SUPPLY PASTORS WITH PPE – COALITION

MANZINI – The Eswatini Coalition of Churches and Ministries (ECCM) has pleaded with government to supply pastors with PPE, among other adjustments related to the reopening of churches.

The newly-established church body, whose Chairperson is Pastor Musa Mbingo of the Evangelistic Crusaders Ministries International in Matsapha, has presented solutions to the much discussed topic concerning the reopening of churches amid the ban on religious gatherings due to COVID-19.

Last Friday, the leaders of the country’s three Christian bodies, namely the League of African Churches in Eswatini, Eswatini Conference of Churches and the Council of Swaziland Churches issued a joint statement disclosing that they continued to engage government on the possibility of reopening church services. 

Recognition

The leaders revealed that they were encouraged by government’s recognition of the role played by the church in society, while thanking churches for supporting government’s efforts in the fight against the pandemic.

Following that statement, the ECCM stated that its about 30 members had been monitoring the situation since the first national lockdown was announced last year. 

It stated that its membership had expressed that the ban on religious gatherings had put their programmes into  disarray, explaining that their religious operations went beyond preaching and collecting offerings for pastors.

They explained some of the programmes that were put on hold amid the ban on gatherings included projects which assisted the most vulnerable in society, spiritual and financial assistance to those who lost their property and homes during Cyclone Eloise.

Although the church body expressed its appreciation to government for setting aside E180 million in response to the damage caused by Cyclone Eloise, it stated that it was also the churches’ responsibility to assist its affected members.

Evaluate

According to the church body, since the ban on religious gatherings, it was challenging to assist its members because such assistance required that the church teams meet and evaluate available resources against the required demands for assistance.  In its proposal, the church body suggested that to aid churches’ efforts in assisting its members that were affected by Cyclone Eloise, a response plan that included people’s access to socio-spiritual support should be put in place, especially those who were directly affected by the cyclone. 

The ECCM explained that this would work in that churches and pastors are involved in the response and recovery plan, which included supplying pastors with personal protective equipment (PPE), as some pastors are already involved in the burial and funeral proceedings of those who had died from COVID-19-related illnesses.

It was suggested that in addition to supplying pastors with PPE, pastors would be instrumental in relaying appropriate and relevant information to the masses, while taking advantage of the already existing COVID-19 task units in each church.  It was further suggested that government lift the ban on religious gatherings for the purposes of worship to a partial operation of the church, so that the church is able to function. 

It prayed that churches be allowed to operate at 60 per cent capacity, which would allow the churches and pastors to play a role in counselling and praying of those directly or indirectly affected by COVID-19, as well as those who were largely affected by cyclone.

“We would like to reassure the government that as a Coalition of Churches and Ministries, we are committed to the mission of Jesus Christ and would like to work in support of the strategies already in existence,” the church body said.

It added that they would, however, urge   government to consider their adjustments for the benefit of not only the church and government, but the nation as a whole.

Meanwhile, although the League of Churches leader Bishop Samson Hlatjwako denied knowledge of the ECCM, he admitted that some of the points made by the church body would be beneficial in their fight to reopen churches.

According to Bishop Hlatjwako, the country’s three church bodies had already started working on the issue, as Cabinet had given them until next week to meet with the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Home Affairs to find a way forward. He said that the three church bodies had already listed proposal concerning the reopening of churches, which he said were largely similar to those tabled by the ECCM.

Gatherings

“The ban on religious gatherings is one in which we have been working hard to lift, because prayer and worship is spiritually effective when it occurs in a group setting. Children have been left out of religious gatherings for almost a year, yet churches guide parents and children on the way of life,” he said.

Bishop Hlatjwako mentioned that their main concern was that children were going to grow up without having been to church, while missing out on all the teachings to strengthen their faith in God. 

He added that the adjustments suggested by the ECCM were well-constructed, and would be beneficial to the church reopening.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Home Affairs Communications Officer Mlandvo Dlamini said although it had not been made aware of the ECCM’s existence, it was not necessary to host gatherings to assist members of the churches who were affected by COVID-19 and Cyclone Eloise.

He added that he could not comment on the issue any further, but was open to view some of the adjustments made by the ECCM.

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