At this point, its not something that is allowed., Under Pressure, California Church Postpones Conference for Thousands, https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/12/us/John-MacArthur-covid-grace-community-church.html. [ This article is also available in The tone of the courts opinion in the Chula Vista case was very government-friendly, while the Tandon ruling was very government-hostile, McDonald said. ,and California and Los Angeles County have agreed to pay a church that repeatedly defied Governor Gavin Newsom's public health restrictions amid the COVID-19 pandemic $800,000 in a legal settlement. Sunday, April 23, 2023 9:00 am12:30 pm After the US Supreme Court ruled that some public health safety measures could not apply to houses of worship, resolving this litigation is the responsible and appropriate thing to do, read a statement from county officials. That led county attorneys to seek a contempt ruling against the church. On Sunday, MacArthur admitted to congregants that "many people" contracted COVID-19 while it "went through" the church in December and January. 818-909-5500. Grace Community Church congregants make their way to Sunday service in Sun Valley last September. In court filings obtained by CT, she stated pastor and elder Rodney Andersen told her that she should submit to her husband as unto the Lord rather than provoke him. Grace Community Church is led by MacArthur, one of Americas longest-standing and most influential pastors. I knew I could not pass by silently on the other side of the road, that I needed to help this woman and to call out a warning, or else the blood of the people would be on my head.. LA County modified its health order and lifted the indoor worship ban after the ruling. Two GCC elders went on to submit sworn statements on behalf of her husband. During a monthly Communion service, MacArthur characterized her decision as unrepentant sin, saying the mother of three chose to leave and forsake her husband. They completed a master of legal studies degree at UCLA School of Law in May 2022. This month, we are celebrating a remarkable anniversary in the life of Grace Church. One former member of Grace, once excited to move to California to be able to sit under MacArthurs teachings, said the faith that had meant everything to her was destroyed by the way the church treated her when she sought help during and after an abusive, unloving marriage. He said he needed to talk about a "sad situation." . The county is very concerned about the public health impacts that could come from an event like this if its held, especially as we continue to see high case numbers and large numbers of people in hospitals who are sick with Covid-19, Dr. Muntu Davis, Los Angeles Countys health officer, told reporters earlier on Friday. He taught that women and children should get to a place of safety and that perpetrators of domestic violence are no longer behaving as believers and have therefore forfeited their right to marriage. The church discipline happened in 2002, a few years before Cho came to faith at Grace Community Church. Image: Edits by Christianity Today / Source Image: WikiMedia Commons. Cho held out hope, thinking of a line John MacArthur was known for saying: Time and truth go hand in hand. The truth eventually comes out. While most evangelical churches have formalized disciplinary processes in written policies and bylaws, its becoming less common for American churches to follow them in practice and even rarer for a church to publicly announce discipline cases multiple times a year, according to Sande, the Christian mediator. Grace Community Church in Sun Valley (Photo by Dean Musgrove, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG) By Ryan Carter | rcarter@scng.com | Daily News PUBLISHED: August 31, 2021 at 11:23 a.m. | UPDATED . In the video, MacArthur spoke during an evening service at Grace Community Church in California. Grace Community Church will be paid $800,000 by Los Angeles County and the state of California after reaching a legal settlement to a lawsuit over COVID-19 restrictions in churches. Dean Musgrove/The Orange County Register, via Associated Press, California is experiencing a super bloom,. How strong a politician is Gavin Newsom, really? . She has covered news for ChristianHeadlines.com since 2014. Scripture, unless otherwise noted, is taken from the NEW AMERICAN . Create Account; Forgot Password? We need that. But as I learned in law school, my professor said, What really matters is what the majority rules.. The California state government, which had enacted similar restrictions on indoor church services as the county, will also pay $400,000 to the church for legal fees. To Cho, as well as to seven Christian lawyers who reviewed the material, it was obvious that David Gray was guilty beyond a reasonable doubt and Eileen Grays refusal to lift the restraining order to protect her children was objectively reasonable and fully vindicated. The more he learned, the more people he talked with, the more the injustice weighed on his conscience and the more concerned he grew about the churchs biblical counseling around abuse. Yet, as Cho brought up in his letters to key elders last year, a string of women over the past decade said they received different counsel at his church when they feared for their safety or their childrens safety. 