Churchgoers unite after Jesus Dome inferno
Thousands of churchgoers attended the Durban Christian Centre’s service at King’s Park Stadium.
|||Durban - Thousands of churchgoers attended the Durban Christian Centre’s service at King’s Park Stadium on Sunday in the aftermath of the fire that destroyed the Jesus Dome last week.
“A little fire won’t stop us from praying,” said head pastor, John Torrens.
Speaking from a half dome stage on the field, Torrens said it had been a while since all the church’s branches had worshipped together.
The congregation included members of the church from the KwaMashu, Bluff, Wentworth, Phoenix, Hillcrest and Berea branches.
Songs of praise vibrated in the stadium as the massive crowd filled the lower stands as well as part of the upper grandstand of the stadium, reciting prayers of “triumph over the trying time”.
Torrens said after racing to the 19-year-old Jesus Dome in Mayville from his home in Hillcrest, his heart had sunk. But he said, offers of support in helping to rebuild the dome had been overwhelming.
“We are resilient, Durban Christian Centre (DCC) shall be strong in unity,” said Torrens.
“If it took the burning of the Jesus Dome to bring unity in the body of Christ, then burn all the buildings.
“It sometimes takes calamity for our eyes to be open to see the King of Kings. The building is not the church, we are the church,” he said.
Torrens attributed the congregation’s resilience to DCC founders, Fred and Nellie Roberts, who, he said had established this “house of prayer for all nations”.
According to the church’s website, land for the Jesus Dome had been bought in 1992 and construction began five years later.
n 1999, the 5 500-seater auditorium opened and 10 years later, a Bible college and youth centre were built to complete the Jesus Dome complex.
Torrens now leads the institution with his wife, Joy, the Roberts’s daughter.
He said he believed God would pull the congregation from “the ashes with a cause for something glorious”.
From next week, the congregation of the Jesus Dome will worship in a 2 500-seater tent, which will be pitched in a parking lot near the Jesus Dome.
Torrens said they would have two services to accommodate the worshippers and warned parking would be limited as they would be using it for the tent.
“It is going to be a trying time, but it will be a glorious time,” said Torrens.
Regarding the rebuilding of the Jesus Dome, Torrens said it would take “two years or however long” and that he had “a lot of ideas” for the rebirth of the well-known structure near the N3 freeway.
Artists’ impressions of a new Jesus Dome were already circulating on social media as early as the night of the fire. These were not associated with the church.
With the investigation into the cause of the fire still under way, it has yet to be determined how long reconstruction will take.
But one pastor suggested 42 months before they would be able to worship in the new “house of the Lord”.
Daily News