Refugee violence: congregation moves
AS A result of the violence that broke out between the refugees in December at the Central Methodist Mission (CMM) church in Greenmarket Square, the regular congregation has been forced to meet elsewhere.
This Sunday, for instance the 10am service will be held at the Methodist Church at the corner of Milton and Wesley Street in Observatory.
Until Christmas Day, the congregation was holding services at their church at the corner of Longmarket and Burg Streets in the CBD, but continued hostilities between the refugees meant it was no longer tenable.
During his Christmas Day sermon, Reverend Alan Storey, who is in charge of the church, told congregants who gathered there refugees made an effort to clean that day: “The continued presence of refugees at the church was a reminder of what it’s like to be unwanted and unwelcome.”
On January 2, after the violence in the church, Storey posted on the church’s Facebook page: “Due to the current situation at CMM there will not be a service on Sunday, January 5.”
In an update on the church’s website in which he referred to the physical state of the church, Storey wrote: “Simply put, the conditions are not good for human habitation, not to mention the increased wear and tear of the church building and running expenses. The negative effect on the surrounding businesses and traders on the square also continues to be troublesome.
“Alternative accommodation to the church is desperately needed. I said from the beginning that the church is only a temporary place of sanctuary – a place of calm for all those involved to find a solution together. This has stretched well beyond that now.
“At all times let us resist the binary between condoning and condemning, and instead seek to honour compassion that is ever open to critique and change,” said Storey.