On 9th, January, 2013, the Christian Brethren Assemblies of Jamaica
(CBAJ), formerly Christian Missions, hosted a press conference at their main
offices, located at 1G Hagley Park Plaza. A document given to conference
attendees reads, "CBAJ received a mandate from its United Elders to stop
the decline, and foster growth in our eighty four (84) assemblies across
Jamaica. This mandate," the document continues, "coincides well with
the 2011 Census which reports Brethren having 0.88% of the Jamaican population
or 23,647 persons." The document
goes on to point out that "Brethren" as defined by the Census is a cover-term
for several "Brethren" groups (Closed Brethren, Gospel Assemblies,
etc) and that the actual committed membership of the CBAJ is "roughly
6,000." The number of adherents
(non-committed members) is about two or three times the number of committed
members.
The document, then, is an admission to a crisis situation that is eating
out the souls of the CBAJ: with the exception of a handful of member assemblies,
such as Swallowfield Chapel, the conservative, evangelical Assemblies "are
deading" - just as their "liberal," liturgical, social gospel
counterparts, represented by the Jamaica Council of Churches (JCC).
So, the question that confronts the CBAJ's sixteen member Board, of which fifteen are male, is: how will the leadership address the declining membership of the Assemblies? It was in an attempt to make this known to the public that the leadership of the CBAJ hosted the 9th January press conference.
So, the question that confronts the CBAJ's sixteen member Board, of which fifteen are male, is: how will the leadership address the declining membership of the Assemblies? It was in an attempt to make this known to the public that the leadership of the CBAJ hosted the 9th January press conference.
And the strategy to stem the crisis facing the Brethren? Well, it
doesn't involve the church planting strategy employed by the fastest growing
church groups in the country, but a strengthening of the existing eighty-four
Assemblies by means of what is hoped to be a youth-friendly, culturally
relevant evangelical social gospel. The
document reads:
"The vision of the CBAJ is to reach and
influence, for the Lord Jesus Christ, the communities in which our Assemblies
exist. We are strategically planning to achieve our mission through the
preaching of the gospel, education and leadership development, mentoring and counselling,
culturally relevant music, and youth development. We intend to be holistic in our ministry,
reaching out to and advocating for the poor, facilitating employment, and
influencing production.
...Our restructuring includes reviewing our doctrine
and practices to ensure that they continue to be aligned with Scripture while
being relevant to our culture and times."
In an attempt to demonstrate what it means to be evangelically relevant,
say, in public discourse, the CBAJ, during the media release, addressed three
topical issues: (male) homosexuality, the proposed banning of preaching on JUTC
buses and the translation of the Christian Scriptures (aka the New Testament)
into Jamaican Creole.
The message speaking to the CBAJ's position on the Jamaican New
Testament (JNT) was prepared by Dr. Delano Palmer, former Dean of the Jamaica
Theological Seminary. Dr. Palmer -
himself one of the leaders at Swallowfield Chapel and one of the Greek/New
Testament experts who provided exegetical support for the JNT - was unable to
attend the press conference and yours truly was asked to do the honours on his
behalf. The two most important paragraphs of the CBAJ's position on the JNT read:"JNT is indeed a bona fide translation done from the original language; so much of it parallels the first attempts to render God's Word into English some 700 yrs ago, with some of the very same questions on the table. Now English is the third best language in which to do deep Bible Study - with Greek and Jamaican (like the legendary Bolt and Beast) far out in front.
On behalf of the Christian Brethren Assemblies of
Jamaica, we endorse the Jamaican New Testament Bible and applaud the scholars,
translators and all those involved in making the publication possible" [emphasis original].
The CBAJ's action with reference to the JNT is not
only commendable; it is historic. Over
the years, individual church leaders and leaders of parachurch organisations have
endorsed the JNT but, to date, the CBAJ is the only Christian denomination that
has given the translation of the Christian Scriptures into Jamaican Creole its full
approval and blessing! This (among other things) was missed by the media houses
present at the conference, owing to what appears to be their insatiable craving
to be titillated by homosexual news and their eagerness to feed public fears of
same.
