The emotional strain of the epidemic is taking a toll on not only congregants but also church leaders.

“I can say we are praying up a storm [to keep on going]‚ but I will be lying. I have lost aunts‚ uncles‚ friends and my best friend died last week from Covid-19. We have households who are in poverty. To be honest‚ we are taking it one day at a time‚” Johannesburg Catholic priest Father Lawrence Mduduzi said.

Mduduzi said this week alone he did three funerals for congregants who died of Covid-19. “I have been informed of another one for next week‚ so you just go as it goes.

Mduduzi‚ who contracted the virus last year‚ said as he tries to console congregants testing positive‚ his own family are not spared.

“Right now‚ my own sister and stepmother have tested positive for Covid-19. You have to be a brother for somebody and a priest to another. It’s been very tough."

Mduduzi said church leaders continuously need to find ways to lead their congregations into what is likely to be a new world of prayer‚ worship and religious practices – guidance and grief counselling too.

“I can’t tell you how many prayer meetings I have done over the phone.

“We live in a time where living is the new winning. The only thing that keeps me going is the fact that I am healthy. The most basic things have become the most precious things.”

Senior pastor at the Borwa Fellowship of Believers in Westonaria‚ Rev Zakes Jali‚ told SowetanLIVE's sister publication TimesLIVE they had to relocate their church in town to the township to be closer to the congregation.

“Before the first lockdown‚ our numbers had started picking up well and the finances were sufficient to run the church's weekly needs‚ like the keyboard player's stipend‚ electricity‚ food parcels for the needy families‚ and some pastoral allowance‚” Jali said.

The church had to cancel the food parcels and he is only able to assist in worst-case scenarios from his own pocket.

“I ended up having to call friends and family members to assist me. All this can be very stressful as we preach a gospel of provision and it feels so wrong to become a beggar just to survive and assist others to survive.

“The adjusted level 4 added salt on the bleeding wound. I do understand that government has a duty to protect lives and hence the closure of congregational services. However‚ those depending on the offering of the saints are left exposed to poverty and depression.”

Head of pastoral care at Rhema Church‚ Kabelo Mabalane‚ said religious leaders were not immune to the pandemic.

“Like everybody else there are some who’ve lost loved ones‚ some who have someone under their spiritual care in hospital fighting for their lives or they themselves are affected with the virus‚” he said.

“Truth be told‚ this has taken a toll emotionally. But we have the privilege of having the life-infused‚ life-giving word of God at our disposal and that is what is assisting and ensuring those who are still standing to persevere.”