August 3, 2009 – St. Catherine, Jamaica…[Nigel Coke/IAD]
Joy and gladness were some of the emotions exhibited by residents of sections of the violence-torn community of Central Village, St Catherine, in Jamaica during a promised outreach by members of the Seventh-day Adventist Church on Saturday, Aug. 1, 2009.
“The church coming in the community is good,” said Craig, a resident of Big Lane. “It uplifts the people and gives them more confidence and courage to walk because right now as the church is keeping there are persons from Little Lane and Big Lane (the warring factions) who are looking at each other and if the church was not here there would be a shoot-out.
When asked why he believes there would be a shoot-out he said “Each side, right now, has respect for the church. It is a barrier to the violence. If the church comes in like this, all gunmen would give it one hundred percent of cooperation over one thousand policemen. The church needs to come in more often like this because some of the residents believe the police are taking sides. The church's presence is good for both the bad man and the good man.”
Good Samaritans
The initiative was organized by the leadership of Central Jamaica Conference. The president of the Adventist Church in West Indies Union, Pastor Derek Bignall, headed the team of members of the Central Village Adventist Church and the administrators of the conference and union in walking the streets of the community and distributed more than 600 copies of Christian literature – Priorities magazines, a lifestyle magazine, more than 500 gospel CDs and 250 Bibles. These were given to individuals, families, shops and bars in the community. Twelve footballs – two each, were also given to a representative from each of the enclaves comprising Central Village.
“As Christians we ought to be good Samaritans in the communities in which we serve as a church,” said Pastor Bignall. We need to bind up the wounds of those who are wounded by the ills of the society, whether it is the economic woes or the physical hurt of those who are caught up in the problems of crime, violence or moral decay.”
“I am so happy for the visit by the church,” said Angella, a resident of Little Lane. “It's so refreshing to hear the gospel songs being sung, and I am grateful for the Bible and CD. It's a change from the regular fear, anxiety with the sound of gun shots and people dying.”
Corporal Lloyd Wellington of the Central Village Police Station was very grateful also for the visit he and his colleagues received from church. “I appreciate you taking time out of your worship day to come and pray with us,” he said. “We hope that you will come again soon.” They were also given CDs, Bibles and Christian literature.
Project to be sustained
“We intend to adopt the Central Village Police station as one of our church outreach projects,” said Kevan Barnaby, pastor of the Central Village Church. We plan to have regular devotion with them, share our literature and invite them to special services of the church. They have also asked me to share as their station pastor and I am just waiting for that to be formalized.”
“We will certainly be back to share with other social intervention program to provide healing to this community which has been torn apart by violence, said Pastor Everett Brown President of the Adventist Church in Central Jamaica. We want this to be a sustained program. We are a part of this community and whatever we can do to aid the community in coming together we will do it as a church.”
The community, which has been in the news over the past two weeks due to gang related murders and other violent crimes, was one of the areas targeted by the Adventist Church in Central Jamaica, as part of its annual “Day of Prayer for the Nation.”