Last week, hundreds of people poured through the doors of Nevada casinos, which reopened after being closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Meanwhile, it is illegal for churches in Nevada to meet with more than 50 people.
New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy lifted restrictions on church services and protests Tuesday, a day after he violated his own stay-at-home order to join a demonstration against racial injustice.
The Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) has suffered its most serious decline in membership for over 100 years, Christianity Today reports. According to the SBC’s 2019 Annual Church profile published by Thursday, the denomination saw a loss of 288,000 church members last year.
American Christians prepare to worship amid concerns about damaged churches after U.S. President Donald Trump urged more prayers for America.
Popular Christian author Max Lucado took part in a prayer vigil in Texas Wednesday night amid the societal unrest in response to the killing of African American George Floyd.
Wycliffe Associates, an international organization that empowers mother-tongue Bible translators and partners with local churches in the advancement of Bible translation, reports that Bible translators and their families in remote and poverty-stricken areas are facing starvation due to food shortages resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Tony Dungy, the first African American coach to win the NFL Super Bowl, said Saturday that healing for a deeply divided US “has to start with those of us who claim to be Christian.” In a Twitter post about the police killing of George Floyd and the widespread protests and rioting that followed, Dungy said Christians “can’t be silent.” Most important, Dungy said, is for Christians to follow the Apostle Paul in his exhortation: “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.”
Evangelist Franklin Graham, the president and CEO of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association and Samaritan’s Purse, requests that churches pray for our nation during these dark days.
Christians around the world spent their first Pentecost Sunday in decades without the comforting voice of Ravi Zacharias, who U.S. Vice President Mike Pence recalled as a great evangelist.
A pastor in Mississippi has reported that his church building was burned down because his congregation had gathered together in person while COVID-19 restrictions were in place, USA Today (USAT) reported Wednesday.
The Chicago Health Department Commissioner has told the Elim Pentecostal Church and other Romanian churches that if they do not stop holding services of more than 10 people in accordance with COVID-19 restrictions, the city “will take all necessary measures to abate the nuisance to ensure the safety of the City’s residents,” CNS News reported on May 27.”
The state of California issued guidelines Monday under which houses of worship may reopen. The Department of Health guidelines were published even though the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Friday that Gov. Gavin Newsom’s COVID-19 ban on public gatherings could stand. The decision to allow churches to reopen also follows interventions last week by the US State Department, which specified that California’s ban on church gatherings was unfair, and by President Trump, who called on all states to lift bans on religious assemblies.
Wycliffe Associates, an international organization that empowers mother-tongue Bible translators and partners with local churches in the advancement of Bible translation, has recently identified 10 language groups that don’t yet have complete Bibles, although translation projects began decades ago.
India-born evangelist Ravi Zacharias, who built a global mission group for the intellectual defense of his faith in Jesus Christ, has died of cancer in the United States, his family confirmed. The founder of Ravi Zacharias International Ministries (RZIM) was 74 when he passed away Tuesday at his Atlanta home.
An administrative court in France has overturned a government ban on meetings in churches and other places of worship. The case underscored broader tensions in coronavirus-hit Europe over religious freedom amid an ongoing pandemic.
Evangelical leaders have asked Congress to grant religious organizations immunity from potential negligence suits arising from decisions to reopen during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Christian Post reports. Evangelicals joined some 300 interfaith leaders in signing a letter to the Senate Committee on the Judiciary last week, in which they suggested immunity granted could be similar to that given health-care workers.
Churches across the United States are planning to defy bans on indoor worship and will open for in-person services this Sunday, May 17, Worthy News learned. The move is part of the “Peaceably Gather Sunday” initiative in which congregations seek a balance between safety against the coronavirus and worshipping without restrictions.
Christian leaders have sued the governor of the U.S. State of North Carolina for banning extensive indoor church services to limit the new coronavirus outbreak. Their lawsuit asked a court to throw out Governor Roy Cooper’s restrictions on person-to-person services in North Carolina during the COVID-19 pandemic.
A number of churches in Illinois held in-person services on Sunday, against Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s COVID-19 orders limiting worship services to 10 people, Fox News reported. Several churches have filed suit claiming the Governor’s coronavirus orders are unconstitutional.
Christian apologist Ravi Zacharias has been battling a rare form of bone cancer since March and was recently informed by doctors that his cancer has spread and there’s nothing more they can do medically.