Evangelist Errol Rattray - Ian Allen/Staff Photographer

They are among some of our scarcest resources: men. They fall through the cracks on to street corners, into prisons, into the dust.

But one church group is on a mission to rescue these Jamaican men. HOPE 2007, an umbrella church organisation led by evangelist Errol Rattray is, among other things, aiming to instigate a pattern of wholesome living among Jamaican men.

"Just like Jesus, we will decry the sin but not the sinner," said Evangelist Rattray.

The programme, he explains, will aim to show that Christ loves all men despite their faults and will encourage men to accept their roles as leaders in society. The men's rally is slated for Emancipation Park in New Kingston next month.

"Say the man is an adulterer, a homosexual, Christ loves him, but he doesn't love the practice. So, he loves the person but not the sin," evangelist Rattray explained.

There will also be a special focus on boys. Between the ages 17 and 26 they are among the most at risk of the population. Ten thousand boys in this age group were murdered between 1996 and 2005, police statistics show and likewise they are among the main perpetrators of violence.

"Jamaica has the most churches per square mile and we have the belief that if every church in their own square mile is willing to take care of the boys in that square mile, then we are able to address the boys," Rattray argued.

"Let us see how we can help in the lives of these boys," he continued, "because some of these boys don't have any father image. It's their mother or big sister, auntie or grandmother who grew them, so they are crying out for fathers."

Role as fathers

In that regard, the programme will also aim to encourage men to take back their role as fathers, not only to their own children, but to every child in their community.

"The problem can't be fixed overnight. It's a process so the men's rally is a part of the process," said Rattray.

The rally is to be complemented by a boys' conference later in March. That programme will pull 10 boys from 50 schools across the Corporate Area, St. Catherine, St. Thomas and St. Mary with the aim of teaching them life skills.

- gareth.manning@gleanerjm .com