Other Prominent Figures Speak Out
In a speech to the House of Commons earlier this month, former Prime Minister Theresa May decried restrictions on communal worship. “My concern,” she said, “is the government…sets a precedent that could be misused for a government in the future with the worst of intentions.” She also noted that restricting worship “has unintended consequences.” Johnson walked out during May’s November 4 speech.
Gavin Ashenden, a former honorary chaplain to Queen Elizabeth II, says Christians for centuries have “fought and died for the right to worship.” As a result, “Church leaders as their successors have a duty both to ensure we are faithful to their memory and sacrifices and in our generation to be faithful to our God and our consciences.” Ashenden adds, “Such fidelity sets us in polite but determined opposition to any government that closes the doors of churches, prohibiting access to the sacraments and our corporate responsibilities to God and to one another.”
Police Stop Baptism Service in North London
Despite the lockdown, one London-area pastor attempted to hold a baptism service yesterday—only to have it broken up by police. After 30 people had gathered inside The Angel Church, an evangelical congregation in Clerkenwell, law enforcement officials convinced the pastor to hold an outdoor gathering instead. About 15 people were allowed to stay inside for a support-group meeting, and the rest held a socially distanced gathering outdoors. Police called the outcome a “sensible compromise,” while the pastor insisted he was serving “a greater good.”
Regan King, lead pastor at The Angel Church, told reporters he violated restrictions because “it’s about loving our neighbor.” He said a “number of people” who attended Sunday’s gathering were “extremely vulnerable, homeless, or on the verge of being very isolated.”
One attendee, who didn’t give his name, said, “While the restrictions allow people to go to the supermarket to get food, I think there needs to be consideration for spiritual food as well.” Worshipers, he added, were praying for the “police, press, and the people who wanted to shut down the meeting.”
After police broke up a worship service in Wales last month, the church posted video to social media. “If someone would have said a year ago that gathering to worship your God and praying together would be interrupted and disbanded by the police, no one should have believed it,” writes New Hope Community Church in Cardiff. “But here we are. 2020. Wales. UK. It is an illegal thing to gather. To sing.”
