Grace and peace be unto you, beloved in Christ, pastors, ministers, elders, and saints scattered across this island that God has blessed with beauty, talent, and resilience. I write not as a judge, but as a brother who grieves. For I fear that the Church in Jamaica, once known for power, moral clarity, and prophetic boldness, has lost her voice in the noise of vanity.
Once, we were the conscience of the nation. The pulpit was a place of fire and conviction. The altar was where hearts were broken and men found repentance. The Church fed the poor, stood with the oppressed, and cried out against injustice. But now, many pulpits echo not the voice of Christ, but the echoes of self-promotion and celebrity.
Where are the shepherds who feed the flock and not themselves? Where are the men and women who, like Jesus, would rather wash feet than be seated in first-class? We have traded our towels for titles, our humility for hype, and our compassion for cameras. Pastors are now more concerned with how many followers they have than how many souls they disciple. TikTok Lives and social media applause have replaced pastoral care and the ministry of presence.
I speak as one burdened. Earlier this year, I partnered with a popular pastor for a short time on a project, and every meeting became about him, his name, his image, his platform. Every goal was shaped to make him look greater. He spoke often about what he had done for God, but not what God had done through him. I sat and listened as he claimed credit for what was never his. It reminded me of John 1:1–5 “In the beginning was the Word… and without Him was not anything made that was made.” Yet, many now act as though the power flows from their own hands and not from the Spirit of Christ.
The Church’s sickness is deep because it is spiritual pride that has taken root. We have raised leaders without testing their fruit. We have mistaken degrees for discernment, popularity for anointing, and gifts for godliness. The self-centered, the self-righteous, and the self-educated have been allowed to lead unchecked. The result? Churches full of activity but empty of authority.
We boast of our conventions, but where is our conviction? We build mega-churches, but where are the tears of repentance? We produce Christian content, but where is the Christian character?
The Baptist Church once stood as a mighty voice for the people. It carried the soul of the Jamaican struggle and bore the moral compass of our national story. From Sam Sharpe to modern reformers, they lifted truth above politics and power. But today, the voice that once thundered now trembles. The fire that once blazed has dimmed. We have forgotten that the Church’s strength was never in wealth, but in witness; never in numbers, but in righteousness.
And now we are quiet, scandalously quiet.
Quiet in the face of corruption.
Quiet while our children drown in violence and despair.
Quiet when mental illness is eating away at families.
Quiet when women are abused and men are lost.
Quiet when false prophets rise and twist the Word of God.
We allowed Rowe to mislead the people of Manchester and the wider nation, filling pulpits with confusion and pride, while men like Shuttleworth, who stand on truth without fear or favor, are silenced or sidelined. We are watching the moral decay of our nation and saying little because we don’t want to offend anyone or risk our popularity.
The Church has allowed sin to dress up and take the stage. We have entertained compromise in the name of compassion. We have invited immorality into our choirs, pulpits, and leadership, and when confronted, we hide behind phrases like “God is love,” forgetting that His love is holy.
Yes, love welcomes the sinner, but it does not celebrate sin.
Yes, grace forgives, but it also transforms.
Yes, Jesus dined with sinners, but they never left His presence the same.
Our silence is complicity. Our comfort is cowardice. Our indifference is rebellion.
It is time for the Church in Jamaica to awaken. To return to being the salt and light of this nation. We must again be the ones who visit the sick, comfort the broken, mentor the young, feed the hungry, and confront the powers that oppress the weak. We must not be driven by applause but by assignment. The Church must grow a backbone, to speak truth even when it’s unpopular, to challenge systems that exploit the poor, and to defend righteousness without shame.
We cannot heal Jamaica if we are afraid to offend Jamaica. We cannot call the world to repentance if we ourselves refuse to repent.
The Spirit of God is searching this land for men and women who will not bow to popularity, who will not dilute the gospel, who will not exchange truth for trends. God is looking for shepherds who will smell like sheep again, who will walk among the people, not just sit above them.
Let the Church return to her first love. Let her once again be the hands that touch, the feet that go, the voice that cries out in the wilderness: “Prepare the way of the Lord.”
As it is written, “For it is time for judgment to begin at the house of God.” — 1 Peter 4:17
May the Spirit convict us deeply, and may the fire of Pentecost burn again across this island, not on stages or in studios, but in hearts humbled before God.
I am,
Paul A. Blake
Servant of Christ