Bishop of Jamaica and the Cayman Islands, the Rt. Rev. Alfred Reid, has called on the Christian community to rekindle hope at a time when poverty, sickness, criminality and social chaos have reached unheard of proportions and people are overcome by “a victim mentality, a horrible psychology of hopelessness and helplessness.”

“We must be prepared to be the voice of the voiceless and the public face of those who are invisible,” Bishop Reid declared, as he delivered his charge at the Opening Service of the 140th Synod of the Church on April 30 at the Breezes Resort and Spa, Trelawny. While acknowledging the need to respect lawful authority, he maintained that the Church should jealously guard its freedom and integrity.

Addressing the Synod theme “Discerning God’s Call at This Time,” Bishop Reid traced the Church’s role and impact on Jamaican and Caribbean society over the centuries. However, he said it was not enough to focus on the impressive outreach programmes which Churches have operated and sponsored. Instead, he said, these activities should be carefully analysed to understand why the society was in its present sad state, despite all that had been done.

“If a Church needs its outreach programmes to prove its relevance, that Church would prove nothing more than the fact that it has lost its sense of mission. Our aim must not simply be to maintain people in their poverty, but to promote their fullest possible development, independence and freedom,” he said.

Bishop Reid observed that the call to the Church in Jamaica at this time was a challenging, though not impossible task. Rather than being intimidated, he said the Church should take encouragement from the Parable of the leaven in the dough, recounted in St. Matthew 13 and St. Luke 13, and which silently and effectively caused the dough to rise.

“The Church has a potency that belies its small-scale operation. We don’t need to seek the limelight or court the powerful, because it is not we, but God’s Spirit in the Church that will renew the face of the earth. Your Church may have one, two or five members, but it can make a difference. Just as a pinch of leaven or baking powder will cause flour to rise, we will make an impact,” Bishop Reid asserted. (Click here for full text of Synod Charge.)

The Synod was attended by some 300 clergy and lay representatives from across the island. The Estimates of Receipts and Expenditure for the year 2010-2011, reports from Diocesan organizations and institutions for the year 2009, as well as the Church’s mission in the present challenging socio-economic environment were the main issues discussed.