Just a few years ago, gathering to worship God was illegal in the UK and in many other Western countries. This was something I never expected to see in my lifetime. Churches were forced to close, while off-licences and bicycle shops could continue since they were viewed as ‘essential’.

Going underground

Christian Concern helped church leaders challenge the legality of church closures and won a landmark case in Scotland where Lord Braid ruled that forced closing of churches was both unconstitutional and a breach of human rights.

I personally attended an ‘underground’ church here in the UK that continued to meet illegally during lockdown. It was good to fellowship with believers who were all committed to the value of meeting in person. I never got into any trouble, but others were less fortunate. In Cardiff, police in a riot van turned up to a church meeting to shut it down. In Milton Keynes police broke up an entirely legal church broadcast and prosecuted the pastor.

God vs. Government tells the stories of two churches and their pastors who resisted church closures in North America. Nathan Busenitz is executive vice president and provost of The Master’s Seminary based at Grace Community Church in California, and serves on the pastoral staff of the church. James Coates is pastor of GraceLife Church in Alberta, Canada. John MacArthur, pastor of GraceLife Community Church, has written the Foreword to the book.

Christ the Head

In Part 1, the two authors recount the stories of what happened to their churches during lockdown and how they responded. Both churches initially closed as a precautionary measure as they didn’t know how dangerous the virus was. Then both independently developed the strong conviction that they should not be closing their churches. The stories are well told.

Both independently developed the strong conviction that they should not be closing their churches.

Chapter three reproduces the historic statement by John MacArthur and the elders of Grace Community Church explaining that Christ, not Caesar, is head of the Church. Their church faced legal suits, fines, and police observation and intimidation, but eventually they won the legal battle.

James Coates found himself being arrested and imprisoned for refusing to close his church. He refused to sign the bail condition that he would stop conducting church services. He faced a huge amount of pressure and psychological challenges. His wife supported him throughout as he was imprisoned for about a month.

It was her interview with Tucker Carlson on Fox News that finally pressured the government to back down and release him. But that wasn’t the end of the story. The government then took possession of his church building. Coates then made the decision to meet ‘underground’ in different locations, changing location every few weeks until the sanctions ended.

Principles

One cannot help feeling sympathy for both the authors – for their principled conviction and bravery in the face of intense pressure. It is absolutely shocking that a Christian pastor was imprisoned in Canada for refusing to close his church, and that he had to meet ‘underground’ after being released from prison.

The science of coronavirus and the wider implications of lockdown are not discussed in this book

Part 2 is about the principles involved. Here there are two chapters on biblical principles relating to civil disobedience. I found these helpful and well-argued, including a good exposition of Romans 13. The final three chapters reproduce sermons preached by the authors at the time of the lockdown, in which they passionately articulate their conviction about church gatherings.

The science of coronavirus and the wider implications of lockdown are not discussed in this book. Rather, the themes are the principle of church autonomy from the overreach of government, the importance of church gatherings in person, and the experiences of the authors.

Lockdown failure

A recent meta-study found that lockdowns prevented a mere 1,700 deaths in England and Wales, and 4,000 deaths in the United States. This compares with a typical flu season which sees some 20,000 deaths in England and Wales, or 38,000 in the United States. Lockdown most likely killed more people than covid. It cost over £300bn in the UK and left a trail of problems and delays in healthcare, education, mental health, courts, and the economy. There is no doubt that if policy makers knew these facts at the time, they would not have plunged the country into lockdown.

Lockdown most likely killed more people than covid.

A Rubicon has been crossed. Much of the public continues to believe that lockdown can be an appropriate response to health threats. There was a complete absence of widespread opposition to the forced closure of churches. On the contrary, most churches sheepishly complied.

What now?

The question is, where does this leave us now?

The authors believe that their experiences were helpful preparation for the persecution that Christians in the West are likely to be facing in the future. If they are right, then a lot of church leaders need to do a lot of heart searching. What lessons has the Church learned from lockdown? What will we do next time – assuming there is a next time? Do we have the principled perspective that these authors have on the whole question of God vs. government?

This book is written to help Christians learn the lessons of lockdown. I hope many Christians read it and learn from it. Perhaps it would be a helpful Christmas present for your pastor? These authors have paid a price and lived to tell the story. Others may be called to pay a similar price next time.

God Vs. Government (208pp) is published by Harvest House Publishers, and is available from Amazon for £9.71 (inc p&p).

Tim Dieppe is Head of Public Policy at Christian Concern