#Covid-19SE: Corona virus Is A Person – Winners’ Pastor Nnewi

As part of our plans to inform Nigerians on the dangers of Corona virus, most especially, people in the South East region, our correspondents visited few churches yesterday to ascertain proactive measures they are observing in keeping to a CoronaVirus-Free society.  

Nnenna Joseph (Nwanyi Abia) led the team to 4 churches, and she came up with the report below;

At Winner’s Chapel church Otolo Nnewi, yesterday, Sunday, 22 March, 2020, the parish held Sunday service mindless of the corona virus pandemic and social distancing measures, the church displayed gross negligence of the health of its members.

At the entrance of the church, there were no hand sanitizers on sight, neither was there any in the entire church provided for members to self sanitize. During the sermon, the pastor encouraged the members to pray for the world to stop the outbreak, he prophesied that corona virus is a person and by the reason of the prayer of the churches all over the world, the virus will hear the voice of the Lord and bow its ugly head, a valid prayer nonetheless, however, they failed to take the least measures.

The sane thing to do would have been to worship virtually taking a clue from RCCG, however, the church insisted on pulling its members to church while having no recognized provision to guarantee safety. It was business as usual.

On entry into the church, one would expect the sitting arrangement to maintain distance, that didn’t happen. The ushers beckoned worshippers to seat next to each other. The pastor called for alter call and people moved out in their numbers. It is worrisome that both the pastors and members are ignorant of the impending doom.

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While attempting to educate some bystanders, an usher boldly interrupted our correspondents saying “Corona Virus cannot enter the house of God” He assured, this was very hilarious. God gave us the wisdom to pray as well as wisdom for science wherefore the wisdom he gave us for scientific problems has mandated us all to practice social distancing; we should apply it these trying times.

A quick visit to House on the Rock church, Nnewi showed an improvement. There were hand sanitizers at the door and they provided an outstation for the late worshippers once the church was up to 50 persons. This showed a lot of caution. However, body contact would have been inevitable.

St. Marys Anglican Church Uruagu to receive the loudest blow; there was no caution of any sort, no hand sanitizer to secure the safety of members, the church was packed to the brim, regular pleasantries, and handshakes. It was a despicable sight; an enlightened mind will cringe at the thought of the movement of the virus at the cathedral.

St. Peter’s Clavers Catholic Church Nnewi-Ichi members are very oblivious of what is to come. The priest shared communion as usual, in any case, the priest was exposed to the virus, the whole church would be infected. The parishioners were asked to offer one another a sign of peace, this was the utmost shock. Imagine if one person in that congregation has been exposed to the virus.

Speaking to members of these churches, we gathered that these worshippers are either ignorant, most still think of it as a Chinese virus, they are unaware of the spread. The greater number who must have heard the virus has come into the country, say it is still in Lagos and has nothing to do with them. However, in these churches, we met a 0.01% of persons who worshipped outside and applied every form of social distancing and that is very commendable but the figures are poor.

We use this medium to call on all places of worship to go virtual as a matter of urgency to avoid further spread of this disease. We also call on health organizations to carry out sensitization as a lot of persons here are misinformed or at large uninformed.

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