Hundreds of California churches held Sunday morning worship services in spite of Gov. Gavin Newsom’s order banning congregations from worshipping inside sanctuaries.
The Christians did so not out of defiance, but out of obedience to Almighty God and under the protection of the United States Constitution.
“God has not called us to be defiant for the sake of being defiant,” said Greg Fairrington, pastor of Destiny Christian Church in Rocklin.
The Sacramento Bee reports the church held services inside as well as outside the Sacramento-area church.
Last week Gov. Newsom ordered churches to ban indoor worship. He had previously issued a decree banning churches from singing.
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“If the church doesn’t understand its role right now in this culture, we’re going to be labeled as a community organization and then we are labeled as nonessential,” he told the Sacramento Bee. “When the government says this is when and how you worship, they don’t see us as a house of God. When Governor Newsom was asked, ‘Why can’t churches open?’ His response was this: ‘Because churches are high risk and low reward.’ Apparently he doesn’t know what the church is all about because we are essential.”
“I read an article. It came out … Tuesday or Wednesday. It came out in The Bee: ‘Pastor defies governor’s orders.’
“Listen to me,” Fairrington said. “If all we are is defying and being defiant, we are wasting our time. Our call, our mission, is to pull heaven down into Earth. That’s our call. That’s why we are in this room.”
In the high desert north of Los Angeles, more than 1,000 people gathered outside to worship at Lancaster Baptist Church at 8 a.m. It marked the first time the mega-church held a service outside — in the desert.
“God is in control and we are going to honor our Savior,” pastor Paul Chappell told the congregation. “The church of the Lord Jesus Christ is alive and well.”
Dr. Chappell told the massive crowd of Christians to “keep Christ first in everything we do.” He thanked them for standing up for their freedom.
He told the church staff earlier in the week they would have to be flexible in the coming days and to be flexible you have to be spiritual.
“Carnal Christians can take a little problem and make it bigger,” he said. “But spiritual people can make a big thing smaller as we walk in the power and the presence of the Holy Spirit of God.