Church bodies focus on broken lives, not broken buildings
Several churches have suffered infrastructural damage following the passage of Hurricane Beryl, but pastors are more focused on helping to meet the needs of their congregations and the wider community than on church buildings.
National secretary and treasurer for the New Testament Church of God in Jamaica, Orville Plummer, said about 30 of their 363 churches spread across the island suffered some infrastructural damage, including the loss of roofs, windows, and doors. Most of these churches are located in St. Elizabeth, Portland, South Clarendon, Hanover, and Manchester. Several of those affected still hosted services on Sunday.
“The buildings can be repaired once we have some funds, but a number of members and congregants in the southern Clarendon area, like in Michelle Town, Portland Cottage, [and] Rocky Settlement, were severely impacted,” he noted.
When the Freedom Come Rain spoke with him on Tuesday, he had earlier convened a meeting to discuss plans to help meet the needs of residents in some of the affected communities. The New Testament
Church body was in discussion with Lasco and Sandals Foundation to travel to St. Elizabeth to deliver care and food packages on Wednesday and to do the same on Thursday in southern Clarendon communities. The church has also reached out to international mission partners to mobilise support to help repair damaged buildings. Several of the churches operate basic schools.
“I want to encourage those who have been affected to have faith in God and to know that although the physical has been affected, it is important that they maintain a right spirit,” he said.
The Seventh-day Adventist Church, through the Adventist and Development Relief Agency (ADRA), has been providing support to those impacted by Beryl. At least 165 food packages were distributed at the Comma Pen Seventh-day Adventist Church in St. Elizabeth on July 9. The distribution, valued at US$20,000, was a collaborative effort involving the ADRA Inter-American Division, ADRA Jamaica, and the Jamaica Union Conference of Seventh-day Adventists. A similar effort was planned for Clarendon. There are also plans to do roof retrofitting in collaboration with other NGOs.
Brothers at the Father Richard Ho-Lung-founded Missionaries of the Poor were distributing to families prior to Beryl’s onslaught. Brother Noel Rebamonte, who is the director of the seven home
s operated by the charity organisation in downtown, Kingston, said they distributed several food packages on Wednesday prior to the hurricane making landfall. They also prepared a space to shelter families in the event they were adversely affected by the hurricane, even as they did what they could to help safeguard the homes, which already provide shelter to about 400 homeless people.
“The brothers worked hard during the preparations, cutting some of the trees, storing some water, [and] making sure we had enough food for our homeless the day before the hurricane came,” Brother Rebamonte explained.
“Our homes are safe; we lost a few trees, and we might have lost some zinc, and one big tank fell, but in general, most of our homes are safe,” he said.
Apart from those living at the homes, the brothers give food packages to about 130 people in the community each week, and they feed and clothe 200 homeless people every Friday. Leading up to the passage of Hurricane Beryl, they had given food supplies and toiletries to the elderly.
“After the hurricane, there were quite a lot of people that came for assistance, like for food, and we were able to attend to them,” Brother Rebamonte toldthe Freedom Come Rain.
Chairman of the Jamaica Umbrella Group of Churches, Courtney Gordon, said at this time, the churches and society at large should come alongside everyone who has been seriously affected by the onslaught of Hurricane Beryl.
“I would like to encourage all churches, all in the faith-believing communities, to really give their all, in emotional support, in physical support, in financial support, in helping to rebuild [and] to clean up,” he said.
