One hundred years after the Seventh-day Adventist Church was established in the West Indies the church has grown to be one of the largest in the region.  Adventists living on the islands of the Bahamas, Cayman, Jamaica and Turks and Caicos started a series of centennial activities celebrating this milestone on June 29. The celebrations began at the North Street Church in Kingston, Jamaica—the church that gave birth to the movement in the region.

Representatives of the Jamaican government affirmed the impact the church has had on society. Bringing greetings on behalf of the Prime Minister of Jamaica, Portia Simpson-Miller, was Robert Pickersgill the minister of Housing, Water, Transport and Works, who lauded the Adventist church for its achievements.

Pickersgill pointed out that 100 years in the life of any organization can only be regarded as a singular accomplishment deserving of the highest praise. “You have managed over the years to combine religious fervor with tangible community action and involvement. Indeed in your quest to seek and serve the Lord you have demonstrated a strong and abiding faith in the service of people in the communities.”

The first two days of the celebration were filled with praise and thanksgiving to God under the theme: “Ebenezer! Hitherto hath the Lord helped us.” The celebrations began with a blaze of color and rousing Friday evening service dedicated to celebrating Jamaican Adventist pioneers.  This program included reflections on “Where it Began” looking at the work of early pioneers such as William “James” Palmer, Margaret Harrison, Phillip Porter, Gilbert Mclaughlin, C.H. Richards and C. F. Parmele. The Bible study or Sabbath School program was dedicated to celebrating the ministries that enrich the church and the community.

Bruce Golding, leader of the opposition party in Jamaica, also congratulated the Adventists in Jamaica for the nature of the work that they do. Golding noted, “The work that you do is manifested in so many different ways, [through] education, hospitals, among the young people.”

The Sabbath sermon was delivered by Pastor Israel Leito, president of the Inter-American region of the church, who challenged the 100 year-old faith community to keep the name of God on their lips, and alive in people’s minds.

To do otherwise, he said, is to allow the country to be turned over to atheists and godless people. “We have a society riddled with crime, a society where we find many morally good people but who are without the knowledge of Jesus Christ. When you erase God from our lives then we replace Him with other things. Wealth, power, immorality, violence—all these become replacements for God,” he said.

“We will not allow the name of God to be forgotten or erased in Jamaica. People will always know that there is a God because there are Seventh-day Adventists,” he added. 

In the years since their establishment in 1906, the West Indies Union Conference of Seventh-day Adventists has grown to more than 230,000 members across Jamaica, The Bahamas, Cayman Islands and Turks and Caicos. In Jamaica alone that means that every 12th person is an Adventist. Leito said that the 100 years was testament to work that still needed to be done, in earnest.

Pastor Patrick Allen, president of the church in the West Indies spoke of the significance of starting the Centennial celebrations at the North Street Church, the first Seventh-day Adventist Church in the West Indies Union Conference.

Pastor Allen said, “North Street cradles Adventism in the region. This church came into being around 1893, and from this church many, many others have been born.” 

The Centennial celebrations will culminate on November 11, 2006 at Northern Caribbean University.