Chaos erupted at Tanidare Lutheran Parish Church in Soweto after a fraction of the congregation demanded that the church be shut down over alleged mismanagement and fraud.
The concerned group disrupted the service, insisting that it be halted, and proceeded to occupy the altar.
The group says they have exhausted all the levels of leadership, including the office of the Bishop, for intervention; however, it has not yielded any positive results.
After the back-and-forth, some church members began to walk out.
Jovanna Skrywer is a member of Tanidare Lutheran Parish Church.
"People have issues with each other; concerned groups, the pastor or whoever, let them handle their things wherever they can. Because this is a church for the community. We should not be involved. We don't know what is going on, so we shouldn't be involved. And for elders, for the admitted elders, what happened to people honouring God? On the altar for that matter, on the altar?"
A petition shown to nbc News, signed by some members of the Soweto, Hakahana, Goreangab and Otjomuise branches and addressed to the Windhoek Circuit, calls for the removal of Pastor Collin Cloete.
The members cite alleged mismanagement and further noted that his term has also come to an end.
The concerned group also provided receipts as evidence of the alleged mismanagement.
They stressed that disrupting church services was never their intention but said they were left with no option after several unsuccessful attempts to engage the church leadership.
Fortune Eichab is an aggrieved member of the Tanidare Lutheran Parish Church.
"We decided, no, let's just close; let's get the audience from him. So that the bishop, the deans and those people come to us and give us answers on what we have asked. They ask us to provide evidence; we provide all the evidence. So we just came here in peace just to have an audience with them. That's all that we came for. We are part of the concerned group of chats. We don't have anything against anyone, but we want to remedy the chats from this situation. If someone sees the books of the chats, you won't believe it. We are going down the trade. We are actually going down the trade. Someone needs to step up. Someone needs to step up. It's not to say that we are against certain people; it's not to say that we are against the pastor or against anyone. We all belong to these chats. We are the congregants of these chats."
Attempts to get a comment from Pastor Collin Cloete were unsuccessful, as his phone went unanswered and he did not respond to the text sent to him.
The Bishop of ELCRN, Abraham ꟾꟾKheibeb, could also not be reached for a comment as he was engaged with church activities.