Word Outreach Ministry extends its arms

Yesterday, the Word Outreach Ministry launched its community outreach arm – Word Reach Foundation (WRF), in an effort to play a greater role in addressing some of the social issues affecting the society.

The launch, which took place at the Church of God (Seventh-Day) Rhema Praise Sanctuary in Willowdene Estates, St Catherine, will see the church making even more of an impact on the community it serves, as well as in surrounding areas.

Commenting on the initiatives to be unfolded, Kevin Bell, president of the foundation, said the idea was birthed from the strategic discussions had, as well as from the various initiatives previously carried out.

“So, we decided that the Word Reach Foundation would be an outreach arm of the Word Power Ministry initiative, marrying the evangelical and social interventions to transform and positively impact communities.

Bell said the focus of the foundation is to promote the outreach philosophy of the Word Power Ministry of the church, while providing spiritual empowerment, personal development, and positive self-expression for young people through the visual arts, the performing arts and religious programmes.

Among its other goals are to enhance the education of persons in vulnerable situations throughout Jamaica. This will be done by providing tuition support and designing and implementing programmes that promote knowledge acquisition in critical vocational and academic areas. There is also a plan to improve the psychosocial conditions of single parents, the indigent, children in need, troubled males and the elderly in the volatile communities of Spanish Town and adjoining neighborhoods, through the implementation of health and wellness initiatives and the collection and distribution of food, clothing and other personal items on their behalf.

For Bell and his team, the gospel of Jesus is more than preaching, it is about doing.

“We are focused on getting people into a particular space that we say is a church building, and then we, in a kind of one dimension (way), provide information through a particular format that people get used to every week. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is about compassion, it’s one of healing and it’s one of transformation,’ Bell said passionately as he shared that, for the Word Reach Foundation, it wants to mirror everything Christ did while He was on earth.

Another vision for the foundation is to be the voice for the voiceless and to help those who can’t help themselves by speaking up for those who have been muted.

“We will help those who have been down-trodden and we will be the support that people need to get back on track in life. That is why the focus for the Word Reach Foundation is on single mothers – just people who have it very hard bouncing back from blows that life has dealt them,” Bell said.

The WRF will also provide a safe space for troubled males, as Bell said that the crime pandemic affecting the country stems from mostly young men who are misguided or indisciplined because of poor parenting.

“And the homeless, they are often forgotten. Those principally are the main target audience of the foundation. Our passion is really to see a difference and to see sustained differences,” he shared with Family and Religion.

Looking ahead, Bell said the foundation is hoping to make a real difference in people’s lives.

“The work we’re doing now, we don’t only want to do it for now, we want to do it for the future. And so, we’re hoping that every time we connect with somebody – a family, a group – that they will pay it forward and set the stage for other people to benefit from them ... from their own acts of kindness.”