WESTERN BUREAU:

The Salt Spring Community Development Committee, which partnered with seven churches in that community to stage 40 days of fasting and prayer this year, calling out to God for help amid the violence, which was plaguing the community, is today giving thanks for the steady turn around that is now taking place.

Rochelle Cawley-McKenzie, president of the Salt Spring CDC, told The Gleaner that unlike last year (2023) when they were calling out for help amid the rampant lawlessness, this year’s prayer campaign gave thanks for the changes that has taken place.

“Last year was a cry for help. This year, we were thankful for the turnaround year that we have had. Salt Spring wasn’t in the news for as many negative things as this time last year. Last year, this time the community was pretty much locked down by fear, but this year we were celebrating and thanking God for who He is,” said Cawley-McKenzie.

She said this year’s prayer campaign, held under the theme ‘God is’, saw representatives from the community’s seven churches sharing virtually with residents through WhatsApp groups and social media platforms. It ended on December 21 with a community gospel concert celebrating the community’s growth over the last year.

Cawley-McKenzie said a community mass choir, which was formed during the year, sang the night away with residents of Salt Spring at the community concert.

“We had 33 days where one prayer was posted on our social media pages and in our community WhatsApp groups per day. For five days out of the fasting, we posted three prayers per day, one at midnight, one at 6 a.m., and one at 12 midday. And then for the last two days, we had devotion on Zoom at 5:30 a.m.,” she said. “People loved it. People even reach out to me to [share] their views. One lady, in particular, said we should probably get a town crier and for the rest of the year, we should play back all the prayers that were prayed and sent in the groups and have that driving through the community. It’s something we’re looking into.”

The community of Salt Spring has seen its fair share of violence flare-ups over the years. However, Cawley-Mckenzie told The Gleaner that the CDC and churches are hopeful that their Christian-based initiatives will draw residents closer. She is also hopeful that their partnership will serve as a positive influence on youngsters in the community.

Cawley-McKenzie also said that the representatives of the community’s churches, who are also enjoying their “non-denominational” bond, have already started planning more events.

“We are going to keep this bond of all the churches together. We have a WhatsApp group now, where we have representatives of all the churches, led by all the pastors. They’re calling for more Christian-based initiatives that we can do together. One pastor said to me just today… that [I] have taken us out of our denominational prisons. The community members were very receptive overall, and they’re all for the idea of coming together for more Christian-based activities, that are not denominational,” she said.

“We do have some more ideas for next year that we are trying to flesh out. And we are already working on the idea for next year’s 40 days of prayer. We just want to do it like we did this year, but tighten up the things that we didn’t get right this year. We’re also looking forward to more activities like this,” Cawley-McKenzie added.