Mandeville, Jamaica…Nigel Coke
A symposium focusing on assistive technology and mental health will highlight a week of activities to mark the eighth staging of the Annual Possibility Ministries (formerly Special Needs Ministries) Awareness Week, organized by the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Jamaica.
The week, which runs from March 5 -12, 2023, kicks offs on Sunday with the planting of 1,000 trees across Jamaica in every parish and region of the Church’s operation.
“The week calls attention to the Adventist Church community and the wider community to this often forgotten group of persons by the society of their rights and the need to accord them similar privileges to experience joy, happiness, liberty and contentment”, said Pastor Adrian Cotterell, Possibility Ministries Coordinator of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Jamaica.
“We do this annually by celebrating and affirming them for their contribution to the work and mission of the Church and the growth and development of their community and country through presentations, seminars, community activities, prayers, and support to the expressed needs of the disability community”, he further stated.
On Thursday, March 9, the Symposium takes the spotlight at the Mandeville Adventist Church with representation from the disability community and other stakeholders.
There will be a presentation on mental health by Dr. Mellissa James, Parish Psychiatrist for Manchester, along with a presentation by Dr. Roy Dennis, Counselling Psychologist and Family Ministries Director of Jamaica Union Conference of Seventh-day Adventists. Dr. George Bgombele, Family Physician and General Practitioner, will provide medical checkups for persons in need.
An outreach programme will also take place on Thursday with the distribution of assistive devices such as wheelchairs, walkers, walking sticks, hearing aids and gift vouchers.
The week ends on Sunday, March 12, with a convention and health clinic at the Portmore Adventist Church. There will also be a prayer meeting.
“While most people refer to this ministry as Disability Ministries, the Adventist Church has decided on the nomenclature Possibility Ministries, because we regard the potentials, promises, possibilities, life-changing and transformational outcomes that can take place when we include persons from the disabilities community into all that we do” added Pastor Cotterell.
In 2016, the Adventist Church made a solemn and sacred declaration to set aside the second week in March annually for celebrating Possibility Ministries.
