The mission of the Church in the present challenging economic and social environment will be the focus of discussions when some 300 clergy and lay representatives from Anglican churches across the island meet from April 30 to May 1 for the 140th annual Synod of the Diocese of Jamaica and the Cayman Islands.

The Synod at the Breezes Resort and Spa, formerly Starfish, Trelawny, will be presided over by the Bishop of Jamaica and the Cayman Islands, the Rt. Rev. Dr. Alfred Reid, who will deliver his annual charge, at an Opening Service to be held in the Hotel’s Great Hall, starting at 4.00 p.m. on April 30. This will be followed by the first of the Business Sessions in which members will discuss the Estimates of Receipts and Expenditure for 2010/2011, as well as reports from Diocesan organizations and institutions for the year 2009; and chart strategic directions for the next year.

Bishop Reid said that the duration of the Synod was being significantly shortened from the traditional four days, in light of the high cost to participants. “We have decided to restructure the format of our Agenda, as we have to be sensitive to the economic realities of our members. Accordingly, a full-length Synod will only be held once every three years,” he noted.

The Lord Bishop further explained that much of the preparatory work was done in four Regional Pre-Synod Meetings held between April 10 and 14 in Montego Bay, Kingston and Mandeville. He added that these sessions had facilitated the involvement of a wider cross-section of the Church’s leadership, whose decisions and recommendations would be ratified at the Synod.

A highlight of the upcoming meeting will be the tabling of a Paper which explores Models of Ministry for a Changing Caribbean. The document, which was prepared by the Suffragan Bishop of Kingston, the Rt. Rev. Dr. Robert Thompson, for the Synod of the Church in the Province of the West Indies (CPWI), late last year, was endorsed by representatives from the eight Dioceses in the Caribbean - Jamaica and the Cayman Islands, Barbados, Belize, Guyana, Nassau and the Bahamas, North East Caribbean and Aruba (NECA), Trinidad and Tobago and the Windward Islands. If taken on board, it could significantly reshape the way the Church in Jamaica approaches its Ministry.
        
In addition to its pastoral work, the Diocese of Jamaica and the Cayman Islands has direct responsibility for several educational institutions, including the Church Teachers’ College in Mandeville, as well as 11 of the island’s high schools, 112 primary schools, 9 preparatory schools and several basic schools. The Anglican Church also administers the Nuttall Memorial Hospital in Kingston, three homes for children and three homes for the aged.