Pretoria - The Bishop's Council of Grace Bible Church yesterday reiterated its stance that it would not be paying instrumentalists who featured in its band.
During service on Sunday, Grace Bible Church founder and Presiding Bishop Mosa Sono told the congregation that it would not be sustainable to start paying the musicians.
“We had great instrumentalists who were serving here, but because some of them are musicians they needed to be paid. There is nothing wrong with that, I must say, but I’ve always been aware that our church is growing, and we have many churches now. If we’re going to start paying instrumentalists, it’s not sustainable, comrades,” he said.
“Not only that. In our church, we survive through volunteerism. That’s the DNA of Grace Bible Church. To me there’s no difference between a musician and a parking attendant. They’re all volunteers.
“The only difference is that instrumentalists
volunteer and you see them on stage but it does not mean they’re more important than anybody. We have people in our church who are here early in the morning and late at night, all kinds of
departments.
“For your information, as I’m speaking now, we have a medical doctor on duty. Usually we have more than one medical doctor on duty for emergency management services.”
In no time, social media was flooded with divided opinions on the issue in the threads that continued to dominate over the past few days.
Others condemned the announcement by the influential religious leader, whose church has its roots in the Pimville, Soweto, church, but continues to grow significantly nationally and internationally.
However, there were those who supported the stance and added that churches were indeed served by volunteers who should not have to be paid.
In affirming its decision in a statement yesterday afternoon, the Bishop’s Council said Grace Bible Church had noted with concern, personal attacks levelled against its leader regarding payments to instrumentalists.
“The Bishop’s Council took the resolution and Bishop Mosa Sono was requested to make the announcement on its behalf and it was a collective decision.
“Furthermore, there is a context under which the decision was undertaken, but many commentators have left that aspect out conveniently. Grace Bible Church stands by the resolution.
“We hope people will respect the decision of the church and stop malicious attacks on the Presiding Bishop that have become very personal,” the statement read.