A call for collective repentance by churches, given the current state of Jamaica, has caused a seismic shift in the church community. This has seen some members of the clergy hoping this process will be undertaken urgently.
The call has been made by multiple preachers on several platforms since the start of the year. During the National Leadership Prayer Breakfast on January 18, pastor of the First Missionary Church, Rev. Omar Morrison, pointed to several issues the church is currently grappling with. This includes the doctrines of demons, greed, sexual immorality, over-concern for its safety, and not obeying the great commission and commandment to love one another.
“The church must also be rescued from our post-pandemic comfort zones. Such rescue is urgent because many men right across Jamaica are involved in self-destructive behaviours that are destroying our families and destroying our nation,” he said.
The matter has since come up for discussion in varying church circles, with one church leader recently imploring other members of the clergy in a WhatsApp group to take practical steps to effect change soon. There has been a general fear of God’s judgement becoming a reality if steps are not taken to make things right.
“I humbly suggest there is an opportunity to call together a non-hierarchal group of leaders to pray, reflect, take instructions from God, and move forward,” the pastor said.
The recent declaration by a Canadian pastor that Jamaica is yet to be evangelised has also jerked the Christian community.
Dr. John Neufeld, the national Bible teacher at Back To The Bible Jamaica and Canada, was very blunt when he told the large gathering of clergymen during the Kingston Keswick 2024 Annual Convention in January that despite the abundance of churches in Jamaica, the country is yet to be evangelised.
“In Jamaica today, 86 percent of children are born out of wedlock,” he noted. Dr. Neufeld added that, “Your nation has not been evangelised. Your nation needs to be evangelised. There are in this nation, many people who are representatives of the hardened path. They have heard a part of the gospel, and they have been delighted in the person of Jesus and also, in his power, and they wait for him to deliver them from all of the difficulties that they face, but they have not been to the cross, they have not renounced their sins, and cried to God for mercy.”
Pointing to Canada’s more secular disposition, Dr. Neufeld noted that the North American country was once considered a Christian nation, much like Jamaica.
“We had been content that the pews were full. We had been content that individuals were still identifying with the Christian faith, even though they had not been to the cross and renounced their sinful ways and clung to Christ; and because this hallowed-out gospel continues to satisfy us, when the collapse came, we sunk into secularism with dizzying speed,” he said.
General secretary of the Students Christian Fellowship and Scripture Union (SCFSU), Paul Lewis, who was at the Convention, said Dr. Neufeld articulated what many Christians perhaps feel today.
“To say that we are a Christian nation. It is not necessarily shown in practice,” he said.
More than 80 percent of the population professes to be Christian, and Jamaica has been known to hold the Guinness Book of World records for the most churches per square mile. However, Lewis believes that while many Jamaicans are religious and God-conscious, there seems to be a vague understanding of the Gospel, even among Christians.
Ronaldo Rust, the SCFSU islandwide team lead for evangelism, believes part of the challenge in evangelising the nation is the misconception among Christians that soul-winning is the responsibility of the pastors only. The SCFSU is the parent body for the Inter-School Christian Fellowship (ISCF) and the Universities and Colleges Christian Fellowship (UCCF).
“The mindset is that evangelism is just for crusades, and it is just for ministers, and it is just for persons amongst the clergy, and the person who sits behind the rostrum and [in the] big chair. This is what is affecting the churches and their reach to the wider society where evangelism and the gospel are concerned. It cannot just be crusades; it cannot just be persons who have graduated from theological seminaries. It has to be the regular believer,” he said, while issuing a reminder that all Christians are expected to be Christ’s disciples and lead others to Him.
“It won’t always be in a church setting that they will have the opportunity to evangelise. You have Christians in corporate, you have Christians in government, you have Christians in the fire department, the police force, the Jamaica Defence Force, amongst the doctors and surgeons and lawyers and different judges and the judiciary; you have Christians everywhere,” he said.
Rev. Morrison had used his sermon at the National Leadership Prayer Breakfast to appeal to the church to use its delegated authority to push back against the forces of darkness and territorial spirits in the country.
“In Jamaica today, we have many pictures of hopelessness, and in many ways, our society has gone mad and need to be rescued! Our society needs to be rescued from gangs, guns and lawlessness; rescued from reprisals and extortion; rescued from injustice in high and low places, rescued from the lewdness in some of today’s dancehall music that leaves nothing to the imagination,” he said.
“Our society needs to be rescued from the ‘mek-man-eat-a-food-mentality’ and rescued from those who use and abuse others to get ahead in life. Our society needs to be rescued from the unproductive use of smartphones and the pandemic of online over-exposure of our children!” he added.
