New body launches today to aid churches in seeking funding

Churches in Jamaica are expected to find it easier to get international funding for their humanitarian projects with the launch of the Caribbean Council for Ethical and Financial Accountability (CCEFA) on Wednesday at The University of the West Indies.

Global Trust Partners (GTP), in association with the Jamaica Evangelical Alliance and the Caribbean Evangelical Alliance, will launch the CCEFA starting at 7 a.m.

The United States-registered GTP, which is a nonprofit organisation co-founded by the late Rev Dr Billy Graham, empowers church workers and ministries to build trust and grow local generosity for the work of God and is driven by the mandate stated in Isaiah 58:12.

Caribbean Regional Facilitator John Roomes told The Gleaner yesterday that the launch is to create widespread public awareness of what the CCEFA is about and what it hopes to achieve in the future. He also explained how CCEFA will function.

“CCEFA is being set up as an accreditation entity for churches and their ministries and so they will go through a process of accreditation which, ultimately, they will get approval from the board and then there will be a logo or stamp of approval,” Roomes explained.

“Having this stamp of approval on their website and their letterheads will make it much easier for them to get major donor funding.”

Roomes said regulators they have spoken to so far are very happy about the setting up of the CCEFA.

“We have international support in terms of getting this set-up. This kind of movement is taking place in all 12 Lausanne regions of the world; Caribbean one of 12 regions. It’s a real need across the world, it’s not just Jamaica or the Caribbean,” Roomes pointed out.

Several persons have already registered and are expected to attend, including bishops, pastors, person from the Jamaica Council of Churches, the Jamaica Evangelical Alliance, Salvation Army, persons from the legal profession and the judiciary, among others.

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