Throughout Latin America, a traditionally Catholic region with a surging evangelical presence in nearly every country, evangelical churches have kept spreading the gospel despite government measures meant to slow the spread of the coronavirus.
In many countries, evangelical churches have held in-person services or have personally ministered to church members in homes and other settings despite public health guidelines advising against or prohibiting public gatherings.
In at least two countries, evangelical pastors have died in alarming numbers during the pandemic.
In Bolivia, where some 100 evangelical pastors have died, church leaders have maintained close contact with their congregations, ministering and providing support to the sick even though churches were closed early by government decree.
In Nicaragua, where the government has played down the epidemic and avoided imposing restrictions, evangelical services continued at some churches even as the more hierarchical Roman Catholic churches stopped holding in-person Mass.
“There was too much misinformation,” said Raúl Valladares, who took over Managua’s Bethel Restoration church after his father and another pastor died June 5.
“Just in our denomination, some 20 pastors have died. And at Bethel we have a pastor, my father and some 25 brothers (members) who died from COVID-19,” though he said the church had tracked the cases and didn’t believe they stemmed from services.
In Brazil, the Catholic bishop’s conference halted Masses and indoor celebrations after the pandemic hit the country in mid-March, but most evangelicals kept holding services. Authorities began relaxing restrictions in June and some Catholic churches reopened, with extra precautions.
Meanwhile, some evangelical leaders in Brazil have advocated for miraculous cures or called the disease a plague that kills those of little faith and vowed to continue services. They have been strongly backed by President Jair Bolsonaro, who counts many evangelicals among his most fervent supporters.
The president declared in March that religious activities were essential during the pandemic, allowing churches to open and religious workers to move around. But some states have enforced their own restrictions.
According to the Nicaraguan Evangelical Alliance, which includes most of the more than 100 Christian denominations in the country, at least 44 pastors have died since March.
Not all of those deaths were confirmed as COVID-19 because of a lack of testing.
Evangelical pastors in Bolivia tried to keep in contact with parishioners even though churches in most part of the country remained closed.
“They went to pray, to visit the sick; in that work they died,” said pastor Luis Aruquipa of the National Christian Council, who said more than 100 evangelical pastors have died in the pandemic.
Overall, the country of about 11.5 million people has seen more than 108,000 reported infections and nearly 5,000 government-confirmed deaths.
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