Gwangju City Appeals to Churches to Refrain from In-Person Worship Services

408 Churches Assigned Public Officials... Urging "Transition to Family Worship"

On the morning of the 8th, Lee Yong-seop, Mayor of Gwangju Metropolitan City, visited a church in Gwangsan-gu and appealed to church officials to refrain from holding collective worship services and to replace them with home worship to prevent group infections of COVID-19. Photo by Gwangju Metropolitan City

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Park Seon-gang] On the morning of the 8th, Gwangju Metropolitan City Mayor Lee Yong-seop, along with officials from the city hall and five district offices, visited 408 churches within the jurisdiction to personally appeal for refraining from collective worship services and replacing them with home worship.

More than 2,500 officials from Gwangju City and the five district offices visited the 408 churches holding services that day, wearing sashes that read "Please have home worship today" and "Let's all wear masks," waving placards to request churches and congregants to refrain from collective worship and switch to home worship.

Mayor Lee Yong-seop also started the day by visiting a church in Seo-gu, followed by one church each in Nam-gu, Dong-gu, Buk-gu, and Gwangsan-gu, personally urging church officials to refrain from collective worship services.

The mayor said, "As the mayor responsible for the life and safety of Gwangju citizens, we are mobilizing the full strength of the Gwangju community to fight a difficult battle against COVID-19," adding, "The next one to two weeks are expected to be a critical period for the spread of COVID-19, so active cooperation from all sectors is necessary at this time."

He continued, "If a mass infection occurs in Gwangju, it is feared that an uncontrollable situation will unfold," and earnestly appealed, "Although churches may face difficulties, please refrain from collective worship and replace it with home worship until COVID-19 is under control."

Earlier, on the 27th of last month, Gwangju City issued an administrative order prohibiting Shincheonji worship services, gatherings and events directly held or authorized by the city, autonomous districts, and public institutions, as well as multi-person gatherings held by borrowing venues from public institutions (based on Article 49 of the Infectious Disease Prevention and Control Act). The city also strongly requested the private sector to refrain from holding gatherings.

Mayor Lee Yong-seop held an emergency meeting with the Gwangju Christian Council on the 6th, emphasizing concerns about COVID-19 mass infections and appealing to refrain from collective worship. Following this, he sent cooperation letters with this content to about 1,500 churches and, on the 7th, personally requested pastors and congregants to conduct "home worship" through SNS and other channels.

In particular, on the afternoon of the 7th, he personally called the heads of the five district offices, urging them, "The greatest thing to be cautious about now is mass infection, and since the next one to two weeks are the most critical period, we must make every effort to prevent COVID-19 mass infections," and asked them to actively engage in activities to urge churches to refrain from collective worship and appeal on-site.