HISTORY OF THE UNITED PENTECOSTAL CHURCH OF JAMAICA
HOW DOES one really capture the history of an organisation that has affected the religious arena of our little Caribbean island of 4,411 square miles? The United Pentecostal Church of Jamaica – the largest Apostolic organisation in Jamaica, has grown from strength to strength, winning spiritual, as well as physical battles, and has held fast to the apostolic doctrine and truth, still actively carrying out the Great Commission given by our Lord Jesus Christ in Matthew chapter 28 verse 19: “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.”
The history of the Apostolic Movement dates back to the ‘Day of Pentecost.’ In Acts 2 verses 1-4 and 38-40, the Scriptures record the first heavenly outpouring when the Holy Ghost fire fell on the 120 people gathered in the Upper Room. It was a strange but remarkable occurrence in Jerusalem that day, and so, too, in Jamaica in 1918, when Madam Sappleton, along with her sister and brother-in-law, brought the new birth message to the island.
The movement, however, really started in Jamaica in 1916 when one little woman of the Methodist faith, ‘Mother Russell’, had a yearning to not only know more about the Lord Jesus Christ, but had a heart of service and was led to witness to
persons about the love of God after World War I (1914-1918), which ravaged the world and left many hopeless, including those living in Jamaica.
Living in rural Jamaica (Brown’s Town, St Ann), she had no income or means of survival other than her trust in the Lord, who provided her daily sustenance. With the love of God in her heart and no experience of the ‘new birth’, she led persons to the Lord with the evidence of a changed lifestyle. The response of people being drawn to the Lord was overwhelming. People from all walks of life began responding to this abundant love that God had to offer.
Mother Russell recognised that there must be more to what was happening, with people’s hearts being touched, and her longing for more of whatever God had to offer increased. She gathered people for meetings and prayed fervently, seeking God. In Brown’s Town, God responded in a powerful way by pouring out His Spirit, with the initial evidence of speaking in tongues as the spirit gave utterance. Many experienced similar happenings as in the upper room on the day of Pentecost, and on Azusa Street, while others looked on in awe.
Before long, revival was upon them, and Mother Russell acknowledged that she needed help to continue the work. She sought this from Elder Arthur Watson, an English missionary to Canada, who had come to Jamaica to continue the work started by Madam Sappleton. He came along with Sister Eliza Harris, Elder Henry Lee, and Annie Scotlock, and preached the message of new birth – baptism in Jesus’ name – resulting in 82 persons being baptised in the sea at Dry Harbor (Discovery Bay) after walking eight miles to find water.
The Gospel message spread across the island into towns and villages, some of which were Green Hill, Liberty Valley, Watt Town, Clover Hill, Friendship, and Mile End (Ocho Rios). A few years later, it spread to other parts of the island.
Present-day followers of Jesus Christ were not exempted from any form of oppression. As was in the days of the Apostles, so it was in the 1920s in Jamaica. The civic leaders of Brown’s Town were not amused by the happenings in these services and filed a petition before the clerk of courts, seeking the removal of the “Holy Ghost-filled” people from the community. The petition was dismissed as
other leaders and secular groups admitted that there were remarkable changes in the people (an orderly town) since the revival.
Further across the island, in Ulster Spring, Trelawny, Elder Daniel Hyman Georges, a Clarendonian by birth, affiliated with the American-based Pentecostal Assemblies of Jesus Christ, began preaching the new-birth experience in the town. The people were not as responsive as those in Brown’s Town, but this did not deter Elder Georges, who had received divine instruction to go to Ulster Spring. He continued preaching and later received assistance from Evangelist Wilson from Portland and Elder Turby from the United States of America.
With continued growth in the number of converts, it became evident that a place of worship was necessary, so land at Lott District in Trelawny was acquired and a temporary structure erected.
Again, the adversary was not pleased and not long after, the structure was burnt to the ground. The people of God were, however, not daunted, and shortly after (1929), a more permanent structure was built on land donated by Evangelist Luther Lemonius, and the preaching of the gospel message continued.
HUGE ATTENDANCE
In 1934, Mother Russell moved to Kingston to further evangelise the island. She began conducting services similar to those she had conducted in Brown’s Town at Goodwin Park, east Kingston. Huge crowds attended, and many received the baptism of the Holy Ghost. House-to-house evangelism was very popular, with prayer meetings being held at the homes of different persons, as well as at Mother’s Russell’s residence at 69 Wildman Street.
In 1940, Elder Georges died and Evangelist Cyril B. Ferguson, one of the first four converts at Ulster Spring, acted as pastor. He later joined Mother Russell, and both groups of believers preached the new-birth doctrine. The Ulster Spring Church became the first established work in Jamaica out of the official merger that formed the United Pentecostal Church in 1945.
The residence of Mother Russell at 69 Wildman Street in Kingston became the nucleus from which Mother Russell launched outreach activities in the eastern section of the island, namely St Thomas, St Catherine, and St Mary. This location later remained the central point of activities for a long time and became the dwelling of the first missionary and superintendent to the island of Jamaica. It was also the genesis of the Caribbean Bible Institute and the headquarters of the United Pentecostal Church of Jamaica.
Today, the United Pentecostal Church of Jamaica is situated at 45 Eastwood Park Road in Kingston with 130 churches islandwide, 343 ministers, and a membership of 15,436.