NSW Premier criticises lockdown gathering at Christ Embassy Blacktown church

Premier Gladys Berejiklian said it was “disheartening” that 60 churchgoers illegally gathered for a service where a pastor declared lockdowns “are over.”

A Blacktown church gathering has earned a rebuke from the Premier, a top cop and another nearby house of worship after more than $35,000 worth of fines were issued after an illegal gathering.

Police arrived at the Christ Embassy church on Fourth Ave, Blacktown just before 7.30pm on Sunday to find about 60 adults and children breaching Covid rules for a church service.

Premier Gladys Berejiklian addressed the incident at Monday’s Covid update press conference, calling the behaviour of the churchgoers “disheartening”.

“It’s very disheartening, and I think that all of us feel disappointment when people just blatantly ignore what’s in place,” Gladys Berejiklian said.

“It’s 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.”

Police Deputy Commissioner Gary Worboys also weighed in.

“Regardless whether it is a soccer match, a church service, it doesn’t matter, you cannot gather, as they did, at Blacktown,” Dep Comm Worboys said.

It comes as video footage of Christ Embassy pastor Marvin Osaghae on Sunday emerged online, where he claimed “ in the name of Jesus, lockdowns are over”.

“In the name of Jesus, we refuse every lockdown in our cities … we declare the lockdowns are over,” Mr Osaghae said.

“Lockdowns are over in the cities of NSW, in the name of Jesus, we declare the lockdowns are over.”

Christ Embassy Sydney pastor Marvin Osaghae.

Earlier he asked attendees to pray for the NSW government, to pray for “peace”.

”Businesses are returning to normal, every park is coming back alive, the streets are coming back alive … in the name of Jesus, we refuse every lockdown,” Mr Osaghae said.

Hope Chapel Pastor Kerry-Ann Mapperson, whose church is on the same street as Christ Embassy, condemned the actions of the 60 attendees.

“This is not a time for putting yourself above others. There should never be a time for that,” Pr Mapperson said.

“We must rise above the urge to retreat to ourselves, or to behave like our actions don’t impact others... followers of Jesus should be doing all they can to prefer one another, not to put the community at risk.”

She added: “Every Friday our COVID-safe drive through food care program is busy, our Sunday services and other gatherings are live streamed from our homes now. This is what the church should be known for.”

Christ Embassy church in Blacktown. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Flavio Brancaleone

Police arrived at the Christ Embassy church on Fourth Ave in Blacktown just before 7.30pm on Sunday to find about 60 adults and children.

Officers quickly shut down the service after receiving reports from Crime Stoppers.

The people in attendance were from suburbs located outside of the Blacktown local government area including Canterbury-Bankstown, Fairfield and Liverpool.

Christ Embassy Pastor Marvin Osaghae told The Daily Telegraph that: “I did not host it myself but I went there when they had the party.”

Pastor Osaghae would not confirm whether he was aware of the rules and restrictions against gatherings.

Further investigations revealed there was no QR code available at the entry of the building.

Pastor Osaghae was issued a $5000 fine, as the operator of the church while police also dished out $1000 Penalty Infringement Notices to 30 adult worshippers.

Blacktown is currently listed as one of the 12 LGAs of concern and is subject to tighter restrictions than the rest of Greater Sydney.

Thirty adults were fined for attending the service. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Flavio Brancaleone

Police Minister David Elliott said on Monday he was “stunned” hearing about the gathering and said the incident was “extraordinary”.

“I’m actually quite stunned, when you consider churches are here to profess the message of hope and love,” Mr Elliott told 2GB’s Ben Fordham.

“To have those people endanger communities and potentially spread the virus, it’s extraordinary … if cathedrals can steam online church services I don’t know why suburban churches in Blacktown can’t.”

He added he “failed to understand” how churchgoers could believe they had an exemption to strict anti-gathering Covid rules because of their beliefs.

“I fail to understand why people think they are different because of their cultural background, every culture has habits and traditions of getting together,” Mr Elliott said.

“We all want to spend afternoons with our family and friends, but we’re making sacrifices … I’m not going to cop that it’s cultural for them, it’s cultural for everyone.”

On Sunday, NSW Health reported 317 Covid-19 cases from the Western Sydney Local Health District, which runs Blacktown hospital.