Living conditions for Christians and other religious minorities worldwide are rapidly worsening due to the Coronavirus outbreak, says Open Doors USA, an organization working with persecuted Christians in more than 60 countries.

On Tuesday, March 31, CDF Capital offered in excess of $5.25 million in relief to more than 150 churches across the United States. With over $550 million in loans, every network church with a loan in good standing is eligible to receive payment deferrals in the form of six months interest-only or six months of payments reduced by 33%.

The following is submitted by Art Rhodes, president and CEO of the Church of God Benefits Board, as a follow up to an earlier article concerning the availability and process of SBA loans for local churches:

Professor and Harvard graduate William Jeynes is organizing a National Day of Repentance for Easter, Sunday, April 12th. He is contacting governors to announce the proclamation for their states, and religious leaders to make the proclamation for their houses of worship and denominations.

With coronavirus shutting government schools, millions of parents have a historic opportunity to try homeschooling and non-government alternatives, declared leaders with the new movement “Public School Exit.”

From Sunday school classes to board meetings, “Zoom” calls seem to have become the tool of choice for the Church of God to stay connected in this era of social distancing to combat the Covid-19 pandemic. The International Offices leadership is utilizing it and other technology to conduct much of the business of the Church.

On March 28, Samaritan’s Purse deployed its Emergency Field Hospital to New York City, New York, where the local medical infrastructure is severely overwhelmed. In cooperation with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), New York state officials, and local hospital authorities, Samaritan’s Purse will open a 68-bed field hospital, specially designed as a respiratory care unit. This response comes one week after Samaritan’s Purse opened an identical unit in Cremona, Italy-making it an unprecedented medical response for the N.C.-based organization as two Emergency Field Hospitals are run simultaneously.

A Christian organization is deeply troubled that churches and faith organizations are being considered “non-essential” rather than “essential” in statewide orders during the coronavirus crisis.

A new paper has been placed in the Doctrine and Polity series on the Church of God website, churchofgod.org.