History of Regent Street Seventh Day Adventist Church
According to Lewis F. Powell, Jr.
History balances the frustration of "how far we have to go" with the satisfaction of "how far we have come." It teaches us tolerance for the human shortcomings and imperfections which are not uniquely of our generation, but of all time.
An examination of the history of the Regent Street SDA church indeed brings satisfaction to those of us who presently hold membership here because we can with pride declare that we have been bequeath a legacy we can be proud of and one which God still continues to bless. It is God’s grace that has brought us thus far and truly we have come a far way from being the little church described by R. J. Sype in May 1927. In an article in a monthly publication named “The Jamaica Visitor” published for the then Jamaica Conference by The Gleaner Company Ltd., Regent Street is cited as one of the three churches in Kingston, the others being North Street, which gave birth to us, and Kencot which was recently organised. He stated that Regent Street was faithful in all lines and looking forward to holding its first Harvest Festival.
Here we are today declaring over 90 years of faithfulness to God and thanking Him for His goodness and grace The history of the Regent Street Seventh-day Adventist church is intricately tied to the birth of Seventh-day Adventism as we know it in Jamaica. According to the document entitled “ An Outline of Mission Fields
A Help to the study of the work of Seventh-Day Adventists in lands outside of America” produced in 1920 by the Mission Board of Seventh-Day Adventists , Washington, D C.
Quote
“In 1892 James Patterson and B. B. Newman pioneered the way as canvassers. At the 1893 General Conference an aged sister from Kingston, Jamaica, made a plea for ministerial laborers. Elder A. J. Haysmer was sent to open the work in the same year, followed by Elder C. A. Hall in 1896, and Elder F. I. Richardson in 1898. Others joined later, and companies and believers were raised up in all parts of Jamaica.” The first Sabbath School was reportedly held on Law Street at the home of the sister mentioned above ,Sis Margaret Harrison, in 1894.
The General Conference’s Yearbook for 1907 showed that by 1903 the Jamaica Conference (Jamaica, Cayman and Turks Islands) was organised with an estimated 1,800 Sabbath keepers. By 1920 the GC statistical report show that there were 50 churches with 2200 members, 74 Sabbath Schools with 2095 members and 50 church buildings. This suggests that the group that was to become the Regent Street Church existed.
However its official organization is recorded as follows in the book “Thy Light is Come: A short history of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Jamaica” by Linette Mitchell
“Regent Street Church was the second SDA church to be organized in Kingston. By 1925 the membership of North Street had grown rapidly. Seeing that many of the members were from outside the North Street area, Pastor W.H. Hurden, in keeping with the concept of spreading the gospel, felt that the time had come for further expansions. He therefore started looking for a suitable place. Many of the members were from the Regent Street area so it was seen as the ideal place for the project. The attendance grew rapidly and soon 20 persons were baptised. Regent Street church was organised in 1926 on land bought in 1924 by the General conference for one hundred and fifty pounds”. Pg. 114
The records show that the District leader at the time was Bro. G.A.E Smith who was succeeded by Elder Frank Fletcher in 1927. The Jamaica Visitor Vol 1 No 3 1926 pg. 3 speaks about the church’s involvement in Harvest Ingathering campaign.
“The Regent Street church are certainly doing a strong good work in this campaign. While they have a very small and poor territory, they are pressing on close to 20 pounds and will no doubt have their 30 pound goal raised in a few weeks. We thank the Lord for the faithful work on the part of this church.”
I am happy to report that by the end of the campaign the church was placed on the Honour Roll for not only reaching but surpassing her ingathering goal. The many copies of the Jamaica Visitor which were published until in the early 1940’s spoke about many events which took place overtime. Regent Street was constantly involved in evangelistic outreach, Harvest Ingathering, Week of Prayer observations and faithfully returned tithes and offerings. Delegates were sent to Conference sessions and church functions were periodically planned. In May 1939 the membership stood at 179.
On January 12-22, 1928 the Jamaica Conference held its 18th Biennial session of the Jamaica Conference of SDA at North Street Church. The attendance was so overwhelming that nightly meetings had to be held simultaneously at the North and Regent Street Churches in order to facilitate attendees. Jamaica Visitor Volume 2 No. 7 March 1928.
