The Central Jamaica Conference (CJC) of Seventh-day Adventists, on Saturday, July 13, 2019, opened doors to its ‘Life Hope Centre’ for the poor and homeless on the compound of the Mandeville Seventh-day Adventist Church, Mandeville, Jamaica.
Outside view of the newly opened ‘Life Hope Centre’, located on the compound of the Mandeville Seventh-day Adventist Church. The ‘Life Hope Centre’ will facilitate addressing the needs of the poor and homeless in the parish of Manchester. | Credits: Andrew Johnson, CJC
Pastor Levi Johnson, president of Central Jamaica Conference said this is the first of five Centres of Influence that the Conference is looking to establish in various towns across the CJC territory. According to Pastor Johnson, most of the world’s population are now living in cities.
“We have done the survey”, Johnson said, “and discovered that all the town centres in CJC are growing.” “This puts a serious strain on the limited infrastructure and resources and can impact negatively on the quality of life of persons who are poor, vulnerable and displaced”, he continued.
Pastor Levi Johnson, president of Central Jamaica Conference of Seventh-day Adventists addresses the congregation during the opening of the ‘Life Hope Centre’ at the Mandeville Church. | Credits: Andrew Johnson, CJC
President Johnson said that it is while administration of the Conference studied how to meet the needs of persons in the cities that they decided to make it a goal of creating five Centres of Influence in their major towns or cities.
Pastor Johnson also indicated that they are also responding to the challenge put out by the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists for the church to meet the needs of people living in cities and town centres under its “Mission to the Cities” Initiative.
