The BFD | The Church Owes Us an Apology

Colin Parkinson

I believe that an apology on behalf of the Church to the people of New Zealand is now long overdue. While saying: “Sorry” doesn’t make up for any of the rejection or hurt, that single word can start a chain reaction.

Many people have lost their jobs, houses, friends and family because of the division of our country into “vaccinated” and “unvaccinated”. When those people desperately needed love, the Church should have thrown the doors wide open to those hurt and in need. Instead some chose to use “vaccine passports” that effectively locked some people out of the place where they most needed to go.

How would it have felt to lose everything? How would it feel to then be turned away from the one place that you thought you could turn to when everything else fell apart? “Vaccine passports” should never have been used by the Church. People should not have been turned away from church – especially not at a time when the Church was most needed.

We should have been a place of refuge, but instead, some chose to add insult to injury and strike those already cast down by society.

The Church didn’t just “drop the ball” on this – we failed big time!
I know that not all churches did this and I myself tried to convince some pastors to not use the “vaccine passports” but it happened anyway. Could I have done more, tried harder? I am not sure what more I could have said or done to convince the pastors at my previous church congregation.

I eventually left and moved to a different congregation because I could not justify the use of “vaccine passports”. I wrote a letter similar to the following when I left, which I am now sharing in the hope that this might help others.

Letter-Church-Mandates Download

Perhaps those who went along with the “vaccine passports” believed that they were doing the right thing; perhaps they weren’t sure what to do. The truth is that even pastors and church elders are human and can make mistakes. Each and every one of us has messed up at some time or other.

Not a single one of us is righteous

-Romans 3:10 (Link: https://biblehub.com/romans/3-10.htm)

We deceive ourselves if we say that we have no sin.

-1John 1:8 (Link https://biblehub.com/1_john/1-8.htm)

But even though we are all sinners and fall short of the Glory of God, His free gift to us is salvation through Jesus Christ, His Son.

-Romans 3:23-24 (Link: https://biblehub.com/esv/romans/3.htm)

Even if no one else will apologise, as a Christian and part of the Church, I want to apologise now on behalf of the Church to all those who have been hurt. I am sorry that people were turned away from church simply because they had not taken the “vaccine”.

When we make a mistake or mess up in some way, we need to repent and turn from sin back to righteousness. Will the pastors who rejected those in need of love now repent and say “Sorry”? Perhaps start with a phone call to the ‘lost sheep’ who were turned away?

In return, I hope that those who were hurt might also be able to forgive those who previously turned them away. This does not mean that you have to return to a particular congregation; you may have already settled into a new congregation, although some may have been put off church altogether. To these people, I ask that you remember that many pastors chose not to use “vaccine passports” and there are places where you have always been and are still welcome. I encourage you to find a good church that follows biblical principles. Pray and seek God – remember that even if others have abandoned you, God is always there for those who turn to Him.