Director of Women, Children, and Adolescents Ministries at the Jamaica Union Conference of Seventh-day Adventist, Dr Lorraine Vernal said the church community also has a responsibility to teach children about their rights and how to protect themselves. Last Sunday’s house fire, which claimed the lives of three children in St Ann, was preceded by a similar incident, where five-year-old Kimberly Harrison lost her life in a fire at her home on Whitehall Avenue, St. Andrew, on January 10. She was at home with her grandmother and another relative when their three-bedroom house was engulfed in flames. Her body was discovered in the bathroom by firefighters after cooling down operations. Her mother, who was not at home at the time, was overcome with grief.
Dr Vernal said that apart from physically assisting the vulnerable, the church has a responsibility to pray for the vulnerable, which includes the elderly and children.
“There’s so much power in prayer, and Jesus, as we believe, was always welcoming to our children, so yes, when we speak to our leaders, our children’s leaders in our churches, prayer is a key part of the process as we consecrate ourselves. We pray for parents, we pray for the children, and we teach the children how to pray and tell them too that there’s power in prayer, and many of them, or even some of them, deem themselves prayer warriors,” she said.
