Taking Clarendon for Jesus!

 Adults and Children benefit from evangelistic ministry in troubled parish

Devotions have already been held in some 17 schools in Clarendon, and many more will be visited in the coming months, as the Errol Rattray Evangelistc Association (EREA) and the Clarendon Ministers’ Fraternal intensify their efforts to take back Clarendon for Jesus.

Both groups have forged a partnership which has seen several pastors coming together to host open-air crusades, children’s rallies, and visits to schools in the parish, which has made headlines over the years for some of the most vicious crimes.

Evangelist Errol Rattray told the Freedom Come Rain Newspaper that the intention of EREA is to take the gospel to every parish over a four-year period. This initiative was launched a year ago in St. Catherine. A partnership was forged with the five Ministers Fraternal in St. Catherine who hosted evangelistic outreach virtually.

The decision was then made to go into Clarendon, which was done in March. They divided the parish into four zones and through a massive co-ordination of resources and manpower, have held crusades in several communities. With the support of child evangelism ministries and Youth for Christ, they have also hosted several children’s rallies and at least one Youth Encounter concert in the town centre in May Pen.

“The crusades have done so well. It should have finished the end of June, but it has now spread beyond,” Evangelist Rattray said.

Given the fact that many children are not attending Sunday and Sabbath schools, the decision was made to go into the schools where they are present at least five days a week.

With the widespread publicity of last year’s devotional exercise at Oberlin High School still fresh in their minds, some administrators were initially hesitant, but their anxiety has been put at ease gradually. The pastoral teams going in, also adhere to the guidelines the school has in place. They are aware, for example, that they only have 15 minutes to interact with the children at the high school level and 20 to 25 minutes at the primary schools. In the 15 minutes allotted, a pastor generally delivers an eight-minute message, the students sing two songs, and then there is prayer. Devotionals supplied by the Ministry’s partners are properly vetted and are also also given away.

“The prayer that we do is for the children, the parents, the teachers and the administrative staff, and for the education system,” Evangelist Rattray said.

“Some children are abused, some come to school without money, some are sick, and some of them are struggling,” he noted.

Another of the rules is that members of the team are not allowed to do an altar call, as is generally the case at a church service.

“The school ministry is not the same like a tent, where you are under the tent and you call them up and you pray for them and you send them to a counsellor because they come to school to study,” Evangelist Rattray explained.

The seasoned evangelist noted that more and more schools are asking for Bibles, and efforts are being made to source these. The intention is to wrap up the visits to schools in the first week of December so the students can focus on exams and prepare for the holiday. The team has however been asked by the custos of the parish to visit some other troubled areas. They therefore intend to visit another 20 schools in the next school term.

Evangelist Rattray has already been approached by other Ministers Fraternal to partner with them to increase evangelism in their parish.