Devon Dick

Last Wednesday, at the opening service of the 158th Annual Assembly of The Jamaica Baptist Union, Karl Henlin, then president, made a profound and courageous statement as he challenged the church to discern the leading of God's Spirit. He said, "We also affirm that the Holy Spirit is not boxed in by the church and thus only at work in the church. The Spirit blows where the Spirit wills. The Spirit is God's liberating, life-bringing and loving presence at work in the whole of creation."

He then added to the congregation, including Senator Dorothy Lightbourne, minister of justice; Zaila McCalla, chief justice; Deborah Okunlola, wife of the Nigerian high commissioner; Omar Azan, president of the Jamaica Manufacturers Association; Rear Admiral Hardley Lewin, commissioner of police; and regular attendee Desmond McKenzie, mayor of Kingston, that "I have had this sense that God is at work in this country in a host of civic organisations who themselves may well be unaware of the agency of the Spirit in their lives.

Liberating work

The prophet (Isaiah) likened Cyrus as the anointed one because God had used him in the deliverance of the people of Israel, though not known to be a man of faith. We celebrate the liberating work of many of our national heroes and in the works of some of our artistes. Could it be that the Spirit has been and is at work in this nation in ways that have escaped the church? This calls for discernment!"

It, therefore, means that the church needs to understand and appreciate that God can be speaking through civic organisations and it needs to listen.

The ecumenical church was at hand to receive the charge as it was well represented by Bishop Alfred Reid, bishop of Jamaica; Donald Reece, archbishop of Kingston; Byron Chambers, president of the Methodist Church, Dr Patrick Allen, president of the Seventh-day Adventist Church; Gary Harriott, general secretary of the Jamaica Council of Churches; and bishops Herro Blair and Delford Davis of the Jamaica Pentecostal Union. Will the church and denominations affirm and cooperate with the civic groups being used by God? Will the church invite into its sanctuary and listen to those who have contrary views on issues such as abortion, casino gambling and homosexuality?

Henlin also said that the church is a directed community being sent into the world to do God's work. He seemed to rebuke the media for not understanding the role of the church and said, "The Spirit directs the church and sends the church outside. Somebody asks in the media why is the church meddling in everything? We do not meddle!... This is not a meddling church! We are a mission church!"

Controversial issues

Henlin did not deal with, the controversial issues such as Spirit baptism and speaking in tongues. However, Everton Jackson, pastor of Calvary Baptist, in giving the Annual David Jelleyman lecture, dealt with the controversial topic of Spirit baptism and concluded that Spirit baptism occurs in close association with Water Baptism. In addition, in a workshop titled, 'Tongues, Tambourines and Tings', Deonie Duncan, pastor of the Buff Bay Circuit, explored the worship scene in Baptist churches. Quite a few Baptist leaders testified that they have experienced being overpowered by God's Spirit, falling involuntarily and being purged by the Holy Spirit.

On Sunday, the last day of the assembly, thousands of Baptists gathered at the National Arena and witnessed the induction of Stephen Jennings, pastor of Mona Baptist, as the new president of the JBU. He, who is regarded as an intellectual and Spirit-filled, has the responsibility of leading Baptists in Jamaica to live in the Spirit for the next two years.