News

Following the announcement of President Cyril Ramaphosa yesterday evening on the opening of churches, there have been various viewpoints expressed both positively and negatively. I will have discussion with leadership of the assembly and we shall in due course give notice of how, when and on what conditions we shall restart the in-person church services and associated programmes. We must not be influenced by hysteria on social media platforms of people expressing delight to be able to return to church. In the same way money must not be an influencing factor in our decision. I am aware of churches in Chicago (USA), France and Germany who held services recently with all the necessary precautionary measures in place (social distancing, masks, hand sanitizers etc). The following weeks there was illness and even death of congregants which led to churches being closed once again perhaps for an even longer period of time. There is no quick fix solution. Because the virus is invisible it is not detected with the human eye. Some people are asymptomatic. This means they have the covid19 virus but have no symptoms yet are able to still infect others. This renders the temperature measuring useless in this instance. We need to also note that Johannesburg is a hotspot at the present time for the Caronavirus. It may even be that we stay at the current level 4 from 1st June. As a church we are responsible not just for those in the Assembly but also our community. Any outbreak in the inner city, or Berea specifically, will lead to blame being placed on the church/churches. Our reputation and good name of the Assembly now and in the future must be guarded. Already regulations I have seen have indicated that no persons under 18 or over 60 may attend the church services. Those who have any illnesses be it diabetes, cancers, high blood pressure, heart disease, etc...are also being asked to not attend. So its "All Welcome" but on these conditons. I dont know if I am in favour of this. Some may even call it discriminatory. Church ministry in itself is being restricted not just in terms of length of service but numbers of people who may attend. (25% of capacity or 100 whichever is lower). The awkwardness of not being able to be or feel free in the house of the Lord will be most strange. No socialising in or around the church. No removing of masks. No shaking of hands. No sitting next to others all makes for a very different gathering. Not to mention the other difficulties of praying for people. This is not about having or not having faith. You will hear of instances where church members in a service will be challenged as an act of faith (or defiance), by immature and irresponsible church leaders, to remove their masks. We must know that in a church service are people of great faith, little faith and even no faith. As leaders we are not called upon to make popular decisions but rather right decisions based on the information and circumstances being faced. People will say if you don't open your church, and other Churches in the area do then people will go there. You will lose the congregation. If that be the case then you never had a congregation in the first place. I believe that members of our assembly would know and trust their leaders to make decisions based on best interest of all concerned. No, we cannot wait till the virus is fully behind us before we open up churches or the economy for that matter. But delaying by a week or two would also not make any material difference. Question - What is it that you as a believer need a church service to do for you that is not already being done? And are we able to meet that need in some other way. We have set up an online platform for Berea Christian Tabernacle where you can participate in live discussions, Bible studies. Comment on articles can be posted by users. Keep in touch of announcements and happenings on church activities and members. Its like our own Facebook for BCT. Please can you sign up to this by clicking the following link : https://faithlife.com/bctchurchza You then sign up for your free profile account - Name, email address and your own password. You can then login to your account and click the join button. You can also go to your app store and download the 'faithlife community for church' app. Once downloaded (it's only 3,5mb) you can again login to your account. Once inside the faithlife app look for the search bar and type in - berea christian tabernacle. Select. We will be implementing via this platform live streaming of our church services / prayer meetings / bible studies etc. We know the impotrance of The word of God. Even Jesus said you cannot live by bread (physical food) alone but you also need a regular healthy supply of God's Word to feed your soul. The church building may be closed but that does not mean the church is closed. You are the real church. We don't just go to church. We are the church. This is your time to be church in your home, family, neighbour and community. May The Holy Spirit guide us in this matter. Pastor Gavin