders to have churches at more than 15% capacity.

The church was gathered at an undisclosed location when a police helicopter discovered the gathering. It made several passes over them, crisscrossing the skies, and then left, with police cars showing up at the service minutes later. No arrests were made at that time.

After his first release, Alberta Health Services and the Calgary police showed no signs of letting up their persecution, locking the door to the church and physically shutting it down only a little over a week ago.

Pastor Stephens tweeted out on social media that he got a tip that police may be coming to arrest him, a heads up that was proven true when he was arrested mere hours ago in front of his family.

This is a developing story. Pray for Tim, his family, and the congregation.

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Church Drive-In Church Featured In-person Church News Righteous Defiance

Hypocrites! Govt Shuts Down Canadian Church Days After Being Caught Breaking Their Own Rules

Fairview Baptist Church in Calgary, Alberta has been physically shut down by Alberta Health Services, locking the door to the church mere weeks after arresting and then releasing their incarcerated pastor, Tim Stephens.

This act of tyranny and religious persecution is particularly galling, in that it was only days ago that senior members of Alberta’s reigning political party were caught flouting the same rules they put in place, demonstrating the complete lack of consistency and hypocrisy that has ‘rules for thee but not for we.”

The picture he’s referring to is the one below, where multiple government leaders from more than one household were dining in close proximity, an act currently prohibited in Alberta and punishable by steep fines.

Premier Jason Kenney, Environment and Parks Minister Jason Nixon, Finance Minister Travis Toews, Health Minister Tyler Shandro and a staff member were photographed dining outdoors on the evening of June 1.

In a statement released to the public, AHS said they have received more than 57 complaints and therefore “physically closed Fairview Baptist Church and has prevented access to the building.”

They say that “this action was necessary as the Lead Pastor of the church has continued to disregard public health measures required by law under Order of the Chief Medical Officer of Health (CMOH) for the protection of the public” and that “This Closure Order will remain in place until the Pastor can demonstrate the ability to comply with these restrictions.”

There is no word yet on how the church leaders and elders will proceed. IN a Facebook post, Pastor Stephens reminded his followers “They can take the building but they cannot take the church.”

In the past Fairview Baptist Church has had underground services away from the public view, similar to what James Coates and GraceLife Church are doing now, or they may do an online service as a temporary stop-gap measure while they regroup and plan their next course of action.

Please keep this church and this pastor in your prayers.

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Coronavirus Evangelical Stuff In-person Church Righteous Defiance

Breaking: Gov’t Forced to Drop Charges Against Illegally Jailed Canadian Pastor

The Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms has announced that the contempt of court charge against Pastor Tim Stephens of Calgary’s Fairview Baptist Church has been dropped and will not be given a hearing, lifting the specter of further arrest on that charge. For now.

The move comes after it was discovered that Alberta Health Services (AHS), the manically prosecutorial organization that has been responsible for jailing three pastors and locking their churches, never actually served the court order for which Pastor Stephens was arrested and thrown in jail.

In fact, they served the court order to a different Tim Stephens, and by the time they arrested the pastor, the court order he was charged with had already been abrogated and modified by a judge, making it so that it wouldn’t have applied to him anyway.

Because AHS messed up twice, Stephens was incarcerated illegally, the victim of a rabid government entity hellbent on persecuting anyone who doesn’t abide by their anti-scientific rhetoric.

Ultimately, it took three days for JCCF to secure Stephens’ release, but this was three days too many. Stephens is out and completely free, with the case against him being dropped and the AHS licking their wounds as they plot their next line of attack.

Despite the contempt of court charge being dropped, Pastor Tim Stephens and his congregation are not in the clear. Like Pastor James Coates and GraceLife Church, they have gone underground and been meeting in secret in order to stave off further attention and persecution.

Pray for the persecuted church of Alberta.

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Church Evangelical Stuff Featured In-person Church Righteous Defiance

Police Shut Down Pastor Tim Stephens’ Church, But He Hints at Going Underground

Alberta Health Service and Provincial law enforcement have announced that they are physically shutting down “arrested and now released” Pastor Tim Stephens’ Church*, barring their doors to get them to cease gathering. Despite these strongarm tactics, the defiant minister explained on social media that “the church must gather,” and that they had every intention of doing so, building be damned.

Fairview Baptist Church will be joining James Coates’ GraceLife Church, Jacob Reaume’s Trinity Bible Chapel, and two others in having their church shuttered and doors locked by power-tripping government officials, all for refusing to adhere to the provincial lockdown laws that limit church attendance to 15 people inside, or 5 people outside.

Taking to Twitter, Stephens says that he is grateful for everyone who prayed for his release from jail and that though the church building has been ordered closed, they are actively seeking a new place to gather together, implying out of sight and underground if need be. They would join several other churches currently hiding out from the government, some traveling over 80 miles to get to their hidden church location.

This is done with the hopes that if they meet in secret, they will be left alone and not subject to crushing monetary fines or even further arrests.

With pastor Stephens being released from prison after two days, it is still unclear exactly what restrictions and conditions were placed on him that enabled him to be released. AHS has been actively petitioning to keep him incarcerated or to lock him back up if he re-offends and continues to lead services, and it Is uncertain whether they will arrest him on sight if he attempts to lead church publicly.

As far as whether the province plans to relent from their harsh lockdowns, Premier Jason Kenny’s government is unlikely to relent soon, announcing that in his great benevolence, they have made an allowance for 12 whole frontline workers to attend a hockey playoff game, in a stadium that fits 18,500 people.

That’s the kind of fear and illogic ruling political decision-making. If he will not allow more than 12 to gather in a literal stadium, (who incidentally, are all sitting next to each other, so much for social distancing) he will not allow a couple of hundred saints in the house of God.

*We know it’s not their church, but the Lord’s Church.