They Put My Pastor in Jail

Of all the things I thought I should write about over the past month or so when I've thought, "I should be writing", this was never on the list, but here we are: They put my pastor in jail.

Let me be clear: my pastor is not a criminal. He is one of the kindest, gentlest, most patient and loving people I know. He loves his people, the flock that God has given him. He is a true pastor: he preaches God's word faithfully; he preaches the gospel weekly; he prays for his people; listens to us when we are happy or sad or hurting, and he rejoices or weeps with us; he counsels us with God's word; he knows his sheep and loves every one of us. He is a man of God, a man of integrity, a man who loves God and His word and His people. I thank God for him regularly because I have been so blessed through his ministry; I have learned and grown so much in the years he has been my pastor.

Why, then, would they put someone like him in jail? He opened the church and he refused to close it. He believes that Christ is the head of the church, not the government, and he refuses to tell most of his people that they can't worship together on any given Sunday. He believes that we are commanded by God to gather as a body, to worship and fellowship together, and to serve one another.

To be clear, the current restrictions mean:

1. We can only meet with 15% capacity (about 20-ish% of our congregation).
2. Households need to be at least 2 meters apart.
3. We are not allowed to sing.
4. We need to leave as soon as the service ends.
5. We need to be careful to social distance even as we leave.

Beyond that, we can't have people over, we can't meet members of other households in restaurants, and we can only have gatherings outdoors, with 10 people, masked, and 2 meters apart (and it's winter in Alberta).

How can a pastor shepherd his flock if he's not allowed to be with them? He can preach to us in a multitude of ways: he can have livestream services, he can make us take turns attending each week, or he can hold 5-6 services each Sunday to allow everyone to attend, but he cannot shepherd his flock. 

So he (and the other elders at the church, who are in complete agreement) opened the doors wide and told us that we can come to worship and fellowship together. He did it knowing that he might be fined (he was), and we came knowing that we could all be fined (we weren't), and he kept pastoring every Sunday, even when he knew that he might be arrested and jailed.

Last week, they put my pastor in jail because he opened the church. They would let him go home until his trial if he would agree to follow all the restrictions, or not preach at all, and he refused; he could not in good conscience close the church to anyone.

I am grieved that he is in jail. I pray for him, for his family, for our elders, for our church many times each day. At the same time, I am so thankful for a him and for his willingness to stand for what he believes is true, to stand for God's word no matter the cost.

Please, pray for my pastor, for his family, for my elders, for my church. And pray for the other pastors who are allowing the government to dictate how they worship. And if you are a pastor, open your church, shepherd your flock, be the pastor God has called you to be.

To understand more of why we are open, you can go to the GraceLife website and read the statement; I would also encourage you to follow the links in the second paragraph in the statement and listen to Pastor James's sermons.