North Point Church ‘Cannot Guarantee’ Safety, Won’t Reopen This Year

Alpharetta City Hall

Megachurch pastor Andy Stanley announced today that the church he leads, North Point Community Church in Atlanta, Georgia, will be suspending in-person services through the end of the year. The original plan when the church moved to online-only services was to reopen in August. Now, however, Stanley says the bottom line to church members is the simple fact that “we cannot guarantee your safety.”

This was “not a casual decision,” Stanley explained after giving the news that the North Point churches in Atlanta would stay closed through the end of the year. Stanley said the decision was made based on the uptick of COVID-19 cases in the area, the results of attendee surveys, and the experiences of similar-sized churches that have already reopened across the country in the last few weeks. Read More

Also See:
Andy Stanley Explains Why His Megachurch Won’t Gather on Sundays Until 2021
Heartbroken Pastor Regrets Not Encouraging Masks

I must applaud Andy Stanley for acknowledging that his church cannot guarantee the safety of church members if its Alpharetta campus and its other sites resumed in-person worship gatherings as it had originally planned. Despite the rosy picture that White House paints, the pandemic is growing worse. It is wishful thinking to believe that it is going to get better anytime soon. Most recently the Trump administration has directed that hospital data on COVID-19 patients should be routed first to the White House instead of the Centers of Disease Control. It is no longer satisfied to modify and dilute CDC recommendations but is seeking to control what information is released to the public and to manipulate the data to support its narrative.