THE EDITOR, Madam:
The film The Cross and the Switchblade, which I watched in 1973 at my childhood church, is forever etched in my memory. Set in late 1950s Brooklyn. New York, it tells the true story of a country minister from Pennsylvania, who, moved by gruesome news reports of gang warfare between Puerto Rican and African American gangs in New York City, decided to leave the safety of his country church and travel to New York to spread the gospel to these disaffected youth.
One particular scene that had a profound personal effect on me was that of a teenage girl going cold turkey to rid herself of her heroine addiction. The young lady that played the part in this scene was brilliant; the wrenching, the pain and the anguish were stark. After watching that scene, I imagine few would be tempted to abuse psychotropic substances.
The real-life preacher depicted in the film, David Wilkerson, up to the time of his death in 2011, focused his ministry on inner-city gangs, drug addicts and prostitutes. The personal testimonies of those touched by his street-level ministry are legion.
Lately, as I reflected on this film, I asked myself: Where is the Jamaican church community in Jamaica’s gang and inner-city problems? There has been much pontificating, criticism of political leadership, and lots of prayers and fasting on these issues. But what, in practical terms, has the Jamaican church community done to effect change in our inner-city communities and the associated gang violence? Where is the evangelism and outreach programmes undertaken by the various church denominations in our violence-prone, inner-city communities?
As the Bible (New King James Version) tells us in James 2:26, “For as the body without spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also”. Arise and do thy work, churches!
ALWYN GREGORY
Manchester
