Missions partnership grows in Jamaica
It is known as a prime honeymoon spot, top tourist destination and is the fodder of imaginations during bleak winter months. But Jamaica is more than sandy beaches and cruise ship ports.
Away from the ports and beaches, Jamaica unfolds into a country that struggles with poverty and heavy population burdens.
In January 2004, the South Carolina Woman’s Missionary Union entered into a mission partnership with the Jamaica Baptist Women’s Federation. The partnership, which also includes the national Woman’s Missionary Union, was recently expanded through 2010. The purpose of the partnership is to foster relationships between the three missions entities and to equip and train local Jamaican women in their relationships with Jesus.
“The world sees Jamaica as a place of beauty and a major tourist attraction…but it is also so much more. As Christians we want to see Jamaica through God’s eyes and see the many needs of the people living there,” said Sandra Tapp, SC Woman’s Missionary Union associate executive director and Jamaica partnership coordinator.
Five short-term mission teams with a total of sixty-seven people from across South Carolina participated in the partnership this summer. All teams assisted local churches and communities with Vacation Bible School with many teams seeing over one hundred children each week. Teams also participated in prayerwalking, leading women’s conferences and revival services.
“Jamaica is in need of strong, Christian leadership to help train and guide Christian men and women in serving the Lord,” said Judy Atkins from Oolenoy Baptist Church in Pickens.
Kimberly Sowell, a volunteer from Second Baptist Church, Lancaster, saw sixty-eight people accept Jesus through their Vacation Bible School. Many other teams saw similar results.
“Everywhere we went, it was evident that God had gone before us and prepared people’s hearts to hear and receive the Gospel,” she said.
Linda Proctor, from Hebron Baptist Church in Scranton, called the bond between Jamaican ministry leaders and the volunteer teams a“one common thread, leading others to the Lord and making disciples of those we seek out to serve the Lord.”
Tapp says one of the highlights of the partnership has been the volunteers who are traveling to Jamaica and hopes to see the number grow.
“A large number of the team members have been young women and students…It has been so wonderful to see their involvement in this partnership.”
Many volunteers who traveled to Jamaica this summer are already praying about returning. And when asked why others should consider joining this mission partnership, Sowell simply offered, “Join God as He pours His Spirit on Jamaica. The need is great, and Jesus is the answer to each of those needs.”
For more information on the Jamaican partnership, contact the Woman’s Missionary Union at (800) 723-7242 ext. 8500.
