(ChurchLeaders) Both Pastor John MacArthur and Pastor Rick Warren have sizable congregations in southern California, which has recently become the “epicenter” of the coronavirus outbreak in the United States. Despite their proximity, however, MacArthur’s and Warren’s responses to the pandemic and the resulting restrictions associated with them couldn’t be more different. While MacArthur views state-mandated restrictions as discrimination against religious institutions and has kept his church open even when the state has said not to, Warren perceives no such discrimination and sees no reason to reopen his church for physical gatherings in the immediate future.
“Most churches only have one purpose: worship. And if you take worship away, you’ve got nothing. They’re in a hurry to get back to worship because that’s all they’ve got,” Warren told Cameron Strang of Relevant Magazine during a recent interview.