{"id":24110,"date":"2020-03-23T10:20:00","date_gmt":"2020-03-23T10:20:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/southafricajournal.com\/?p=24110"},"modified":"2020-03-25T10:24:24","modified_gmt":"2020-03-25T10:24:24","slug":"south-african-houses-of-worship-find-creative-ways-to-address-covid-threat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/southafricajournal.com\/south-african-houses-of-worship-find-creative-ways-to-address-covid-threat\/","title":{"rendered":"South African Houses of Worship Find Creative Ways to Address COVID Threat"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

JOHANNESBURG – As\nSouth Africa\u2019s government tries to stop the spread of the novel coronavirus,\nhouses of worship have been particularly impacted by guidelines to limit\ngatherings to fewer than 100 people. But they are finding ways to reach their\nflocks as the virus spreads.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Churches and other\nhouses of worship in mainly Christian South Africa are a lot quieter these\ndays.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many churches and\nsynagogues started livestreaming this past weekend, and mosques in the\nRainbow Nation asked the faithful to instead meet in small groups. Worshipers,\naccustomed to praying shoulder-to-shoulder in a crowded environment, spaced\nthemselves out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Emmanuel Egbebu is the\norganist at Christ the King Anglican Church in southern Johannesburg. On\nSunday, he played to a nearly empty church. Usually, 400 people show\nup for worship services. This Sunday, 58 of the faithful turned\nup.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nchoir too, had few members. In an interview via Skype, Egbebu said he\ntook further precautions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\nmade sure to isolate myself from the congregation as much as possible. So the\norgan is situated in a very different place entirely, in a different cubicle.\nSo you don’t really have to worry so much about having contact with the other\npeople in the church,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ganief Hendricks\nheads the Al Jama-ah political party, which advocates for the rights of Muslim\nSouth Africans. He said the Muslim community should heed the government\u2019s\nguidelines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe hope that you will\nhave the wisdom of Solomon, and give more leadership to the country, Allah\nknows best,\u201d said Hendricks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Egbebu, for his part,\nsaid that in times like this, music matters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis pandemic is\ngoing to last just for a few months, but music is going to stay. So the decisions\nwe make now might affect the outcome at the end of the pandemic that we hope is\ngoing to go away soon. And we hope to continue to pray as much as we can for\npeople. And music is my way of reaching out to people,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For believers, this\ncrisis presents a unique – but not insurmountable – test of\nfaith. \n\n\n\n\n\nSource: Voice of America\n\n\n\n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

JOHANNESBURG – As South Africa\u2019s government tries to stop the spread of the novel coronavirus, houses of worship have been particularly impacted by guidelines to limit gatherings to fewer than 100 people. But they are finding ways to reach their flocks as the virus spreads. Churches and other houses of worship in mainly Christian South … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nSouth African Houses of Worship Find Creative Ways to Address COVID Threat - South Africa Journal<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/southafricajournal.com\/south-african-houses-of-worship-find-creative-ways-to-address-covid-threat\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"South African Houses of Worship Find Creative Ways to Address COVID Threat - South Africa Journal\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"JOHANNESBURG – As South Africa\u2019s government tries to stop the spread of the novel coronavirus, houses of worship have been particularly impacted by guidelines to limit gatherings to fewer than 100 people. 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