May 20, 2008 Kingston, Jamaica…Nigel Coke/ANN Staff
Seventh-day Adventist Church leaders in Jamaica are welcoming a call from health officials to train pastors in counseling individuals as the nation faces continued social problems.
Speaking at a drug addiction seminar hosted by the Adventist Church in Kingston May 18, Dr. Wendel Abel, head of the department of psychiatry at the University of the West Indies (UWI), said the Adventist Church in the Caribbean island nation is an ideal organization to offer such counseling because of its human resources and its message of health and temperance.
“Open your doors and operate as counseling centers,” Abel told Adventist health leaders gathered at the Kincot Adventist Church. “Those that embrace Christianity are better able to overcome addiction. This is so because personality problems are deep in the heart of the problem of drug addiction.”
A representative for the National Council on Drug Abuse offered assistance to help the church through training.
“We have a structured program of training and we are willing to partner with the church in its efforts to fight drug addiction in our society, said Oneil Smith, the council's regional director for the country's eastern region.
The three-day training would include basic counseling, referrals, stress management, the processes of addiction and in-depth analysis of the five most commonly abused substances.
Church leaders said the offer will complement the church's goal launched last year for its congregations to serve as wellness centers.
“We welcome the offer by the NCDA and will put plans in place for the training of our pastors and volunteers,” said Pastor Milton Gregory, Health Ministries director for the Adventist Church in the West Indies.
Surveys indicate drug abuse is one of the biggest problems facing elementary school students. A 2006 national surveyed revealed that 33 percent of students used alcohol before the age of 10. Drug use is a root cause of disciplinary problems in schools, health leaders said.
The Adventist church in Jamaica recently launched the Jamaica Chapter of the International Commission for the Prevention of Alcoholism and Drug Dependency (ICPA) in line with one of its strategic issues of Healthy Lifestyle. Founded in 1952, the ICPA is a nonsectarian, nonpolitical organization placing the spotlight on the science of alcoholism and other drug dependencies. It also seeks to reveal the impact of such dependencies upon the economic, political, social, and religious life of the nation and points out effective preventive actions.
There are nearly 227,093 Adventists in Jamaica worshiping in some 600 churches. Nearly 1 out of every 12 people in Jamaica is an Adventist.
