Churches are supposed to move all their worship services outside under state COVID-19 rules for counties, like Fresno, in California’s ‘purple’ reopening tier.

‘The Well Community Church‘ said it will continue meeting indoors this weekend, but will require people who attend in person to wear masks.

In a video posted to Instagram, lead pastor Brad Bell admits he and his church elders are not health experts, but they can’t let the virus get in the way of their mission.

“COVID’s not going away, by the way,” says Bell. “Can I just be honest with you? You can’t hide from it. It’s a virus. You’re gonna get it eventually.”

Bell says he doesn’t mean that to sound flippant, but he says getting a virus is not a matter of if, but when.

GV Wire℠ reached out to Bell for comment but has received no response. The city of Fresno tells GV Wire℠ there has not been any official contact with the church ahead of the weekend.

Bunker Analogy

“We could all lock ourselves in a bunker for 6 months and then come out and we’d all get it (COVID-19) then,” said Bell.

“It’s not just a health issue. Because, if it was just a health issue we’d all bunker up, we’d all shelter in place, (and) we’d never meet in public again ever,” he said.

Spiritual, Mental, Relational Needs

He says that’s not a way to care people’s spiritual, mental, and relational needs.

“When we look at all those issues together, our elders are saying we will continue to pray for governing authorities. We have no desire to be rebellious against governing authorities. But we’re going to continue to meet indoors,” explains Bell.