WHILE most people were enjoying worship service at the Portmore Holiness Christian Church in Hellshire, St Catherine last Sunday morning, Moveta McNaught and a group of other church members were busy packing up two cars with large igloos filled with food to feed at least 200 homeless people on the streets of the Corporate Area.
This is something that the group always does on the last Sunday of each month and represents just one of several ways in which members of the church demonstrate their commitment to improving the social welfare of the poor. The contents of the igloo vary each month, and often consists of porridge, rolls, bread, callaloo and saltfish, fried dumplings, stewed chicken and salt fish and beans.
"We started from 2004 and at that time, we were doing it twice per month. But then there were other ministries and other churches that came out, and so we had to organise it so that we don't go and then other persons are also giving them. So we are now limited to once per month and we do breakfast, because there is another organisation that does dinner," said McNaught who is the president of the church's singles ministry that has been charged with the responsibility of organising the breakfast feeding programme.
On average, about 15 of the members from this ministry would go to the Silver Slipper Plaza in Cross Roads and along Duke Street in downtown Kingston to share the food items and interact with the beneficiaries.
"They are very much appreciative of our meals because we tend to give them mostly warm food. They especially love the porridge," she said.
But apart from catering to the needs of the public, members of the singles ministry also help to meet each other's needs. McNaught said that given the issues which affect singles, such as having to raise children alone and not having a partner to socialise with, the ministry has been a very important one for the church. She said that they try to enrich each other's social life by having regular meetings at each other's house and taking annual vacations together. They also meet regularly at church for movie nights.
"So instead of us going to a Carib, we would come up here (church) and we would watch a movie. You will find fabulous movies at Carib, but what you will find there is that you won't find all Christian persons, and so we would jam here and watch a movie," she said.
The Portmore Holiness Christian Church had its genesis at the Greater Portmore High School, St Catherine in 1996 before moving on to have worship services at the Kensington Primary School. The church officially opened its own church building along the Hellshire main road in October 2010. Since that time, it has instituted a number of social outreach projects which are lumped under a broader programme called PARENTS (Portmore Area Renewal Empowerment, Nurturing and Transformation Services). The organisation is a registered entity which seeks to foster social welfare and social development in the Portmore area.
"The social outreach programme is the hands and face of the church," stated founder and senior pastor of the Portmore Holiness Christian Church, Rev Alvin Bailey.
"What the people see in the church is its ability to identify itself with their needs," he added.
One of the needs that has been evident in the Portmore community is counselling, and the church has responded to this by offering it. The church started its counselling programme in 2004 and offers marriage counselling with Rev Bailey, as well as general counselling done by six other trained counsellors.
"Some of the areas that we meet clients are with family life issues, with behavioural problems, with the youth and young adults. Some of them do not know how to resolve conflicts, so we have conflict resolution and we are currently planning a mediation programme," said Yvonne Tobias, who co-ordinates the programme.
She said that based on a Memorandum of Understanding that the church has with the Victim Support Unit, families of murder victims who visit the Greater Portmore Police Station are also able to go to the church for counselling. Schools in the area also send students with behavioural problems to them for mediation.
"There are a few who were turned out of school and when I worked with them, they came back and they were re-admitted into schools. Some of them have even done well in their GSAT and have gone on to other high schools," said Tobias.
But apart from just providing counselling, the church helps to meet the needs of children by assisting some of them financially so that they can have lunch money and bus or taxi fare for school.
"Our church recognised that some of our members were having difficulties or challenges sending their members to school, so based on that, the church has decided to assist those children to at least ease some of the pressure off these families," said Andrea Wyles who organises the student assistant programme.
The church places as much emphasis on the elderly as it does the youth, and so the senior caregiver ministry has been tasked with the responsibility of planning programmes geared towards enriching the lives of those who have passed retirement age.
"The care seeks to help with their medical issues. It's not that we would undertake all their medical needs, but we will give as much assistance as possible to help them," said co-ordinator of the programme, Latoya Taylor.
Director General for PARENTS, Michelle Dewar-Williams said that the church also works alongside other entities such as children's homes in carrying out various outreach endeavours. Members of the church would, for example, make contact with these homes and then visit one every other week to interact with the children and bring them items of greatest need.
Other programmes under PARENTS include an Information Technology Resource Centre that benefits those without access to Internet at home, a general welfare programme that assists needy individuals within the church, as well as a special projects ministry that aids with the funding of small projects suggested by members that could help the community.
"We are hoping that we will forge some sort of alliance, so we can ensure that the communities that are at risk in Portmore are given the needed attention and support," said Dewar-Williams.
A section of the congregation during last Sunday morning?s service at the Portmore Holiness Christian Church.
With their cute smiles and dramatic expressions, these children had the congregation at the Portmore Holiness Christian Church in high spirits during last Sunday morning?s worship service.
Founder of the Portmore Holiness Christian Church Rev Alvin Bailey said social outreach is the hands and face of the church.
Guest pastor Herro Blair Jnr preaches on the theme, Empowerment through Holiness? during last Sunday?s worship service at the Portmore Holiness Christian Church.
(L-R) Directors and co-ordinators for some of the ministries at the church Latoya Taylor, Michelle Dewar-Williams, Andrea Wyles and Yvonne Tobias pose for our camera.
Members of the street feeding team at the Portmore Holiness Christian Church transfer two igloos with breakfast items to the back of this car to distribute on the streets of the Corporate Area.
Lead singer Cheryl Stewart worships as she and other choir members do their rendition at the Portmore Holiness Christian Church.
Young guitarist Levaughn Smith practises with his friends Josh Hamilton and Delmano Shannon in background on drums.
Some of the members of the singles ministry pray before going on the road to deliver breakfast to the homeless.
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