A total of 1,212 Christian church ministers from a wide range of denominations have now signed on to the Acts 5:29 Statement, a declaration that denounces the restrictions imposed on houses of worship during the COVID-19 pandemic as unconstitutional.
Affirming biblical commands taken from Acts 5:29 and Hebrews 10:25, these pastors say, “We must obey God rather than men” and that they will not “neglect to meet together” by ceasing to assemble for worship.
The statement goes on to read – “As a national coalition of pastors and churches, we reject any presidential or gubernatorial decree requiring us to disobey the will of God. We will resist any attempt by a federal state or local official to restrict or prohibit the free exercise of our religion or place restrictions thereon.”
It is a call to action for Christian ministers to resist what in their view are unlawful edicts by governments to prevent their congregations from meeting to worship God.
Pastor Stephen Mannion of Faith United Methodist Church in Lancaster, New York helped draft the statement. He pointed out, “Jesus said in Matthew 16:18 that the gates of hell shall not prevail against His Church. Implicit in Jesus’ statement is that evil is on the defensive and that the Church is to be moving forward in victory. Gates are for defense; The Church is on the offense.”