SPALDING, Clarendon: CHURCHES INVEST tens of millions of dollars in Jamaican communities but people don't hear about it because "we are dominated with slaughter house journalism.
"We don't take the time to understand because we are overcome by the division and divisiveness," said Rev. Maitland Evans General Secretary of the United Church in Jamaica and Grand Cayman.
Speaking at the opening and dedication of the newly constructed Spalding United Church Hall on Sunday, he said churches had been able to use their limited resources to do what was necessary to enable and empower communities.
As the fight for the soul of Jamaica rages, the Church finds itself in the position to participate with respect and integrity because it has been in the communities, he said. He added, however, that the Church needed to close ranks in order to unite and celebrate the goodness that God has placed in Jamaica.
He added that in the current climate it could not be business as usual because society has changed.
"Those who believe it can be business as usual don't understand what it means to play our part in appreciating that we cannot go after gaining the whole world and losing our soul.
The soul of Jamaica is its heart, its capacity for compassion, its ability to understand that at the centre of creation is God's people and what it means to put people at the centre of all that we are and all that we seek to do," said Rev. Evans.
