Many small to mid-size churches start to grow by holding church services on weekends at public school facilities. This right is being threatened in New York City, and could start a dangerous precedent world-wide. According to the Christian Post, some 60 churches may be left homeless as a ban that prohibits worship services at New York City public schools takes effect on Sunday. While churchgoers continue to fight the ban, some are also crying foul over the lack of support from megachurches.
New York’s megachurches have been mostly silent on the issue since the Supreme Court refused to hear the case of a Bronx congregation that tried to secure access to a public school auditorium for Sunday services. Some New York City church leaders wonder why the large churches have not done anything to help.
Pastor Bill Devlin of Manhattan Bible Church has helped lead the Right to Worship protests since the beginning. He told The Christian Post that a steering committee made up of 10 pastors affected by the ban came to him and asked, “Where are these pastors who have these huge churches? They have been absolutely silent.”
Devlin said they have tried contacting large churches that have their own buildings, and the “major response we’ve gotten from big dog churches and pastors is, ‘We’ll pray for you.'”
He has personally approached some megachurch pastors in the NYC area as well. Last December, at the mayor’s Interfaith Prayer Breakfast, he said he spoke with A.R. Bernard, pastor of the Christian Cultural Center, one of the largest evangelical churches in the city. Devlin told Bernard: “We need your help.”
Bernard responded, “I’m working on the inside,” according to Devlin.
Bernard told The Christian Post that he has been in conversations with both the Chancellor of New York City Schools and the mayor’s office. But he also said that “nothing has changed up to this point. The deadline in their minds is still set for the 12th. They have their reasons.”
Since the Supreme Court decision in December, hundreds have held protests outside schools, City Hall, and the Department of Law against the ban, set by the city’s Department of Education. The deadline banning the use of schools by churches is scheduled for Feb. 12.
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