(FW) – James Coates, the lead pastor of GraceLife Church in Alberta, Canada, has been jailed for holding in-person worship services amid ongoing pandemic restrictions. Coates’ attorney, James Kitchen, said the preacher is willing to remain behind bars in order to do the “right thing,” according to CTV News.
In mid-December, Alberta Health Services inspector Janine Hanrahan issued an order against GraceLife, directly mandating the church to ensure all congregants, staff members, and leaders are wearing masks while on the property, to enforce social distancing of at least six feet between all persons,
and to restrict occupancy of the facility to 15% or less of the building’s total operational capacity. AHS then filed a court application in January to enforce the order through the courts. The application named Coates, granting the health agency the power to jail the pastor if he continued to hold worship services in violation of government edicts,
according to the Justice Centre, which is representing the minister. By the end of January, AHS issued yet another order to Coates, demanding he “immediately close” GraceLife “until such time as the premises comes into compliance” with government-sanctioned rules. READ MORE
