FOR Franz Fletcher, pastor of Church on the Rock in Kingston, education is one of the most important tools to empower people.

It is for this reason that his church has been offering Progressive Education Classes (PEC) to members of the communities surrounding his church for the past seven years.

For two times per week, residents from the Cassava Piece community and areas off Mannings Hill Road have been the recipients of these remedial classes, which are taught by volunteers from the church. The classes, which are held on the church ground, focus on literacy, numeracy, computing and reading.

“The idea is to get them literate so we can help to get them in the overseas programme. We don’t have the overseas programme based at the church, but we do help quite a bit of people to get literate and then send them overseas to work,” Fletcher told the Sunday Observer.

He said based on his discussions with particular men in the community, he has found that there is a desire to learn and become self-sufficient.

“Education is the basis for empowerment. You can help a man with a fish, but you have to help him to fish for himself,” he said.

There are currently about 80 people who range in age from five to 70 years old, from the community attending the PECs. Volunteers from the church help students with their homework, and also hold GSAT and CXC classes for them.

In addition to the members of the community, 14 teenage girls who stay at the church’s girls home benefit from these classes. The home was established about 15 years ago, and helps to provide a nurturing environment for abused girls who have passed through the court system.

Fletcher became the head pastor for Church on the Rock five years ago, shortly after its founder Apostle David Keane fell ill. Since then, the pastor and his wife Dianne have been working with the church’s members to find creative ways to engage the community.

So in addition to offering free classes, Fletcher, along with other pastors in the community, have started a gully cleaning initiative geared at uniting residents and instilling pride.

Following the killing of 11 people in Cassava Piece last year, Fletcher said the churches started thinking of ways to stem the war and make the area safe for everyone.

“I used the opportunity to galvanise the churches and say ‘look, this can’t go on no more, this is our back yard’. So we got together at a luncheon at one of those hotels and me say brethren, we have to do something, so we came together, pull our resources together and out of that the decision was taken to clean the gully,” he said.

He said the five churches in the community along with his, bought four skips for garbage collection, and an additional four were provided by Karl Samuda, Member of Parliament for the area. With the help of Joan Gordon-Webley, they have been able to get the community actively involved in garbage collection.

“They used to throw the garbage them down the gully, but once we put in the skip them, the people them start throw their garbage in the skip. We see to it that the garbage trucks come in. If they don’t come in, then we call Gordon-Webley and she sends them,” he said.

Fletcher said Church on the Rock has been doing a lot for the community, and there are many more things that the church hopes to do. However, funding is a major challenge right now. Despite this, the pastor has a whole range of programmes that he hopes to start implementing this year.

Campus Crusade for Christ

WHEN national directors of Campus Crusade for Christ (CCC), Dirk and Carrol Richards came to Jamaica in 1999, they immediately set about establishing a presence at some of the island’s universities to spread the gospel of Christ.

Over the years they have gone beyond ministering to university students, to helping youths develop values and life skills.

“We don’t believe in coercing people. We just help those who want the opportunity to know God,” said Carrol.

The two are responsible for strengthening CCC at the University of the West Indies, Mona, University of Technology and the Edna Manley School for the Visual and Performing Arts. They have made it their duty to pray for, minister to and encourage students on the three campuses.

“We have weekly meetings where we focus on various themes and life skills. We also host seminars where we help students to improve their grades, teach them how to study, manage their time and money, and understand different personalities,” noted Carrol.

The couple also work with and minister to lecturers who want to know more about Christ.

Last year, their organisation helped set up a playground at National Heroes Circle to provide an environment where children can feel free to enjoy their childhood. They did so with the help of Kids Around the World Ministries.

They currently have their hands full implementing a 30-lesson “Youth at the Cross Roads” curriculum in schools. The curriculum focuses on building character among youths and address issues such as sexual promiscuity and the transmission of HIV/AIDS among young people. The curriculum has been implemented with the help of the Ministry of Education.

Dirk said teachers and students have been finding the lesson plans useful.

“The most important thing is teaching them (students) about character, because when you have good character, you make good choices,” said Dirk, adding that CCC tries to portray Christ as the ideal model to follow.

Front Pew: Pastor Franz Fletcher

Pastor: Franz Fletcher

Church: Church on the Rock (Kingston)

Location: 7 Clifton Drive, off Mannings Hill Road

Membership: 800-1,200

Denomination: Full Gospel

Marital Status: Married with three children

Years as a pastor: 20

Four things people would be surprised to know about me.

1. I am a big fan of smooth jazz.

“I am a great lover of music, and I do listen to quite a bit of smooth jazz. I have always loved jazz. Maybe not many pastors listen to it, but I know I do and, of course, I love gospel music and classics.”

2. I was a troublemaker in school.

“I gave a fair amount of trouble at prep school while I was going to Mavisville Preparatory. I wasn’t a model student but I still passed the scholarship – thank you, Jesus – and went to Wolmer’s (High). That was definitely an interesting time in my life.”

3. I am into nature.

“I just love to explore, you know, looking at various types of birds, animals, trees and plants. I have gotten lazy now so I don’t go out as often to enjoy them as much as I should.”

4. I was a race car driver and a motorbike rider

“In my teens I used to do a lot of road racing in the dead of the night back when I was living in Harbour View. We would race along the airport roads. But that part of my life, I would never do again. I would never even want my son to do that.”