SDA Church reaches out

The suspension of face-to-face church worship is not stopping the local Seventh Day Adventist (SDA) community from fulfilling its commitment to society.

On Sunday, the church launched its Food Bank Initiative with Personal Ministries Director of the East Caribbean Conference of SDAs Pastor Dale Haynes making an appeal for every Adventist church on the island to be used as a food bank for vulnerable citizens affected by COVID-19.

“We are mindful as a church that we must connect. We are also mindful that we must be here to help so that all of us can walk together hand in hand through this pandemic,” Haynes told Barbados TODAY as he packed hampers for distribution with Pastor Anthony Sobers and church elder George Goddard.

A financial injection from the conference along with generous donations from Corporate Barbados have allowed volunteers to provide rice, pasta, ground provisions, and other staples. Hand sanitizers and protective masks are also being made and distributed by church members.

“We have a few pastors and other workers with passes who drop off the items. Members are coming forward in their numbers because we are all in this together. This crisis is affecting all of us. We are adopting the community approach and mindset that we have been encountering,” said Pastor Haynes.

But he noted that the church is intent on implementing the initiatives in the over 60 SDA churches across the island to ensure that vulnerable persons in all communities receive much-needed assistance.

He also wants to extend the assistance to nurses on the frontline at quarantine facilities, the Household Mitigation Unit and the Barbados Council for the Disabled.

“The conference would have started under my department and the first injection came from the conference, but partners also came on board. People are coming forward and giving things.

“We are also challenging our churches to become food banks. Goodland church, Boscobelle, and Good News [Black Rock], Golan, East Point, King Street, and Government Hill SDA Churches have all come on board,” Haynes declared.

“We are happy to be doing this. This is what church is all about and this is what ministry is all about,” he added.

When asked about the ability to keep church members mobilised amid the suspension of services, Pastor Haynes revealed that virtual services were reaching many more people than traditional church services.

“Church is on Zoom and we are reaching even more people than we did in the physical building. We did a small stream intended to reach just a few people. We were able to reach 9,700 people. We are seeing numbers that we have never seen before,” he said.

kareemsmith@barbadostoday.bb