The title does seem vague and somewhat curious, but the theme of this year’s Emancipation Day Conversation was not pulled out of a hat. It is the continuation of a contiguous conversation we at the Caribbean Christian Leadership Network have been having for over five years. One can review from the beginning and recognize the grounds covered, beginning in year 1 with the focus on the Colonial legacy of the Church, (click for videos) a thorough discussion of which was absolutely prerequisite for re-examining the attitude of the church towards Reparations (year 2), which led to the spotlight on an awakening church, throwing off blinding mental chains to take the lead in Reparatory activism as highlighted in conversation 3, creating momentum demonstrated in the now very observable enthusiasm and activism across the denominational spectrum.
It was that Reparatory lens that directly led to our re-examination of church attitudes with respect to interfacing, influencing and involvement with government in year 4 and reverberations from that conversation led us to examine the issue of Constitutional Reform last year and this year to look more closely at the church’s agency in socio-economic development.
This conversation takes place in the same year that Keswick counselled the Jamaican church to steer clear of political concerns and stick with its core mission (saving souls). Interpreting both that counsel and that core mission is very much at the heart of our reflections.
Considering from past conversations that the Jamaican people have much to thank the church for its present freedoms, when, moved by conscience in the face of racial and colonial exploitation, the church decided to act in taking the onerous burden of government ‘upon its shoulder’, delivering to the people in the process the gifts of adult suffrage – (Rev Dr Robert Love started the chain), banking institutions, building societies, cooperatives, distribution of lands, emancipation, education, free villages and we could continue in alphabetical order till z, but hopefully the point is made: the present Jamaican social-scape almost in its entirety was conceived, created, shaped and molded by the direct activity of the church and church leadership.
The church’s agency as socio-economic catalyst was never in question … i.e. until recently where received wisdom seems to be now that we have achieved independent government for and of the people, let us return to the four walls of our sanctuaries and minister to the flock of God. It is not the church’s ability as an agent of social change that is in question, but the church’s necessity in that regard.
Yet the lingering twin issues of crime and violence and attendant and contributory lack of educational and economic opportunity within marginal social spaces continue to elude the most ardent government efforts to effectively address. Could the real reason again be that government lacks the vision and sense of mission to tackle the issue? This is what roused Christian conscience in the past to take the lead (blind, unresponsive and oppressive government).
Our landmark 2022 conversation engaged the insights of Bishop Neville Owens, then outgoing Chairman of the Jamaica Umbrella Group of Churches and Chair of the Independent churches of Jamaica, Prof Errol Miller, who subsequently published a two volume work on Elections and Governance: Jamaica on the Global Frontier, which interestingly culminated in its final chapter with a detailed challenge to the Jamaica Umbrella Group of Churches.
Professor Miller concluded that 1 term, 2 term or even 3 term governments are simply ill-equipped, by virtue of their limited scope, to efficiently manage certain long-term developmental mandates, and so he reasons, that the church is required once again to lead the charge in social development, but recognizing that it is presently ill-prepared to do so, he throws out a 50 year organizational challenge to the JUGC.
The third participant in that conversation was former Minister of Education and Deacon Ronald Thwaites, who having retired from public life, shared with us candid reflections on his journey, which informed our thinking on Constitutional reform but also provoked the spark from which this year’s conversational focus emerged. Ironically, both he and this year’s discussant Prof Trevor Munroe were once both classmates and church brethren. Both radicalized as youth, one took a path of public service as a radical expression of his faith commitment, and the other felt that the church was an irrelevant arena for the people’s struggles. The irony is, at the time, he probably was not wrong. [Prof Munroe, due to a family emergency, was unable to immediately participate in the discussion but CCLN subsequently interviewed him and that video is available here.]
Dr Henley Morgan, another radical Christian activist, who decided that he did not have to choose between business shrewdness and social activism, he could combine both, will be with us, as will brother Courtney Campbell, who having sat in George Gordon’s seat might have views that don’t fit in the box. One never knows what the right conversation will allow for. We hope you all join us this year at Shortwood United Church. Catch the action live. You can youtube it later for further research.
By the way, for those of you who were waiting, Land of my Birth is now up and live. Click to enjoy, leave a comment when you’re through, and share with other Jamaicans in your contact list.
Happy Emancipendence.
YeKengalé 