Different churches have different rules, and they follow different doctrines as well.
But an incident at the church of a well-known international pastor has divided the Christian community.
Pastor Keion Henderson has received backlash after he told a woman to “hush” during a service at his Houston church at the weekend.
In a very short clip that made its way to The Shade Room, a woman on stage with what seems to be the choir or worship team can be heard crying out loud and Pastor Keion quickly turns around and says “hush”.
In the clip, the pastor is praying in tongues and goes on to sing the gospel classic, Total Praise. When the woman becomes more audible, he says “sssshhhhh”.
“Hey! Stop! Hush, hush. Silence, in the name of Jesus.” Then he continues to sing the song.
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The Christian community is now torn because some say he was right to bring order to the church, and others say he should not have embarrassed the woman in the way he did.
A commentator on an American TV show even suggested that an usher, deacon or elder could have spoken to the woman discretely.
During an interview with his wife, Shaunie – the creator of Basketball Wives and ex-wife of legendary ball player Shaquille O'Neal – Pastor Keion told talk show host Tamron Hall that he would do that again if he had to.
“Social media is into cuts not context. Every suggestion that I got from every naysayer, I've already done. This is a four-year battle. I've already talked to her personally, already had ushers go up to her, I’ve already had prayer warriors. I've had everything [done].
“She did it publicly after being asked not to,” he explains.
“As a pastor I know the difference between disturbance and worship. And what people have to understand is that every time you hear a noise in church, it isn't worship and so there has to be order. So, what I did is, I brought order to the room so people could hear God and not her. And I do it again if I needed to,” he told the host.
Drum speaks to local pastors who weigh in.
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Pastor Sivu Paliso of King’s Glory Family Church says there is nothing wrong rebuking, even Jesus rebuked the storm to hush.
“I think the problem here is not what was done, but rather the how. My question is, if this woman has had this problem with the spirit of disturbance or disruption for four years, why had she not been delivered? Also, why is she still on stage, at the altar with the choir or worship team for four years?
“I am throwing the ball back to the pastor. We do not have to embarrass people. Also, if he can speak to someone’s wife like this, publicly, then how are the children at kids’ church being treated because we know there is no order there.”
Pastor Sivu then calls on the body of Christ around the world to pray for the woman to be delivered.
Pastor Mziwamadoda Mdolomba says Pastor Keion’s actions are open to interpretation.
“There’s no straight answer about right or wrong. It will always depend on people and their ministries. Some will argue for order in the church and others will argue for being spirit led. And whoever answers does not answer about the actions, but rather the effects or consequences.”
Pastor Mziwamadodda says people also need to remember that Pastor Keion was not hushing the woman, but the spirit of disruption in her.
"It also might happen that if someone else prayed with the same volume, there was not going to be a hushing. Things of the spirit are subjective. Subject to each person and their interpretation and subject to what people are used to. As per 1 Corinthians 14, Paul says there must be order in church. So according to this pastor, what the woman was doing was not orderly and he is backed by the word that it's his job to make sure that there is order in the church. The argument comes when people focus on the 'how' part."
