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Joy
and gladness were some of the emotions exhibited by residents of
sections of the violence-torn community of Central Village, St
Catherine, during a promised outreach by members of the Seventh-day
Adventist Church on Saturday August 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.”
4 year-old Marlisa Morgan clings to her Bible
that she received from the Adventist church.
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.
Pastor Levi Johnson, secretary of the
Adventist Church in Central Jamaica gives a gospel CD and Priorities
magazines to a shop attendant in 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.”
Pastor Levi Johnson presents a gospel CD to a
barber shop operator in Central Village
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.”
Pastor Derek Bignall (left), president of the
Adventist Church in West Indies Union, gives a resident of the
Central Village community a Priorities magazine.
“We
will certainly be back to share with other social intervention
programme 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
programme. 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.”
-Source:
West Indies Union Conference
www.wiunion.org
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