Janelle Christie
At 100 years, the Mile End Seventh Day Adventist Church, St Ann, had started its journey of a thousand mile with a single step.
In celebration of their 100th anniversary, the church hosted a weekend of praise which started on Friday, November 11 and ended on Saturday, November 12.
The services were held under the theme “Carrying the flame 100 years and beyond.”
The day’s worship commenced with the singing of the church’s theme song ‘I will never be the same again’. Angelyn Haye, communications secretary in making announcements gave the congregation food for thought as they celebrated all that they have accomplished.
Welcome and greeting was done by pastor Kirkwood Parkinson, who has been the church pastor for a year. Pastor Parkinson also called the worship to order.
The president of the Jamaica Union of Seventh Day Adventists, Pastor Everett Brown, was given the task of leading the sermon and doing the invocation. Pastor Brown was introduced by president of the North Jamaica Conference, Pastor Karl Archer.
It was during the period allotted for testimonies that the oldest member of the church, 93-year-old Ruth Marie Hinds, testified and spoke about the early days of the church dating back to the 1920s. “I am so happy that I am able to live to see this day, I am so grateful that the church has grown immensely,” she said.
The lambs were fed (teaching of the children) by Maxine Facey who read a story entitled “Why the lights went out”. The aim was to advise the children that “it is the little things that we let into our lives that destroy us.” She also encouraged the children to keep their lights shining — as they were guided to do through the theme.
THEIR JOURNEY
A century ago, the church started out at the home of Alex Davis, who was a member of the Grantsville SDA Church in Gayle, St. Mary. Having settled in the Mile End community, he encouraged another member of the Grantsville church, Donald Silvera, to come to the community and engage in a series of meetings.
Roots were planted in the community in 1916 and nine persons were baptized after a period of Sunday meetings in Lodge square.
After the baptism, Mr Silvera found it was successful and decided to go elsewhere on a mission to win more souls. It was then that pastor Herbert Fletcher, who was at that time conducting a crusade in Ocho Rios, was asked by the conference to visit the community. He visited with then first elder of the North Street SDA Church in Kingston. A large group of persons eagerly awaited their arrival. It was upon their arrival that they made note of the large number of persons in the area wanting to hear the gospel and moved the crusade to the current location of the church which they rented and where they pitched a tent.
The crusade was a success and a small booth was erected to house members. A church was later built to accommodate them.
Soon after her conversion, Rebecca Davis, donated the land to the Jamaica Conference and a church with wooden frame and thatch roof was constructed. This structure was, however, destroyed in the 1944 hurricane. This disaster put the members at great inconvenience and a joint effort by different congregations to reconstruct a stone building was made in the early 1960’s.
Construction of the church was hindered for several years due to constant change of leadership, each having a different idea. The issue was solved in 1965 when Winston Preddie (current principal of May Pen High School) formed a building committee with four church members and a plan was drawn. It was then agreed that the plan would not be changed. It was after this decision that the rebuilding process started.
As the church developed, Winston Preddie incorporated clubs in the church’s development. He started the El Leon Pathfinder Club and a community club called the Mile End Cultural Association. The clubs hosted events such as cricket matches and cultural activities. The clubs also provided the opportunity for residents to get assistance with the writing of wills; completion of other important documents and for public issue discussion.
The church continued to grow, and they soon needed to extend where they have been worshipping. In the 1980’s, Linburn Little- Davis ( also called Teacher Little), constructed the back section of the church.The kitchen, downstairs bathrooms, choir room, pastor’s vestry, meeting room and an interior staircase were constructed.
The church remained the same until 2015, when the church board led by Pastor Daniel Miller, commissioned the building committee to begin much needed repairs and refurbishing. Work continued into 2016, when several of their goals were accomplished under the leadership of Colin Wilmot and his assistants elder Newton Osborne and pastor Ray Llewellyn.
An integral part of the church’s history is the Mile End SDA School which was established in 1958. Despite facing challenges which have caused it to close its doors before, the school was reopened in 1996 by Thelma Harris with an enrolment of five. It was renamed the Winston Preddie’s Basic School in 1998 and in 2009 the baton was passed to Angelyn Haye who today still holds the banner high.