6:00 pm Josiah Grauman Yahweh's Dwelling: Redemption; Exodus 25-40 -30. Professor Margaret M. Russell of the Santa Clara University School of Law said the countys decision to settle was pretty pragmatic.. Two other leaders at Grace said they would testify on the wifes behalf, but the couple reached an agreement in January prior to their court date, so none of the pastors ended up needing to testify. Your daily news briefing from the editors of CT: European Evangelicals Organize Against Abuse, ERLC President, Covenant Parent Urges Tennessee to Pass Proposed Gun Reform. A prayer-request list compiled by laypeople and distributed to members of an adult Sunday school class is not proof that staff people or other officials at Grace Community Church knew this information., Not denying that GCC congregants have tested positive for COVID-19, MacArthurexplainedthat there is no reason to believe that any of these people who tested positive had been attending our Sunday services.. All women are invited to join us as we resume our study in the gospel of John. I believe that the county was correct on the law, she said. Grace Community Church regards the wearing of masks in worship first of all as a matter of conscience, MacArthur said and explained to the court that GCCs biblical stance on masks. Grace Today is published weekly by Grace Community Church. Fellowship groups are open to adults and families in every season of life. Sun Valley, CA 91352 Maps and Directions. MacArthur considers church discipline a "distinctive" at Grace Community Church, where elders follow guidelines taken from Matthew 18first confronting the accused privately, and then with . In February, after Barrett joined, the court lifted Californias ban on indoor religious services, while allowing capacity restrictions as well as restrictions on singing and chanting. "We are very pleased to see Pastor MacArthur and Grace Community Church's First Amendment protections fully vindicated in this case,"Jenna Ellis and Charles LiMandri, Thomas More Society special counsel and attorneys for John MacArthur and Grace Community Church, said in a statement to Newsweek. . (CTs policy allows victims of abuse to go unnamed for the sake of privacy and safety; her identity and the details of her account have been verified in reporting this story. Get the most recent headlines and stories from Christianity Today delivered to your inbox daily. This fall, Cho found himself once again reviewing court filings from a member at Grace Community Church who sought a restraining order against her husband in hopes of protecting herself and her young children from abusethis time at the womans request. Klassens declaration said the photos did not contain nudity. Thousands of maskless congregants gather weekly at Grace Community Church as Pastor John MacArthur ignores orders from a judge and public health officials. County attorneys reasonably anticipated that the court would continue along those lines, said Barry P. McDonald, a professor at the Pepperdine Caruso School of Law. County attorneys were not available for comment. News & Events. Theres a fundamentally different understanding of what abuse is, said Jonathan Holmes, a graduate of The Masters University and a pastor and counselor in Ohio, noting that the labeland the most serious responsesoften get reserved for physical and sexual violations. Just because someone quotes a verse to you and theyre in a position of authority doesnt mean theyre doing it well, she said. Its reporting and editing staff cover public safety, courts, local government and general assignment stories. Ryan earned a BA degree in Political Science from UCLA and in 2022 earned his Master's of Legal Studies at UCLA. In a statement, county public health officials said the settlement was prompted by U.S. Supreme Court rulings that restricted public health measures against houses of worship. Because the county subsequently allowed indoor church services to resume amid declining COVID-19 infection rates, county lawyers later said they wanted the church and pastor found in contempt only on the masking and social distancing issues and for the preliminary injunction to be enforced for 25% indoor capacity. Like fellow complementarians, MacArthur has preached multiple times against women staying with abusive husbands for the sake of marital submission. Patricia and I enjoyed our own bout with COVID for about a week and a half, said MacArthur, who was absent from the pulpit late December. Eileen Gray said hearing about other women who had been blamed, accused, and often retraumatized by leaders at Grace motivated her to share her account publicly years later, once her children were adults. Contact the City News Service newsroom at 310-481-0404 or news@socalnews.com. Get up to speed with our Essential California newsletter, sent six days a week. The majority were not wearing masks or practicing social distancing. Though Cho stepped down quietly, he continued to hear from other women from his former church. On Monday, members of the House Judiciary Committee met in New York for a hearing on violent crime in the city. The victims were regularly quoted Scriptures on forgiveness, trust, love, and submissionand were told to reconcile and return home even in cases where they feared for their safety and their childrens safety. Our church leadership remains firmly committed to the truth that Christ is the head of the Church, and we will not yield to governments infringement upon the biblical command to worship and gather together.. The county's board of supervisors voted Tuesday to approve a settlement with Grace Community Church in Sun Valley, and