Provoking angels a noisy affair
Members of the community who took to Facebook to complain about the noise caused by a religious gathering on Sunday, have been severely criticised for being intolerant by the organisers.
MBOMBELA – More than 5 000 people converged on St Peter’s School for an event called Ephphata. The Hebrew word means, “to open the heavens”. It was organised by the Enlightened Christian Gathering (ECG) church.
All branches and ECG submitting branches in Mpumalanga were invited to the event, which lasted from 09:00 to 18:00.
“We had people from Swaziland, Mozambique and all over Mpumalanga join, as it is close by,” explained church secretary, Mr Linda Mwale. “We are not just some little church somewhere. We are an international movement of God. We have branches in every province in the country, in the USA, Europe, India and Dubai.”
At around 15:00, residents living around the school started complaining about the noise.
One posted on Nelspruiters, “What on earth is happening at St Peter’s? The music is so loud we can’t hear what’s happening in our own home,” to which another commented, “I think we must draft a petition to St Peter’s before it is every Sunday”.
Another added, ” If that’s how some of you worship, by upsetting the surrounding neighbourhood, then how Christian is that? Glad I don’t belong to this group.”
Others mentioned that it was so disturbing, their guests had to leave, and that “God’s hearing is perfect and that He did not need amplifiers”.
St Peter’s principal, Mr Jacques Janse van Rensburg said those who complained were culturally insensitive.
“They have no problem with noise when it caters to their own festivals, but they will complain when people come together in worship.”
“To each their own, if they want that, but the community must not straitjacket those in worship,” said Mwale.
The ECG said the date for its next event has not yet been confirmed, but undertook that it would certainly happen again in the future.
“We had testimonies of healing and miracles, right in the middle of the service. The noise level of a miracle is pretty high, as God and the angels need noise to be provoked!” Salvation concluded.
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