MONROVIA – In complete defiance to recently announced health regulations, the Saint Assembly Church located in the Old Road community on Thursday evening gathered on a field for a crusade, noting that it is time to pray for the nation.
Clustered together in large numbers, some sitting in the bare sand energetically clapping and praying in the charismatic style, others moving from one end to the other, they were totally deaf to the call of the police who arrived at the prayer ground with a loudspeaker asking them to disperse, though some of their leaders were arrested by the police.
The police did not succeed in dispersing the religious sect.
The Ministry of Health on Sunday declared a national health emergency and announced several health regulations including a ban on religious gatherings and worship services in an effort to curtail the spread of Covid-19 of which Liberia already has three confirmed cases. The country is faced with the dilemma of discovering the source of the third case.
But the Saint Assembly Church believes it would prayers to rid the infectious disease out of Liberia.
The head of the Liberia Council of Churches (LCC), Rev. Kortu Brown, told FrontPgeAfrica on Friday morning that Saint Assembly ignored a team from the LCC that was dispatched to the field to assist the police to disperse them.
“We sent a team there but they were acting difficult to deal with so we asked the Ministry of Justice to leave them until they eventually leave. I’m told the police have taken control of the field this morning,” he said.
Rev. Brown added, “What they’re doing there is unacceptable and trying to be too difficult and undermining the guidelines that have been put in place by authorities.”
According to him, Liberia is at a point where tolerance level is stretched and it is, therefore, important for every religious group to be united in helping the government fight the Coronavirus.
Though Liberia is a Christian dominant nation, the action of Saint Assembly received several condemnations on social during the Facebook live broadcast of their crusade and prayer session.