Christians in Kimberley, Northern Cape, flocked to their local congregations on Sunday morning, following the relaxation of Level 3 lockdown regulations. Fifty congregants are allowed per service and they must be sanitsed, the attendance register filled and temperature taken as per COVID-19 regulations.

Winner Chapel International in Kimberley is one of the churches that opened their doors again after a break of over five weeks.

Believers who love to join in fellowship, are happy to be back:

“If you are one that is serving God, God actually expects to appear in His house so that the things we enjoy as Christians to worship not only online,” one congregant told SABC News.

“It has been a day, a moment we have been waiting for. We are so happy to be back at church. We just want to thank the government,” added another church member.

“We just want to thank the government and God for giving the government wisdom to open the churches,” said another.

The church leader says pastoring during a pandemic is difficult. Two Sunday services are now being offered. The church is sanitised prior to each service.

“We all know that pastoring is touching people. It is making a difference in people’s lives so when a situation arises were we are distant from the people we cannot see them physically it’s actually challenging. We did our best as a church to maintain contact, we had Zoom meetings but it’s never the same,” says Winners Chapel International pastor, Femi Adeoye.

Not all churches have taken advantage of the relaxed regulations, however, some continue to conduct virtual services.