With Easter holiday festivities fast approaching, members of the Koinonia Christian Council (KCC) held a pre-Easter service at the United Presbyterian Church of South Africa in Makhaza, on Sunday 19 March, to pray for safety.
KCC provincial chair and leader of St Williams Botoman Presbyterian Church of Africa, based at E section Khayelitsha, Rev Ntobeko Gijana said the council was about the fellowship.
KCC is a movement for church leaders whose mandate is to unite churches and offer support in difficult times.
Gijana said they wanted to be recognised by the government.
“As churches, we want to be united so that we can speak in one voice. We aim to take the pulpit closer to the community. We need to erase the bad image or change the perception that people have about churches. The communities no longer trust the church leaders for various reasons. There are church leaders who order the congregants to eat grass or snakes, which is wrong,” said Gijana.
Rev Phikolomzi Nqwaba, a KCC member and the leader of the United Methodist Church in Site B, described the council as a voice of the voiceless.
“Many church leaders are fighting with their congregants, either for positions, church ownership, money, etc. So, any church with a problem will report it to the council. The council will preside over such cases and any other church issues,” said Nqwaba, adding that they wanted to rebuild the church image.
Bad behaviour among some church leaders has led to a lack of trust in churches and leaders, according to Nqwaba.
“We established the council to cleanse the church. The are a lot of things that are happening in many churches that make the communities distance themselves from the church. We are trying to bring it back to the community,” said Nqwaba. However, he stated that each church leader, before he or she joins the council, must bring a verification letter from the church. He stated that they believe a church leader is a leader through congregants.