‘No dismissal, no retreat, no distance’

In an address during the closing service of the 176th General Assembly of the Jamaica Baptist Union, Reverend Judith Johnson-Grant urged the Church to not retreat from its spiritual responsibility to confront and address poverty but to respond meaningfully and in transformative ways to meet the needs of the most vulnerable.

During the 176th Assembly, the Union embraced a new subtheme, ‘Countering Poverty’, and Johnson-Grant’s address focused on the areas of advocacy and empowerment. In describing the social ill, she stated that it was not merely a social concern but a spiritual responsibility.

Referencing the impact of Hurricane Melissa, she noted that while the storm exposed the deep poverty embedded in much of the national landscape, it also created an opportunity for the Church to re-examine its role in alleviating it.

Drawing on Mark 4 as her guiding text, Johnson-Grant charged the audience to embrace three declarations: that they will not send away the vulnerable, that they will give what they have, and that they will trust God to multiply what they have.

She acknowledged that dismissal was often easier than engagement but challenged the Church to allow compassion to disrupt comfort. Likening advocacy to shepherding, Johnson-Grant recalled a Baptist history marked by men and women who disrupted their own lives to defend the vulnerable. She questioned whether present-day Baptists had become more concerned with preservation than advocacy, warning against complacency in shepherding. She called the Assembly to move forward under the banner ‘No Dismissal. No Retreat. No Distance’.

Johnson-Grant further urged the Church to give what it has, emphasising that participation precedes provision and that the Kingdom advances through obedience, not abundance. She challenged her audience to stop rehearsing limitations and to act with what is already in hand, underscoring the need for organisation and discipline.

Addressing the political landscape, she spoke candidly about issues, including budgetary mismanagement, declaring, “We have not been able as a country to properly organise ourselves so that accountability and transparency benefit the community.”

She added that disorganisation is “a breeding ground for corruption, and in the midst of this, it is always the poor that suffers”.

Finally, she exhorted the Church to “trust God with the increase”—organise and distribute what is available, and believe the Lord for multiplication. Reminding the Assembly that Christ is Lord, she affirmed that “exposed lives are not abandoned. and poverty does not have ultimate authority over Jamaica”.