Should pastors support the Covid-19 vaccine? Soon we will show it by our choice to take it or decline.
In my state, North Carolina, pastors and clergy will be eligible to receive the COVID-19 vaccine when state officials expand to the next phase of vaccinations, regardless of our age.
Following federal guidelines, NC officials are making vaccines available by groups. According to Baptist Press, “North Carolina is currently vaccinating groups 1 and 2, which include health care workers, long-term care staff and residents, and people over the age of 65.” Vaccinating them, that is, if they can find it at all. Doses are in such short supply that many in those groups remain unvaccinated.
Next, “group 3 includes those classified as ‘frontline essential workers’ who work in one of eight essential sectors.” Included in those eight essential sectors are “government and community services,” which includes clergy. Good to know. Even the state wisely views pastors as “essential workers.”
So pastors will make a choice. And questions are already looming. Are there moral, biblical, or ethical reasons to decline the vaccine, such as the claim that babies were aborted to develop the vaccine? Should you refuse the vaccine, and, in turn, lead your flock to do likewise?
All Christians should strive to make decisions based on biblical wisdom, and that includes whether we accept the Covid-19 vaccine. It is a matter of conscience, and we should respect one another’s decisions. But pastors also consider the impact of their decisions on the congregations they lead. So, I am not going to presume to speak for all pastors, but I want to offer three reasons that lead me to the conclusion that, yes, as a pastor, given the opportunity, I will accept the Covid-19 vaccine:
- Because we value life.
Christians value life, especially human life. If we are to practice this principle consistently, it also means that we honor life and protect life to the best of our ability. Including our own.
When pastors or Christian leaders refuse to safeguard their own lives, including eating right, exercising, and undertaking preventive medical practices when necessary, it sends a message to the congregation that life is not as valuable as we claim it is, it ignores the biblical mandate to keep a healthy body, and it tends to presume on God that we can do whatever we want and He has an obligation to keep us around anyway (1 Cor. 6:19-20, 10:31, Matt. 4:7).
But this raises another question. If social media posts are any gauge of public opinion, some Christians and pastors have denounced the Covid-19 vaccine because they believe it is derived from fetal tissue harvested from aborted babies. So, it seems, that accepting the vaccine in order to protect one’s own life violates our moral imperative to protect the unborn. Or does it?
Christians have a moral obligation to object to any use of aborted tissue for scientific research. And the wholesale slaughter of the unborn, protected by law and carried out under the pretense of a health care choice, is not only morally reprehensible but undeniably evil (Ex. 1:22, 23:7, Lev. 20:2-5, John 8:44, Matt. 2:16-18).
So, I believe, Christians should always stand in favor of life and against abortion. But does taking the Covid-19 vaccine violate this?
Greater minds than mine have thoroughly addressed this question (for instance, see here). So, I would just note a few things. First, the vaccines do not, in fact, use fetal tissues, but like many vaccines today they are developed from fetal cell lines that date back decades, some of which resulted from abortions, and some which did not. No babies were aborted in 2020 to produce the Covid-19 vaccine. Second, God does not hold us responsible for what people did in the past, but He holds us accountable for what we do now, our own actions, and our moral judgement. So, third, God expects us to derive good outcomes from previous bad situations. If I accept the organs from a person who was killed by a drunk driver, that does not make me an advocate of alcohol abuse or complicit in their death. But it shows that I am all about life, and I believe that God can redeem even the worst situation (Gen. 50:20, Rom. 8:28).
- Because we value leadership.
In the last year, we have seen leadership on public display, both good and bad. We have seen elected officials demand that their constituents wear masks while they flittered about in public without masks. Naturally, voters were infuriated by their duplicity. But we have also seen three former US Presidents from differing political perspectives stand together and announce they would be first in line to accept the Covid-19 vaccine once it rolled out. That, my friends, is good leadership.
Why? Because leaders go first. And pastors are leaders. Or, more to the point, pastors are shepherds.
One of God’s favorite images of Himself is that of a Shepherd (Ps. 23, John 10). He passes that along to “pastors,” a term that originated from that same image (1 Peter 5:2). And it’s illuminating to remember that sheep must be led, not driven. Which means, of course, for the flock to make progress, the shepherd has to be out front leading the way, not in the back yelling and waving.
If I expect my congregation to accept the vaccine for the sake of life, I need be willing to do the same. And to even go first when I can (1 Cor. 10:24).
- Because we value longevity.
God has not called me to do a job. He has called me to live a life. And I am a steward of that life, and I demonstrate good stewardship of this fragile life by the choices I make and the habits I adopt (1 Cor. 4:1-2).
If I am flippant about that life, refusing to cultivate healthy habits or practice behaviors that sustain and lengthen my life, I am sinning against God, not treating with value the life He created and the calling He assigned (1 Cor. 10:23, 31). But if I take care of this life, then God can use it to His glory for as long as He permits me to sustain a sound mind and a workable body, and until He decides to bring me home (Ps. 91:16, 118:17, John 14:1-3).
And I would add to that, by the way, that Christians should permit their pastors to do just that—to take care themselves. Rest, family time, uninterrupted vacations. Give your pastor the time he needs. In the end, you’ll get a stronger, healthier, and more appreciative shepherd.
So, for the simple reason that I want to be around to serve the Lord as long as I can, I will take the vaccine when the opportunity arises. I encourage you to do the same.
Therefore, whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to be pleasing to him.
2 Cor. 5:9