Another church service was held at Tandragee Baptist church on Sunday

The News Letter received a report this evening that police had attended in this morning to find around 50 people inside.

We asked Pastor David Patterson, who confirmed that there had been a service but said that it had not been stopped.

He said of the reports that the PSNI attended to stop the service: “That report is a bit sensational. Perhaps someone saw police at the premises.”

But Pastor Patterson declined to comment further.

The PSNI press office had closed when we received the claim that they had attended.

The PSNI had earlier explained that the church was “spoken to” by police regarding the rules after it opened for service on the first Sunday of the most recent lockdown.

Tandragee Baptist Church opened in spite of the two-week circuit-breaker coronavirus restrictions prohibiting the opening of churches for anything other than “private prayer, weddings, civil partnerships and funerals”.

The church had posted a video online showing a sermon delivered by Pastor David Patterson.

A PSNI spokesperson, said: “Police received a report of a suspected potential breach of Health Protection (Coronavirus Regulations Northern Ireland) Regulations in the Tandragee area on Sunday evening (November 29).

“The church was spoken to by police and they were encouraged to follow the regulations that are in place.”

President of the Association of Baptist Churches in Ireland, Pastor Trevor Ramsey, said he did not “condemn or condone” Tandragee Baptist Church and stressed that churches have the ability to act independently.

“All I would say is that I know that local pastors and local churches in many denominations are trying their best to work with the government but may be struggling a little bit – it’s hard for churches to close down for public worship when they see off-licences open, for example.

“At the same time, we understand the challenges facing the government, so I’m not going to either condone or condemn the actions at Tandragee.”

Churches belonging to the main denominations in NI have remained closed during the restrictions but church leaders have expresssed reservations.

have been expressed by church leaders.

The Moderator of the Presbyterian Church had described the closure of places of worship as a cause of “significant regret and concern”.

Rt Rev Dr David Bruce said the Presbyterian Church had made representations regarding public worship to the Northern Ireland Executive in Belfast and to the Irish Government in Dublin.

The Roman Catholic Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland Eamon Martin had questioned why off-licences could remain open but churches had to close.

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