OUR RECENT HISTORY
In acknowledging the importance of history Pearl Buck wrote “ If you want to understand today, you have to search yesterday. “ We are who we are today are here because of the dedication even the blood, sweat and tears of those who came before us. While our history is still being written we declare Ebenezer, “Hitherto hath the Lord helped us. Regent Street continues to hold the flag of evangelism high. Our earliest recorded baptism shows Mrs. Jane Thomas being baptized on May 11, 1920. We are an evangelistic oriented and driven church and every year sees efforts by our Personal Ministries, Youth and Children Departments.
These efforts have seen hundreds of persons over the years surrendering to Christ. just last week we celebrated with the ASI Barbados Mission and EJC as we had 8 precious souls added to our membership. We have outstanding evangelists namely Elders Grantley Stewart and Michael Vernal who have been acknowledged for their efforts. We have the renowned singers such as Pilgrims Gordon and Berry, Jean Berry, and KEYS and musicians such as brother Herman Taylor and Everett Green. We have members that have done well academically and persons like Kayla Douglas and Renee Anderson now who continue to do us proud. Let me personally thank our young people especially for their support of Homecoming 2012.
Some Pastors who have served us have had the privilege of being recognized as centurions because we believe that evangelism is the lifeblood of the church. We have helped to mould persons who now serve locally and internationally. We have provided our Conference and Union with workers and leaders. We have been served by an outstanding Cadre of Pastors with our first being Pastor Hurdin who came back to speak at Homecoming 1956. The list includes:
Pastors Ashford, Stockhousen , L.G. Walters, L. H Fletcher, A.G. Lawrence, CF Edwards, Roy. W. Ashmeade Harold .G. Campbell, Murmoth E. Weir, Henry ,Martin, L.H. Davidson, R. Douglas, L. L.Palmer, L.G. Kelly, Linden . H. Walton, Joseph . H.Barrett, Bertie .L.Runcie, Eric Nathan, Linton Williams, R. U. Daughma, Herman Ming, Cornel Jackson, Merrick Dale Walker, Lorenzo Brown, Enroy Ferguson, Holland Thompson and Whain Graham, our current Pastor.
Our records show that we have had visits from persons from our General Conference. As far back as on Sabbath July 10, 1954 our special guest speaker was Pastor Ekinroth and two weeks later Pastor Mote presented the divine hour message.
In describing Regent Street Pastor Holland Thompson summarises succinctly
As a Lighthouse she towers, as a City of Refuge she stands, and as an Oasis she lays in the dry, thirsty desert of sin. Many a lost found their way by her light, some whose lives could have been cut short have found safety at her doors and others whose thirsty quest for worldly pleasure have found the free waters of salvation in her services. We cannot but reflect on the marvelous ways in which God has led and protected.
We have survived hurricanes, attempts to move our church, offshoots, sceptics, political violence, robberies, enemies from within and without. We still boast one of the best choirs in East Jamaica, a thriving Basic School which is our third attempt to sustain the need for Christian education, and a faithful set of members who may be poor in this world’s good but rich in faith. We still serve our communities though funerals, weddings, blessing of babies, welfare work etc. We appreciate the input of our political and civic leaders as well as that given from East Jamaica Conference.
We have finally tiled the children's division and the baby room, put an air conditioning unit in the vestry, procured a projector, sound system etc but there are many other things to do.
We are grateful to our members local and overseas who still remember how God had blessed them through this lighthouse and we pray that they will as the songs says continue to enable us with their gifts. We are on the world wide web and we are determined that we have only just begun. The last few weeks has shown that when we work together great things can happen. Many of our stalwarts have gotten a skip in the line as they have passed on but their work lives on.
As said by Jean Jaures “Take from the altars of the past the fire - not the ashes” We take from our history the fire that keeps us going here in the west and trust that those who come after will find us faithful and continue the legacy we bequeath them.
TO GOD BE THE GLORY.
Researched and written by L. Vernal (2009/2012)
