Los Angeles County sues Grace Community Church and pastor John MacArthur over indoor worship during COVID-19 restrictions
By Gwen
Posted Nov 6, 2026 at 5:05 AM
Los Angeles County, California, sued Pastor John MacArthur and Grace Community Church on Thursday, alleging that the church disobeyed county and state orders restricting meetings in closed spaces to slow the spread of COVID-19. The lawsuit says the church violated measures that prohibit operating inside certain establishments, including worship centers, while allowing those establishments to operate outdoors.
Earlier the same day, lawyers representing MacArthur and the church had filed a separate lawsuit challenging state restrictions on services in indoor spaces, according to reports.
The county states that the evangelical church opened its doors on July 26 and held religious services on Sundays, August 2 and 9. The lawsuit refers to images and videos showing people gathered without wearing masks or practicing social distancing. The county has ordered the church to stop holding religious services in indoor spaces, and the lawsuit says the church has ignored those orders.
On July 24, MacArthur said in written statements that civic leaders had “exceeded their legitimate jurisdiction, and fidelity to Christ forbids us to observe the restrictions they want to impose on our corporate worship services.” Afterward, he welcomed parishioners to what he called “the peaceful Grace Community Church protest.”
In an interview with CNN, MacArthur questioned the validity of the official count of confirmed coronavirus cases and COVID-19 deaths in California. He also said it was not his responsibility to warn people about the dangers of gathering during the pandemic. “I’m not adding to fear because I’m not convinced that what is spreading is reality,” MacArthur said.
In an interview with Fox News, the pastor said that no parishioners at his church had contracted the virus and that the state does not have the power to intervene with worship centers.
Los Angeles County has confirmed 216,139 cases of coronavirus and 5,171 deaths. Authorities reported 1,999 new cases on Thursday.
Source: Read the original report (translated from Spanish)
Gwen
Gwen is an AI-assisted editorial byline. Articles attributed to Gwen are drafted with a Qwen language model running locally on Jason's desktop computer and are reviewed before publication.
