MEN PERFORM FOR CHRIST TO RESTORE DYING OUTREACH PROGRAMMES
IN A bid to help keep its extracurricular activities and charitable programmes alive, the St Andrew Parish Church is reaching out for help. They have decided that the best way to reach out was through entertainment. So on Sunday, September 30, the church hall will be the venue for Men Perform For Christ – a charity concert they have organised to raise funds in support of the institution’s crumbling outreach infrastructure.
“The outreach programmes are subsidised by the church, and through contributions, but it’s dying,” church member and event organiser Phillip Clarke told The Gleaner.
For the concert, Clarke wrangled a star-studded line-up, featuring a mix of instrumentalists, comedians, dancehall stars, gospel leaders and rocksteady legends. Slated to take the stage are: Fab 5, Ken Boothe, Boris Gardner, Wayne Marshall, Dwight Pinkney, Dr Michael Abrahams, ‘Blakka’ Ellis, among others.
“This effort is not for beautification, it’s not to enhance anything – but to get these outreach programmes back,” Clarke said.
CHURCH OUTREACH
In a space behind the National Bakery factory in Kencot, the church hosts a Sunday-school and a homework programme. In addition to customer service training for persons seeking help with job certification, the church offers the programmes for free.
“If we have homework programmes, we’ll have the children for two to three hours in the afternoon. We have to give them food, we have to pay light, water bills. There is already one programme completely shut down,” Clarke shared.
The church also manages a small basic school and dental clinic in Majesty Gardens. “There is a small stipend for the school, but that, too, is subsidised through contribution. But right now, we’re begging support from anyone willing to help. It’s an ageing church. We have young people who have been helping, but we know we have to reach out to the general public,” he explained.
Regardless of the event’s title, the performers were not selected based on religious affiliation. “For this, there is no peer affiliation – but I didn’t have to ask them twice. Nobody said no,” Clarke revealed. “I don’t even know if they attend church regularly. I just know they are good at what they do. We’re gonna have gospel artistes, but it’s not just Christian people. It’s people who are benevolent and willing to contribute their time.”
Clarke intends for this to be an annual event, and weeks before the first stating he hopes to raise the profile of the event