This week has been a difficult week. For myself, this week was spent from morning hours to late at night in reading, research, prayer, writing, weeping, more prayer, phone calls, debate and discussion. I’ve heard from doctors, lawyers, and poured over the writings of many pastors in Canada as we seek to navigate through these times. I’ve written a number of emails and responses, most of which haven’t seen anyone’s eyes but my own.
My struggle is seeking to navigate our church through the current outbreak of COVID-19 in a biblical way. Understanding the Bible is much easier than understanding the world in which we are living. I’m convinced that the Bible teaches that we are to honor and obey our governing authorities (Romans 13, 1 Peter 2, Titus 3). But we know there are limits on earthly authorities. A wife shouldn’t be told to submit to an abusive husband by quoting Ephesians 5:22. A pastor should be resisted if he quotes Hebrews 13:17 and demands that everyone in the church must donate 10% of their wages.
The question we are faced with is this: Are the government’s mandates related to COVID-19 unreasonable or an abuse of their power?
That answer will depend on how you view the government, how you view civil liberties, and how you view the threat of COVID-19.
For myself, I view the government as good and one who upholds justice (Romans 13:1–7). In our age there are real dangers as the government assumes roles that God gives to the individual or family (i.e., means of production, education, health, etc). We should be cautious, but not overly critical since our government today does many good things and is very much needed. I’m convinced that we must obey God rather than men when the government forbids what God commands or commands what God forbids.
Concerning civil liberties, I’m an ardent advocate for the liberty of the individual and the liberty of the church. These biblical liberties are founded in the image of God in man and the Lordship of Christ over the individual and the church. These liberties include worship, assembly, education, and healthcare.
Lastly, and most tentatively, is how I see the threat of COVID-19.
In March, when the world was seeking to understand COVID-19 there was real panic. Everything was shut down causing untold damage to lives and livelihoods. The forecasted health crisis never materialized. Our church willingly followed the request to close for a time but began gathering again when it seemed apparent that health orders were unreasonable and did not respect the church nor individual liberty.
Now as we are about to enter December and as restrictions increase and are enforced, many are understandably resistant. Models in the spring were off in many orders of magnitude. No one wants to be fooled twice. No one wants to see the church closed or open at the whim of leaders armed with fanciful computer models.
As I’ve wrestled with this. I’ve asked myself this question: If March didn’t happen and we weren’t closed for weeks with little justification, how would I respond now? I have no doubt we would follow the mandates as best we can. That’s what everyone did in March—even those ardently advocating for churches to remain open today who are mindful of technocracy, and who have a high regard for civil liberties.
So the question we must wrestle with is this: Are we being taken for another ride? Is the government unreasonable for asking churches to restrict our gatherings? Is COVID-19 that bad? Are we responding to what happened in the spring vs. what is happening now?
Churches in past centuries have chosen, of their own accord, not to gather or visit house to house because of pestilence or plague. COVID-19 is certainly not in the same category as the Bubonic Plague or the Spanish Flu. Many reports circulate questioning the validity of PCR tests and mild symptoms in many age demographics. The average age of those dying with COVID in Alberta matches life expectancy. Yet many continue to warn about the danger of this disease. How do we know we aren’t being hoodwinked by unfounded panic or some plot to usher in more government control and fewer civil liberties?
Difficult questions. What was brought to my attention this week was the rising ICU numbers in Alberta. Regardless of the efficacy of tests, the writings of doctors on both sides of the debate, or computer models, ICU admissions are real people who are very sick. Alberta this week had to expand its ICU capacity to handle the increasing load. The people in the ICU are not those in long term care homes at the very end of life. The average age of those in ICU is 61 and the number of people in the ICU is steadily increasing. In March through May there were a maximum of 20 people in the ICU. Today there are 86 (last week there were 55). Will that number continue to rise? Will restrictions be effective? I wish I had answers that were as sure as God’s written word.
And so we wrestle with the current government response. Is it called for? Should we follow their restrictions? Many have noted that they are putting less restrictions on the church and society now than they did in March even though the numbers are significantly higher now than they were then. I know our Premier is under incredible stress and I do believe he is trying to respect our own freedom and responsibilities that we have for our own health and worship.
As such, I think it best that we as individuals and as a church bear patiently with one another, seek to maintain unity, monitor closely the strain on our health system, and honor our government by complying with their requests for limiting our gatherings. We’ll re-evaluate in a few weeks as it seems very little can be predicted in 2020.
This Sunday
We’ll have three identical services at 9am, 11am, and 1pm. I will be preaching the same message in those services on the issues I’ve raised in this email. The livestream on YouTube will be available for the 11am service. Our Sunday evening service will remain as regularly scheduled at 6pm with Alex Russell preaching.
Please register in advance for your service of choice by emailing Alex Russell at alex.russell@fairviewbaptistchurch.ca. We’ll seek to honor a limit of 1/3 our building size.
Please be aware of the health measures that have been mandated. We will not enforce face coverings or physical distancing believing that such decisions are yours to make. However, I would ask that we seek to respect our differing convictions on the matter and be mindful that we are taking steps to limit the spread of this virus in an effort to reduce the strain on our healthcare workers who serve the sick.
I know this will shock some of you. I know it will not please many of you. I ask that you bear with my own weakness as a leader and pray that God would make it clear to all of us the course we must take together in future weeks.
Please call me or email me your feedback as I would love to entertain your questions or hear your thoughts.
I love you all dearly.
Tim Stephens
“Be subject for the Lord’s sake to every human institution, whether it be to the emperor as supreme, or to governors as sent by him to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good. For this is the will of God, that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people. Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God. Honor everyone. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the emperor” (1 Peter 2:13-17).