The day after Northern Health announced that churches in northern B.C. would require proof of full vaccination to hold in-person services again, a Prince George pastor has said that he will not be complying.
Andrew Simpson of the Heritage Free Presbyterian Church told True North he wasn’t surprised by the announcement and that his church will remain open to everyone.
“As a pastor, I will never ask somebody to present proof of vaccination or to reveal any medical details to attend a church service that I am presiding over,” Simpson said. “I wasn’t shocked at it but still very dismayed that the government would think they have the authority to implement something like that.”
Northern Health announced Thursday that faith-based organizations would be allowed to reopen, “as long as they are limited to 50% capacity in the place of worship and all participants over the age of 11 are vaccinated. Virtual or drive-in services can be held without a check of vaccination status.”
The largest of B.C.’s five health regions had banned in-person church services on Oct. 15 as part of the province’s “circuit breaker” measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19. These restrictions were specific to the northern region and intended to address a “surge” in COVID-19 cases that saw local hospitals “overwhelmed.”
Only places of worship in the Northern Health region have been told to require vaccination. Other health regions offer the option of half-capacity instead. All require masks.
Churches in B.C. had only reopened for full services in May. Before this, they had been locked down for 14 months, followed by limits of no more than 50 people. These restrictions affected weddings, funerals, baptisms and other faith services.
The Heritage Free Presbyterian Church was one of seven northern region churches given warning letters earlier this month for conducting services in defiance of public health orders.
Simpson told True North that the church had decided in October that enough was enough.
“We made the decision that we would not be closing our church, and we didn’t close our church, and that’s why we received a warning letter from the environmental health officer. But we’re determined we’re going to keep our church open, and we’re not going to be checking for vaccine passports.”
Simpson said the restrictions have been very difficult for the church but that the vaccine mandate is proving “absolutely devastating” for working people.
“In the past two months since vaccine mandates were introduced, I have counselled over 40 people who are all losing their jobs and many of them are losing their livelihoods over this,” he said.
“I know one lady who came to me who has the responsibility – she’s a single lady – of looking after her elderly parents. She’s losing her job that she’s had for over 20 years. And another man who’s married and has four young children, and he’s been in that job for nearly ten years, and he’s been forced out. So the harm and destruction that’s coming very soon when these mandates take effect is going to be absolutely devastating.”
“If people ever need a place to go where they can in a sense forget about COVID and just be welcomed in, it’s church,” Simpson concluded. “And now the government is taking that from them as well.”
HD Editor’s Note: Why Is This News Biblically Relevant?
The wife of Pastor James Coates of GraceLife Church (who was the first Alberta Pastor arrested) put out a statement on social media after the government took control of their church building, forcing them as well to worship “underground”:
This is all under the guise of a health order.
Too bad the Church isn’t a building, it’s a blood-bought people – Christ has and will prevail. We have an enemy and that enemy has been defeated by the death and resurrection of Christ. For all those who find satisfaction in this – you cannot stop the gospel. The name of Jesus Christ will go forth with even more power and conviction. The Word of God will sound out across this nation accomplishing all the work God has ordained to glorify Himself.
I pray for all the pastors and Christians that still think this is about a virus and health order. Clearly, our Charter and criminal code mean nothing as long as the government can come up with a good enough story to disregard it. God have mercy on our nation. I pray for their souls. They are clearly under Your judgment.
Since the beginning of COVID-19, we have seen the government give orders to a place outside of their jurisdiction and their authority… the Church.
First, the demand was that churches be entirely closed; many complied because it was promised to be temporary. It was not too long before a few brave Pastors said, “I would rather obey God than man,” citing an impactful verse that urges Christians to not forsake “the assembling of ourselves together…and so much the more, as ye see the Day approaching” (Hebrews 10:25)
One of the courageous Pastors that opened his Church was John MacArthur. Harbingers Daily covered his heated battle with the LA County in court last year. Grace Community Church and MacArthur were relentlessly persecuted for preaching the Gospel in person and refusing to close the doors of their Church to people in need of Biblical Truth.
“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. His rule is mediated to local churches through those pastors and elders who teach His Word (Matthew 16:18–19; 2 Timothy 3:16–4:2),” MacArthur wrote in a letter.
New claimed “waves” of coronavirus have provided ample excuse for leaders to keep churches shut, or limit their attendance. We learned very early on in the “pandemic” that churches were being unfairly targeted.
As MacArthur explained in his letter, the government does not have authority over the Church. Pastors need to bravely stop handing the power over to an agenda-driven world that despises Biblical truth.
Harbingers Daily reported about Calvary Chapels in New Zealand banded together writing a letter to their country’s Prime Minister urging her to reconsider pressuring churches to only allow vaccinated congregants.
“We believe that Jesus is the Son of God and that salvation from sins is found in Him alone. He is our Lord and our Saviour, and we are one in Him. As such, it is untenable for us as church leaders to separate our churches into the vaccinated and the unvaccinated, for the Bible knows no such distinctions. Likewise, when it comes to the non-Christian, the good news of salvation is freely available to all. Jesus touched the lepers; He ate with prostitutes, and He communed with the despised tax collector. Jesus was known as the friend of sinners, and He came for the undesirable, the outcast, the ‘whosoevers’ of society. As Christians, we cannot discriminate against people along medical lines. We appreciate that not all church leaders think the same as we do on this. Perhaps they will divide or close their doors to a certain class of person, but we cannot,” they contend.
