Megachurch Burning to the Ground Is a ‘Bitter Pill to Swallow’

Fire devoured the 5,500-seat Jesus Dome megachurch in Durban, South Africa, Tuesday evening. Although there were no injuries at the site, the aluminum structure built in 1999 was completely destroyed, but the original chapel and adjacent structures are intact. Some television equipment was all that was salvaged.

Senior Pastor John Torrens spoke with Charisma News in a phone call the day after the fire.

“By the time the firefighters got there, everything had already collapsed,” Torrens said.

Firefighters have completed their investigation, and now the location is considered a crime scene while police and forensic experts determine the cause.

Torrens received a call about the fire at 5:30 in the afternoon, but by the time he arrived on scene, the church has “pretty much burnt down.”

After the investigation, church leaders will meet with structural engineers to determine “how we can move forward,” said Torrens, who believes the fire was caused by an electrical fault because of power outages that day.

“We’ve seen no foul play,” Torrens said.

The church, also known has the Durban Christian Centre, has a number of locations across the province. All of its campuses are closing this weekend to join together in a service at a 7,000-seat rugby auditorium, which was offered to the church free of charge. After the authorities release them to do so, congregants plan to worship in a 2,500-seat tent on the campus and will have three services on Sundays.

“The church is not a building,” Torrens said. “It’s the people, so we’re just going to start again. It’s just kind of moving to see the different churches and pastors who have come to our support and show us love.”

Pastor Torrens spoke of the unity in the city since the fire.

“It’s brought all the churches together, which is quite phenomenal,” he said.

The church is receiving love offerings but was also heavily insured.

“The deputy mayor also came to visit with a whole delegation wanting to know how they can help us,” he said. “We ended up praying with them. We want to love the city and just do whatever is necessary in the city.”

Pastors Fred and Nellie Roberts, who celebrated 60 years of ministry in 2014, built the Jesus Dome, and the church expects to rebuild.

“We are refusing to be intimidated and discouraged, and we’re going to come back bigger and stronger and better,” Torrens said.

Although it’s a “bitter pill to swallow,” he added, Torrens is “just grateful because God is going to be doing something new and fresh.”

Torrens, who has been serving the church since 1996, observed that Jesus Dome is at the “gateway of our city, right in the entrance way” and is there “for such a time as this.”