Pastor Aaron Rock of Windsor’s Harvest Bible Church insists he’s no rebel and that he is deeply respectful of authorities.

But this Sunday, after preaching to his flock at the early-morning service, he and others from the congregation will be jumping in their cars and driving to Toronto for a rally outside Ontario’s Legislature. Given that city’s current grey-lockdown status, severely limiting the size of public gatherings, it’s likely to be an illegal assembly.

“We don’t know how many people are going — several pastors and churches are planning on attending,” Rock said Friday. He’ll be one of the pastors speaking out at the “Stand Together Worship Protest” at Queen’s Park at 3 p.m.

Aimed at stopping or at least interrupting new transmissions of COVID-19, the lockdown in both Toronto and neighbouring Peel Region means that, among other emergency measures, churches are effectively closed, and outdoor public gatherings are limited to 10 participants.

“We will stand in solidarity with churches in Toronto and Peel,” said Rock, who is aware of church members from at least Windsor, Toronto, Alliston and Waterloo going to the protest.

Given recent developments — Windsor-Essex County has been upgraded from orange-restrict to red-control effective Sunday night — Rock is convinced “we’re not far behind” those same churchgoing restrictions.

“These are terrifying days for people. To be locked out of church would be really, really bad news,” he said.