Christian author: God is using coronavirus to 'prune' the church of branches that 'aren't bearing fruit'

Speaking at the Q 2020 Virtual Summit this Wednesday, Christian author and former pastor Francis Chan raised a few eyebrows with comments he made regarding the coronavirus pandemic. According to Chan, God is using the virus to “prune the Church and cut off branches that aren't bearing fruit," The Christian Post reports.

“I hear a lot of talk of people being concerned about whether their church is going to survive,” Chan said, speaking via livestream. “The illustration I think of is, if I had a diamond right here, and I just smash it with a hammer, what would happen to that diamond? Nothing. If it's a real diamond, if it shatters, it wasn't real.”

“This is going to be a group that the gates of Hell can't stand against,” he continued. “No virus, no government, no economic this or that, life, death, nothing. And so we as believers are supposed to trust the words of Jesus and go, ‘The Church is going to be fine. If anything, this is the time where God is going to prune the Church and cut off branches that aren't bearing fruit, but it's only going to become more fruitful.’”

As The Christian Post points out, a recent survey found that six to nine percent of pastors are worried their church will not survive the lockdowns implemented to combat coronavirus. Forty-two percent of pastors said donations to their respective churches was "significantly" down and 28 percent said it was "slightly" down.