Devon Dick
THE RE-BUILDING of the historic North Street United Church should be supported because that church is significant in the development of church and society in Jamaica.
North Street United has had some outstanding pastors associated with it.
The Rev. W. J. Gardner (1825-1874) became pastor of the North Street Congregational Church in 1856.
In 1864, Mr. Gardner founded the first building society in Jamaica, Kingston Benefit Building Society. The aim was to provide houses and better dwellings for its members. This was the start of an impressive trend of the Jamaican Church establishing building societies. In 1874, Anglican missionary, Henry Clarke founded a building society in Westmoreland, which was the forerunner to Jamaica National.
In 1875, the Rev. Josias Clark formed the St. Ann Building Society and in 1915, Baptist pastor Edwin Touzalin established the St. Mary Building Society. In 1878, E. W Downer, rector of the Kingston Parish Church, encouraged his members to pool their savings in order to own land and this gave birth to Victoria Mutual Building Society.
INFLUENTIAL CHURCH
And according to Rebellion to Riot: The Jamaican Church in Nation Building, up to the 1980s the Church, through building societies, would have provided more housing solutions than the government. It can be said that North Street United Church gave birth to building societies in Jamaica.
The North Street United Church is also important, in that, from the beginning, it wanted to be able to support itself financially. Under the leadership of Gardner, it was a large and influential church.In 1970, the outstanding Rev. Raymond Coke became the first native pastor of North Street United. Coke was also strong on administration and money management, which would be evidenced later when he inspired the Meadowbrook United Church to establish the Meadowrest Memorial Park.
One of the strangleholds that some in the North American Anglican Communion who support homosexuality and gay bishops have over African and Caribbean churches is strength of cash. It is therefore, important to be able to support one's Christian mission largely from one's resources.
WRITINGS ON JAMAICA
Finally, North Street United Church is significant in the history of Jamaica in that when Gardner was pastor, he founded the Society for the Promotion of Pure Literature. And he practised what he preached in that he produced a classic historical document 'The History of Jamaica' from its discovery by Christopher Columbus to the year 1872. His work was the first systematic history of Jamaica written in the post-emancipation period.
The other detailed histories of Jamaica were written by Rev. W. G. Bridges (1828) and the two major 18th century works of Bryan Edwards and Edward Long. Gardener outlined the habits, manners and customs of the people. But more importantly while the other works were written in an era when writers identified with British colonial slavery, Gardener wrote at a time when slavery was almost universally condemned. It is therefore, interesting to compare how this post-emancipation pastor/-writer differed from his colleagues and other writers. As we plan to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the abolition of the slave trade next year, it is necessary to reread Gardner's book for new insights.
North Street United Church has been significant in the development of building societies, encouraging prudent financial management and the promotion of literature. Therefore, in their time of distress let us co-operate with Rev. Pusey and his congregation in their rebuilding effort.
Rev. Devon Dick is pastor of the Boulevard Baptist Church and author of 'Rebellion to Riot: The Church in Nation Building'.
