By Paul Nyathi | After being alienated by mainstream churches because of their huge appetite for alcohol, a South African man has established a church for beer drinkers who want to go to heaven.

The church called “Gabola Church” Setswana for take a sip, is attracting huge followers for its weekly services.

The church which has been operational just for four months already has hundreds of congregants who attend the sunday morning services with huge amounts of varied alcoholic beverages that are taken as the service proceeds.

The rules of the church prohibit people under the age of twenty from being members and every person attending brings with him his favourite brew for consumption at the service that normally lasts up to four hours.

The highly subscribed church also buys a lot more alcohol from the weekly offerings made by members to provide beer for the less privileged of their members who can’t afford the beer.

According to Bishop Tsietsi Makiti, his congregation consists of hundreds members who are heavy drinkers and have been shunned by traditional churches because of their drinking habits.

The bishop claims to have been inpired by a scripture from the bible to establish Gabola Church in Orange Farm Suburb of the Vaal District of Johannesburg.

In a video clip that trended on social media, Makiti is heard saying that drinkers are usually judged and called names by religious leaders in their churches. However, Gabola accepts them as they are blessing their alcoholic beverages.

Reports reveal that the church has since established a second branch in neighbouring Freestate Province with a lot more branches due to be opened around the country.

The church service’s singing and preaching are typical with most township churches in South Africa where the Bishop preaches the gospel of Jesus Christ from the bible the only difference being that he and his congregants will be occasionally sipping from the alcoholic beverages provided.

All the beer brought to the church is first prayed for and “blessed to ensure that the drinkers don’t get too drunk and fail to control themselves before the Lord.”

The South African Council of Churches has denounced the church as a Christian Church and refused to grant it council membership.