Letter to MP on Christian churches meeting together

Dear Mr Morris,

We are writing as Christians here in Morecambe and beyond to ask you as our Member of Parliament to urge Her Majesty’s Government to lift the restrictions on our local churches meeting together.

For us the opening of church buildings for private prayer does not mean very much: we can pray privately at home.

What matters to us is physically meeting together as the Lord Jesus Christ’s people, whether in a recognised church building or some other venue such as a school. We meet together to build one another up in our Christian faith, to serve one another in practical ways and to serve this town of Morecambe and the surrounding area. We believe local churches provide ‘essential services’ in love and good deeds.

We believe that online meetings fall far short of the New Testament standard for church gatherings. We believe that the living God calls us as local churches to be the Body of Christ in this community as we meet together. For us virtual Christianity will not do.

We note that during the recent protests in cities around our country the police took little or no action against the widespread disregarding of the social distancing rules. If  public gatherings posed a risk of unleashing a ‘second wave’ of COVID-19, why was no action taken at the time?  Though the authorities have subsequently urged that social distancing rules be observed during protests, we wonder what the official response would have been if Christians had been gathering to protest peacefully against the continuing restrictions on their public worship?