The state of California is making it very hard for Christians to worship like they used to do. First, the government banned singing in churches to slow down the spread of the coronavirus, and then came the recent order to ban indoor church gatherings which has put a halt on church services.
Some faith leaders believe the lockdown orders have been unfairly and aggressively applied to houses of worship, but Pastor Mickey Stonier of Rock Church in San Diego says the ban is forcing the church to minister outside its four walls.
"During times of persecution, the church grows. Our church is growing, the influence, the impact of the church is growing," he said. Stonier told CBN's The Prayerlink that since the start of the pandemic their church has quadrupled in size.
"We put our emphasis on being out in the community and serving a lot of the needs. We've put together 307,000 N-95 masks and we are feeding those in need," Stonier explained. Rock Church has recently focused its efforts on providing pastoral care for emergency workers. "We are serving the fire departments, the police departments. There's a growing impact on emergency responders that are getting COVID. We have chaplain corps that are there and actually coming alongside each individual to provide support, guidance, counsel, and so many ministry opportunities," Stonier shared. "We have been blessed to provide over 9,600 meals to medical personnel, nurses, doctors as they are being busy."
And Rock Church is taking to the streets of San Diego to pray and minister to people.
"We've had 135 churches in San Diego come together, we had a prayer event - 11 different locations. We had over 15,000 people around San Diego or online. We called it 'We Pray San Diego'. People prayed for an hour for the Lord's work, for revival to take place in San Diego," he said.
Several other ministries in California see the lockdown as an opportunity to reach people through street and beach evangelism. "There is a breaking out of worship services in beach communities outdoors that are down the coast right now with thousands of people gathering to worship, people repenting, getting baptized, and coming to the Lord," Stonier added.