Pupils at a private Christian boy’s school in Grahamstown have stood up against a guest preacher’s sermon that condemned homosexuality and described same-sex marriage as satanic.

On 3 May, Theuns Pauw from the African Enterprise international ministry was meant to address pupils at St. Andrew’s College about “the trappings of pornography and social media”.

He delivered a sermon at the school chapel but instead of sticking to the agreed topic, Pauw used the platform to also lash out against LGBTQ people, same-sex marriage and divorced parents.

Geir Wilson, a 17-year-old matric pupil at the school, who has a gay brother and identifies as an LGBTQ ally, was left enraged at the sermon. “The reaction was just shock. everyone was quite take aback. No one really knew…. is this guy being serious?” said Wilson.

“Everything in me just wanted to stand up and tell this man that he is speaking utter drivel and that everything he is saying is wrong. For him to sit there and tell my that my family and friends are unnatural, that they are going to burn in hell and that they don’t belong in our society… I was just angered. I was shaken. I cried a little bit.”

Wilson and some of the other boys complained to headmaster Alan S Thompson straight after the service, as did outraged staff members. “One staff member was in tears,” Thompson told Mambaonline, “and the other housemasters were shaken, incandescent in some cases.”

Thompson later said to Mambaonline: “There are a large number of boys in the school who are working their way through [their parents’] divorce and a number of boys in the school who are working their way through their sexual identity and sexuality. And this [sermon] has just undone years of work…”

Thompson said that African Enterprise had initially approached the school about a possible talk. “They are quite a big organisation and they are doing a whole youth mission in Grahamstown and they went to all the schools.. and we genuinely thought it was a safe and appropriate topic… talking on social media and pornography. They are quite a reputable organistion.” Read more via Mamba Online