Friesen thanking churches for COVID help, says more may be needed

Minister Cameron Friesen is asking people "how can they be the church" during the pandemic. 

As the province orders churches to close, Friesen says this is familiar for many as churches have done this before.

"Through the spring, we had a lot of faith-based groups who stopped being able to meet together. I know there were many people concerned about the inability to have church," Friesen says.

Now that the province is asking people to volunteer to help during the pandemic, he has a specific message for Christians. 

"Maybe right now the question people should be asking is 'how can they be the church."

Friesen is putting out the call for people to work as a healthcare worker or to offer other help using methods such as Help Next Door MB.

"We believe they are out there. We believe that they are out there and probably they just need to be asked."

He expects to need their help sooner rather than later. 

"I think for our faith-based, for our volunteer groups, we may need you more quickly than you know. We are discovering this from coast to coast to coast in Canada that right now, for everything, we need to plan for the worst, even as we hope for the best because these are challenging situations."