The Church is Essential in this time of crisis

<< < > >>

 

We will be sending the below letter to each governing official in hopes that they would understand the essential nature and importance of the church in this time.

 

Letter to Governing Officials,

Due to the Covid-19 Pandemic, the Government has made a list of Essential services that did not include churches and faith groups.

Some services on this essential service list includes the liquor and Beer Stores, Video Games, Best Buy, and other Electronic stores. But we question why you didn’t add churches and/or faith groups to that list considering that they are essential to the mental, emotional, and spiritual health of the culture?

The Canadians National Anthem states,

“God keep our land glorious and free, Oh Canada we stand on guard for thee…”,

On the American Dollar Bill it says, “In God we trust”.

The United Kingdom national Anthem states,
“O Lord our God arise…On Thee our hopes we fix:
God save us all….God save the Queen”

Yet groups that encourage Faith in God are absent from the essential list.

How can “God keep our land”, “save us all”, of find help in his trust if God and church/faith organizations that represent God are ignored, shut down, or considered unessential?

The Christian Community has long been standing up for life, health, and the well being of all persons, especially children (those born and in the womb), the poor and vulnerable, the sick, and the working class.

In every Hospital, Long Term Care Home, Prison, and Homeless Shelter, on a weekly basis across the nation, Christians are providing spiritual health care services like communal hymn sings, communal faith based services, sacraments like Holy Communion, the Sacrament of the Sick, and individual/group prayer and counselling.

As someone who has worked in the health care field, I can assure you (as most nurses can), that spiritual care in times of crisis and trauma is very essential to the emotional, mental, and overall health of a person. Picture 20 elderly persons on wheelchairs isolated from interaction or staring at a television for 8 hours a day without being entertained or empowered by safe religious communal activities simply because one or two persons on the unit (although isolated) are sick? This causes many elderly to feel even more depressed.

Religious care like church services provide hope, meaning, and the mental fortitude for many to recover from many ailments. The well respected role of a Chaplain in all prison and health care settings is proof that Spiritual Care is an essential service to one’s overall health, something the ministry of health already acknowledges. For this reason, the essential nature of the church and faith can not be overlooked or deemed unessential at this time.

The Covid-19 epidemic is affecting the entire nation and it is a tragedy that so many are dying by this outbreak.

The Christian Community feels the same concern as you do, and desires to work with the government to slow down the spread of Covid-19 and bring health and hope to the nation. But we feel that this can be better achieved if Churches (while taking necessary safety precautions) remain open rather than closed during this time of crisis.

Why?

Usually in times of crisis, people come together, not grow apart. We are in not only a health crisis, but a financial crisis adding an increased amount of social anxiety. In addition, if we don’t factor in the essential nature that religious communal gatherings have on Mental and emotional health, we will be setting the stage for increased depression, suicide, and marital breakdowns.

Heath experts are saying, “We hear a lot of people saying ‘I feel very alone, I’m very anxious and scared.’ We’re getting a lot more calls about suicide and suicidal thinking”, at this time (Christina Bradley, National Alliance on Mental Illness of New York City (NAMI-NYC).

Health professionals note that,
“Social connection has become a crucial part of the language of suicide prevention. The more connected people are…, the less likely they are to die by suicide” (https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2020/03/23/coronavirus-pandemic-isolation-fear-job-loss-triggers-suicide/2871949001/)

According to the World Health Organization, “Depression is the leading cause of disability worldwide in terms of total years lost due to disability…. Almost 1 million lives are lost yearly due to suicide, which translates to 3000 suicide deaths every day. For every person who completes a suicide, 20 or more may attempt to end his or her life… There are interrelationships between depression and physical health (https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/depression,
https://www.who.int/mental_health/management/depression/wfmh_paper_depression_wmhd_2012.pdf)
It is also a proven that those with faith heal, cope, and recover better than those without (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1305900/).

This means that in this time of crisis, we need the church to be deemed essential for the overall health and welfare of our nation.

Our recommendation is that you make it clear to the general public that Churches and faith groups are essential to our nations overall health and that they be reopened provided that they take necessary health precautions:

1. Hand sanitizers at the entrance
2. Face masks and gloves be handed out to attendees
3. Notices that if they are experiencing symptoms to self isolate
4. That attendees Keep a fair distance between each other while congregating
5. Perhaps limit the amount of people able to attend each service

The reason for reopening churches is so that we can we can ensure the health and well being of our community and nation.

No one within the Christian Community or any community wants to get sick. Most take their own precautions by not shaking hands or keeping a relative distance or wearing a mask.

We must show our nation that we trust our people to be resilient and wise and leave it to them to be responsible knowing that they must take ownership for their own physical and emotional health on a daily basis.

Each day a person goes to a grocery store, the LIquor/Beer stores, Marijuana dispensaries, takes the train, the bus, a taxi, or goes to Best Buy, video games or other Electronic stores, they are putting their physical health at risk for other important needs (many which are emotional and mental).

In our nations, we can’t expect anything less than responsible citizens making responsible decisions for themselves. One of these decisions is whether or not to attend communal religious services for their own mental and emotional needs.

We have already seen how essential church services are in our country, and removing religious communal gatherings would leave a huge gap which would further the problems. How much more do we need faith communities in times of crisis, especially at important seasons like the Passover and Easter.

So on behalf of the Christian Community, we are asking you to recognize churches as essential to the health and welfare of the nation by allowing them to reopen with the above or your suggested safety precautions.

Thank you for reading.

Sincerely,
The Nations Christian Community