The Seventh-day Adventist Church in Jamaica was the recipient of a recent commendation from Prime Minister Andrew Holness as he addressed the congregation at the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Lucea, Hanover. Holness commended the church for being one of the first to have taken worship online and noted that it was the socially responsible thing to do. Prime Minister Holness was worshiping at the Lucea Adventist Church during his weekend tour of several parishes in western Jamaica.

“The government never closed any church in the Disaster Risk Management Act,” Holness says. “We never prohibited churches from opening, but the churches themselves decided that it was best to close their places of worship and to move worship online. I happen to know that the Seventh-day Adventist Church was one of the first churches to have done this, and I felt very pleased because I saw this as a sign of social responsibility.”

Churches within Jamaica moved services online as early as March 21, 2020–11 days after the first case of COVID-19 was confirmed within the country. The government then proceeded to implement restrictive measures that included protocols, which curtailed the gathering of groups in all public spaces including places of worship. The church then implemented additional procedures for its congregations and established an online interface for worship services, with a flagship broadcast dubbed “JA Adventists Online.” The brand was used on a weekly basis in each of the five conferences, which comprise the Jamaica Union. It was so impactful that it was featured during the prime time news on TV Jamaica on Apr. 7 for its innovation and all-inclusiveness, catering even to children, church leaders said.

Several Adventist churches in Jamaica began to reopen cautiously in mid-June.

According to Prime Minister Holness, these steps were proactive and a sign of leadership, while highlighting the action as an example for other institutions to follow as the country tackles the COVID-19 pandemic.

“It was a sign that the church was exercising leadership and this is what we want to see,” continued Holness. “We want to see our national institutions and organizations exercise leadership. We believe the early exercise of leadership paid off in keeping the cases low and ensuring that Jamaica was not counted among the countries that could have had significant outbreaks.”

This article was originally published on the Inter-America Division’s website