Durrant Pate/Contributor

Grammy Award-winning gospel singer, Pastor Donnie McClurkin, and his Perfecting Faith Ministries have adopted the Callaloo Mews community in St Andrew as their own.

In collaboration with Fellowship Tabernacle, headed by Reverend Al Miller, McClurkin and Perfecting Faith Ministries will continue to provide necessary support to the community.

The partners, who participated in a fact-finding tour on Wednesday (June 28), expressed their commitment to working with Callaloo Mews providing much-needed facilities to aid in a better quality of life for residents there.

The community is located along the Spanish Town Road industrial belt across from the Riverton City landfill in St Andrew.

The team hosted a fact-finding meeting to strategise plans for assist the community with the many dire needs currently present on Tuesday at the Jamaica Pegasus Hotel, which involved local pastors, community leaders, Government officials, NGOs, Callaloo Mews Basic School officials and other leaders from different backgrounds within the community.

The fact-finding meeting and tour was headed by Pastor Miller with the aim of strategising how to work collaboratively to meet the basic humanitarian needs such as healthcare, shelter, and personal hygiene within the Callaloo Mews community. The group is already keen to explore the possibility of better housing and bathroom facilities placement within the community.

McClurkin wants to investigate the possibility of establishing a feeding programme for the disenfranchised children and, consequently, providing a safe place for them to have a nutritious meal each day.

McClurkin and the Perfecting Faith Church Missions hope they can continue to significantly impact the lives of “our Jamaican family as we prepare to effect change in this beloved community by our continued presence in Jamaica where a piece of our heart resides”.

According to Pastor McClurkin, “I am not coming to be the hope of Jamaica, but to link arms with you, my brothers and sisters, and to provide some encouragement and support. I unequivocally believe, as it is written in Psalm 133, that there is a commanded blessing and life forevermore when we operate in unity.”

As such, he pointed to the importance, “for us as the body of Christ to unify and work in collaboration with the government, charitable organisations and the private sector at this time; not under a political movement or a denomination, but under the banner of Christ’s love to maximise the kingdom’s impact and ultimately the growth and advancement of the people”. 

“We want to show the world a unified body of Christ through our relationship with God and with each other, which is at the core of this fact-finding mission,” added McClurkin.