its pastor, the Rev. When wives felt like they needed to move out for their safety, they said pastors told them to stay. Cho first read about Eileen Grays case last March, after the Roys Report coverage, when he said he had been asked to look over the churchs handling of her case for the elder board. The ruling was a partial victory for churches that had argued that restrictions imposed by Gov. Livestream is available online and on the Grace Media app for the 11:00 am service. PayPal | 52 views, 1 likes, 1 loves, 11 comments, 2 shares, Facebook Watch Videos from Saint Mark's Episcopal Parish Upland, CA: Welcome to our service. Sign up for our newsletter: Theres another virus loose in the world, Mr. MacArthur said, and its the virus of deception.. According to her account, the trauma and warning signs werent enoughthe pastors wanted evidence of physical abuse, skin to skin adultery, or a conviction of child molestation before agreeing she had biblical grounds for divorce. SUN VALLEY, CA - SEPTEMBER 04: Grace Community Church Grace Community Church on Friday, Sept. 4, 2020 in Sun Valley, CA. Ryan Carter is an editor for the Southern California News Group, who also writes stories for the group. For years, they had hoped their submission, their faithfulness in marriage, and their desperate prayers would eventually lead to change in their husbands. Under the agreement, which the board unanimously approved without discussion, the state of California will also pay the church $400,000. Its a victory, thankful congregant Leon Felipe said at the time. Black Teenager Shot in Kansas City, Missouri. 9:00 & 11:00 am John MacArthur Jesus' Personal Invitation Matthew 11:28-30. The preliminary injunction was issued last Sept. 10 by Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Mitchell L. Beckloff as a way of stemming the spread of the coronavirus, based in part on evidence presented by the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health that Grace Community Church was holding indoor Sunday services, prompting the county to sue the church on Aug. 14. After they had separated or secured legal protection, they said pastors urged them to reconcile. Current and former elders had also raised concerns about Shannons incompetent counsel. Its not unique. Membership Matters 103 - How to Be an Effective Member at GCC. Its not just another thing to do. lifted Californias ban on indoor religious services, could not prevent people from gathering in homes, L.A. megachurch pastor mocks pandemic health orders, even as church members fall ill, The actor, the hairstylist and the eye surgeon: Drugs and death in a Malibu beach house, Have guests in town? They were saying it was un-Christian of me to seek that legal protection because believers dont take other believers to court.. The Opportunity Sheet is a weekly publication of Grace Community Church, offered as a courtesy to our church family. But the church contended that it was following safety precautions, including requiring masks and social distancing. Brief conversions can be a family affair for generations. The pastor brought up again claims of her bizarre behavior and wasnt inclined to reconsider her discipline. Last year, when he questioned the decision to discipline Eileen Gray, he said fellow elders suggested they just trust the previous leaders who affirmed it. Though the case settled in January, after the woman sought court-ordered protection last year, two pastors had filed declarations on her husbands behalf. Grace, No One Like Him: A Study of Gods Perfections, Thursday, April 20, 2023 7:00 pm8:30 pm. Even if Roberts is going to side with the three remaining liberals, now you have five very solid conservative votes in favor of religion and who are going to give the government a very strict review, and thats whats happened, McDonald said, referring to Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. A woman reported that church leaders had advised her to move back in with her husband and not get a restraining order despite his documented grooming behaviors, infidelity, and angry outbursts. 818-909-5500. In the first meeting with Bill Shannon, it was made known that my safety was not the No. He texted and called individual members of the elder board to share concerns. While still on the board last March, Cho emphasized the urgency of correcting the record. This year we are studying the Gospel of John, one of the most cherished books in all Scripture. According to the GCC website, Shannon continues to provide formal and informal counseling to members, teach the churchs premarital and marriage seminar, and preach sermons for an adult small group. Sign up for our newsletter: He said pastor John MacArthur told him to forget it. When Cho continued to call the elders to do justice on the womans behalf, he said he was asked to walk back his conclusions or resign. But those admissions mean you need to make it right with the person you wronged; that is utterly basic Christianity.. Cho expected the church to hold itself to a higher standard than even the secular courts. A website for the conference, which was geared toward evangelical men, had pointed attendees to hotels and promised a full lineup of speakers in English, Russian and Spanish, as well as continental breakfast and lunch. ]. Jaclyn Cosgrove is an assistant editor at the Los Angeles Times. Image: Video screengrab via Vimeo / Grace Community Church / Religion News Service via AP. 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