Winning, feeding, and training souls
Published:Saturday | March 11, 2023 | 1:01 AMCorey Robinson/Senior Staff Reporter
Bent on offering more than prayers and winning souls, representatives at the Hagley Park Seventh Day Adventist Church in St Andrew South, are hoping to bolster community development with the erection of a HEART/NSTA Trust training centre on property it owns.
There is no way around it, especially at a location swarmed by impoverished communities and where anti-social behaviour thrives, argued senior pastor Michael Lewis. There is a desperate cry for skills training as a counter to crime and violence.
“We feel that the ministry is multi-dimensional; it is not only the preaching of the word, but there also has to be a social side. The Gospel has meaning, but especially when it is seen in action,” charged Lewis.
“The Gospel is restorative, but restoration involves the complete man. There are physical, spiritual, social, and mental components of individuals, and we are trying to attend to all these areas,” he continued, noting that the church has been seeking assistance to retrofit the once-abandoned building as a training centre.
St Andrew South has historically remained a hotbed for crime featuring communities such as Seaview Gardens; Seiveright Gardens, formerly called, Cockburn Pen; Drewsland, Waterhouse, Majesty Gardens, Duhaney Park, Callaloo Mews, and Riverton City.
Since the start of the year, it has recorded 12 murders compared to 21 for a similar period last year. St James so far leads the nation with 28 murders down from 45 last year at this time.
“This is a very crime-infested division for the police force and we want to partner with the police and other stakeholders including HEART Trust. Because we feel that if people are gainfully employed then they can be in a position to help others. A skill gives people meaning,” he said, pointing to the building located next to the church.
“So we plan to transform that property into a skills training centre. We have already begun discussions with HEART Trust which will provide the human capital in terms of teaching and so on. We are providing the building and the facility,” he continued, noting that funds to retrofit the building will be generated from the church, as well as from angel donors.
He could not divulge an overall budget for the project, which will see the refurbishing of electrical, plumbing, and other fixtures at the premises. The facility has been run down and occupied by vagrants.
Lewis hopes the building will be up and running by September and said it will also provide health services for members of the neighbouring communities. His disclosure follows a community impact health fair put on last Sunday by the church.
That event was specifically targetted at the elderly in the communities affording them blood pressure checks, eye examinations, and legal advice from the Ministry of Justice Legal Aid Council, but Lewis said much more must be done to reach at-risk youths.
Meanwhile, Kevin Rose, an active member of the Cockburn Gardens Citizens Association, welcomed the discussions on the training centre, noting that it will not only help youngsters to gain a skill, but also keep their minds off crime and violence.
“I have always spoken to pastor about a homework and skills centre because a lot of youth here are not working, but they are very talented with nowhere to showcase it,” he said, adding that with the deaths and imprisonment of some gangsters, the community has been relatively quiet in recent months. That can change anytime if left unchecked, he said.
“As it is right now the youth are just trying to find a better way out. I am one of those who have been trying to motivate and show them the right way. The youth really want to do positive things right now but they just need a little help. That’s all they want.”