Johannesburg - Paballo Thekiso misses being in church.
As a pastor at the Following Jesus Church in Northriding, Thekiso is in and out of his church on a daily basis.
And not being able to connect with his congregants for over two months has been difficult.
But while he misses that, he feels government has made a terrible mistake by allowing churches and other religious institutions to reopen.
On Tuesday, President Cyril Ramaphosa announced that places of worship could reopen with a limit of 50 people at services, from Monday, when the country enters level 3 of the
lockdown.
Thekiso is one of many religious leaders in the country who believe that government has acted recklessly while Covid-19 cases are on the rise.
“Churches are not buildings, but people. The buildings might be closed, but church should not stop. We need to realise that this virus is real and can kill.
“Our responsibility right now is to help in the efforts to flatten the curve while we seek other ways of still providing the services to our people in line with our calling, and continue to pray and worship God,” Thekiso said.
“In my view the decision was rushed and not well thought through. I don’t see how we’ll be able to guarantee the safety of the people in the current state. We have seen and heard about churches all over the world who have done everything right but still had transmissions.
“Churches cannot be seen as contributors to the spread of the virus. While I yearn to be back to normal, I think our obsession with face-to-face gatherings needs to be questioned. Our God is not limited to move only while we meet in buildings, He is bigger than that.”
Thekiso believes there is no need to rush into allowing people back to church.
“It’s been tough. We had to find new ways of keeping in touch with our congregation. Some people don’t know how to use technology, some cannot afford data to connect to all platforms we offer, and some find it difficult to watch the screen as they prefer face-to-face interactions.
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“It’s been challenging and at times, frustrating.”
Thekiso has started preaching online. He had no choice but to adapt.
“I have had to get used to preaching in front of the camera with no people around and still try to focus. Preaching is not just about speaking but connecting with your audience. But it has been a good exercise, learning new skills to adapt to the new normal.”
As a pastor, his work involves connecting with people from his church and with other pastors. This includes meetings at people’s homes and coffee shops, but during lockdown all his services have moved online.
At first he battled to convince congregants to watch services online, but things improved slowly.
“People didn’t know what to do and how to connect, but as time went by, we evolved and found platforms that can allow many people to take part, and now we have found our rhythm.”
For Sunday services, Thekiso meets his congregants virtually at 9am via Facebook live and YouTube live.
“People can log in and enjoy the service; we also have live chats. We also connect online as groups during the week on platforms such as Zoom, Houseparty, WhatsApp video etc.”
But Thekiso has had to learn to deal with hateful comments from people.
“The thing about online church is that people comment in real time about your sermon and the platform is open to the public, so anyone can say anything they want to behind their screens, but one must be mature enough to keep doing the work.”
Just like Thekiso, Farai Mbirimi, a pastor at Christ Centred Community Church in Bryanston, has had to move his services online.
Mbirimi also believes the government has made a mistake by allowing religious institutions to reopen.
“It’s a bad idea. It puts our members and their families at risk. We will take a slow approach.”
Mbirimi says while it has been tough to adapt to changes, his online services are thriving.
“The reality of suddenly not being able to do what you ordinarily do, being thrust out of your normal routine was a big adjustment. Change takes time. Having no access to people or being with people was also a mental shift.
“Church for us means the gathering of God’s people to worship Jesus and hear from his word. It includes being with each other to encourage, grow and do life together. Lockdown means none of that is possible.
“Surprisingly, however, our online services have proved very popular and our people find that when they invite someone new to tune in, it’s more easily accepted than someone having to physically come to our church venue.”
It’s the first time Mbirimi has ventured into online preaching. He says it has been a learning process.
“We had never done church online before so it meant learning to do a production that would be engaging and helpful to our people. Online preaching takes getting used to because no audience means no energy, no response, no way of telling if you are getting through.
“Meetings online often feel laboured and impersonal. Because most people are working from home, they are often in work meetings all day; by the time you want to meet with them they have virtual-meeting fatigue.”
Andrew Christie, senior pastor at Willow Hill Vineyard Church, is also against government allowing churches to reopen on Monday.Christie says he’s had to find new ways of reinventing himself as a pastor.
“I was already very involved online, so the transition was easy. I do Zoom calls for leadership meetings, prayer meetings, counselling, strategy sessions, leadership development and consulting with various churches and their leadership teams.”
Pula Mokoena, a pastor at Godfirst Church in Braamfontein, says churches should work together to help contain the spread of the virus.
“I think churches should work together with the Presidency in trying to curb the spread of Covid-19, and it seems church gatherings won’t help to decrease the spread of this virus.”
Mokoena and his team have also moved their services online. “Our church uses a small-groups system as a way of staying ‘in community’; this means we record a sermon on Sunday and all log in to watch it as a family, as individuals or people sharing the same house.
“It’s been tough though, because data costs are high and the internet is not widely accessible in South Africa. This means we not only support our community with basic needs but with data needs so that they stay connected and part of the community as well.”