Cornerstone Church has decided to meet in-person for services on Sundays despite a newly instated stay-at-home order for the San Joaquin Valley.
The downtown Fresno church is letting parishioners attend service indoors.
This past weekend a new regional stay-at-home order was announced for the San Joaquin Valley triggered by the region's drop in ICU capacity.
Even though the order was officially enacted throughout the Central Valley, Senior Pastor Jim Franklin told ABC30 the church had no plans to stop their indoor services.
"We believe that church is essential," said Franklin. "There's something that happens when people gather together that can only happen here, and if it's safe enough to go to Walmart, safe enough to go to Costco or Lowe's then it's safe enough to go to church, and we believe we have a constitutional right to do so."
Franklin continued saying precautions were being taken to keep church-goers safe.
The congregation is allowed to wear face masks inside. Hand sanitizer stations have also been set up throughout the church.
Franklin said he trusts people will judge the risk of attending church indoors for themselves.
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