Sydney church sparks fury after defying lockdown to host service with 60 people

A church in Sydney has been criticised for flouting the city’s Covid-19 lockdown by holding a service for 60 people in which a pastor declared that “lockdowns are over in the name of Jesus”.

Police were called to the Christ Embassy church on Sunday after being tipped off by frustrated locals.

The church lies in the Blacktown area in the northwest of the city, which is one of 12 local government areas under particularly harsh lockdown rules to control the spread of the virus.

The Christ Embassy, a global organisation with churches across the globe, was issued with a fine of £2,622, while 30 parishioners attending the service were fined £524 each.

The whole of greater Sydney is currently under strict stay-at-home orders following a surge in cases driven by the Delta variant.

In a sermon streamed on Facebook shortly after 12.30pm on Sunday and quoted by local media, Pastor Marvin Osaghae was heard asking people to pray for the New South Wales government.

“We declare that the wisdom of God is granted, the government of NSW ... and there is peace in this land.

“People have peace in their jobs, in their businesses. The businesses are returning to normal, every park is coming back alive, the streets are coming back alive, we declare that our malls are functioning again as they should, in the name of Jesus, we refuse every lockdown in our cities.

“In the name of Jesus, go ahead and pray. Father, we thank you, Lord... we declare the lockdowns are over in the name of Jesus. Lockdowns are over in the cities of NSW, in the name of Jesus.”

The videos of the sermon were no longer available on Monday on the Christ Embassy Sydney’s Facebook page.

Under current lockdown rules in New South Wales, churches can livestream religious services but they cannot be attended in person.

Nigerian pastor Chris Oyakhilome, who is the founder of the Christ Embassy, has in the past urged followers not to get Covid-19 vaccines. His TV channel LoveWorld Incorporated has twice been sanctioned by British broadcasting regulator Ofcom for airing “potentially harmful conspiracy theories”.

In March, Pastor Oyakhilome’s channel received a fine for broadcasting comments suggesting the Covid-19 vaccine was a “sinister” means of administering “nanochips” to control the population.

The Christ Embassy did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Independent.

“It is always disheartening and disappointing when you see people blatantly take it upon themselves to contradict what we know works, to contradict what we know is keeping people out of hospital,” Ms Gladys Berejiklian, the Premier of New South Wales state - of which Sydney is the capital - told a news conference.

“That is the key: to keep people out of hospital, to make sure that we keep people as safe and as healthy as possible. And we know the vaccine is having such a huge impact on that.”

New South Wales police commissioner told Sky News on Monday that he was mulling whether to put a closure order on the church.

“What would we expect from our community leaders? We expect them to do the right thing, and that really is sending a bad message to all the people of western Sydney in terms of the challenges they’re facing at the moment,” he said.