Guidance in Resuming Church Services on May 31, 2020, the Day of Pentecost
Dear Pastors,
Thank you for signing the Declaration of Essentiality and proclaiming that your ministry is essential to the health and wellbeing of your congregation and community. The Day of Pentecost, May 31, 2020, is fast approaching. You are joined by almost 1,500 pastors that have signed the declaration.
I am writing to provide some comments and guidance. But first, we are committed to defending your religious liberty to hold in-person church services. Therefore, I want you to have my personal cell phone in the event you run into any legal difficulties. My cell number is 951-897-1473. I do not expect any churches to have a problem with law enforcement, but do not hesitate to call me on Saturday or Sunday should you have a legal issue.
Because of your courage, we have collectively influenced a dramatic victory for American citizens, and the church can resume its God-given role as a safety net and a place of solace for many who have suffered from unemployment, mental distress, isolation and other traumatic events as a result of the COVID-19 crisis.
Some have criticized our work to reopen churches as mere political grandstanding. Far from it. Your congregation and community need the peace, joy and love that comes through the fellowshipping of the saints. With suicide on the rise and mental illness becoming its own pandemic, we could not sit idly while waiting for permission from the governor to carry on our respective ministries.
Your solidarity helped to cause four major milestones over a short eight days!
You helped influence the U.S. Department of Justice to send a letter to Governor Gavin Newsom warning that his ban on church meetings was unconstitutional.
The Declaration of Essentiality you signed gave us the ability to send an extensive and detailed legal letter on your behalf explaining that while we are grateful for the Governor’s efforts to eradicate COVID-19, the ban on churches was having a harmful effect on society and was unconstitutional.
After significant media coverage of your courageous stand, President Trump declared that places of worship are essential and warned governors that he would “override” bans on in-person religious meetings.
Finally, on the eighth day, Governor Newsom issued guidelines for churches to reopen without necessarily being in violation of the law.
It was an amazing eight days! Praise the Lord for his goodness because we know that Proverbs 21 teaches us that “The king's heart is a stream of water in the hand of the Lord; He turns it wherever he will.”
Here is some guidance regarding resuming church services:
State Versus County Guidance: It is imperative that you consult the county guidance and regulations applicable to places of worship. So long as there are no unreasonable restrictions imposed on places of worship, we recommend that you follow the reasonable guidelines established by the county in which your church meets. In general, county orders may be more restrictive but not less restrictive than state orders.
State Guidelines for Houses of Worship: Governor Newsom issued guidelines with recommendations to prevent the spread of COVID-19. However, he also requires that a church service be limited to 25% of your normal occupancy or 100 persons, whichever is less. We still believe that limitation is unconstitutional because the same limitation is not mandated by the state for restaurants, grocery stores or other secular enterprises. So long as you reasonably implement the other state guidelines, we believe you would have a defensible case if you were to be cited or otherwise punished for having more than 100 persons. We are aware of numerous large churches that plan to exceed those limitations on May 31, 2020. In the event you have multiple buildings, we believe that you can spread out on your campus and have multiple separate meetings in separate rooms/buildings.
Insurance: Some of your general liability policies may have had exclusions for operating illegally. You no longer have to worry about this if you follow the state and local guidelines for places of worship. I can not give you any guarantee that insurance will still provide coverage in the event of an injury if you exceed the 100-person limit presently stated in the state guidelines. Additionally, you will not likely be covered in the event a congregant is infected with a disease while present in your church service. I encourage you to contact your insurance broker for further information.
If you do not already know, Advocates for Faith & Freedom is a nonprofit that I started to raise money to protect religious liberties. I do not personally receive compensation from Advocates. We raise funds in Advocates to cover the costs of filing fees, litigation, and other expenses and so that we can pay our lawyers and staff who work on the religious liberty cases. I have been blessed to be able to be entirely compensated through our private law practice, Tyler & Bursch, LLP, where we have a unique focus on representing churches, Christian schools, and other religious nonprofits.
Please contact me in the event you have any questions. Our staff at Tyler & Bursch, LLP and Advocates for Faith & Freedom will be praying for you. Please email me with your experience at rtyler@tylerbursch.com. I would love to hear how God moves in the lives of your congregation and community on Sunday!
In His Service,
Robert H. Tyler
General Counsel