Mandeville, Manchester — A team of forty-four people recently elected to carry out the mandate of the Jamaica Union of Seventh-day Adventists for the next five years were urged to focus on the task at hand and not the position.

The Jamaica Union Conference is the body at the helm of the Seventh-day Adventist Churches and other affiliated institutions in Jamaica.

Israel Leito, president of the Inter-American Division of Seventh-day Adventists, which consists of thirty-eight countries including those in the Caribbean region, said that people have different ideas of leadership and in corporate spheres the thought process is to find people who are most able to impact the “bottom line”.

He, however, emphasised that in God’s kingdom the approach has to be different.

Leito said for Christian leaders, the focus is the development of people for the work of the Lord.

“We should never forget that what we are doing or what the Lord allows us to do, we should always be dependent on him to do it. Let him guide us in doing this (exercising leadership) and never let this go to our heads,” he said.

President of the Northern Caribbean University (NCU) Dr Trevor Gardner told the congregation at the Mandeville Seventh-day Adventist Church, where an Installation and Consecration Service was held earlier this month, that in the cases where servant leadership should be the order, oftentimes it is the “leadership” that is emphasised over the “servant”.

Reverend Gary Harriott, who represented the Jamaica Umbrella Group of Churches at the function, was among the leaders who stressed that work in the ministry of God should be modelled after Christ and not be self-serving.

“May God be glorified through your service,” he told the newly elected executive members.

Pastor Levi Johnson, president of the Central Jamaica Conference of Seventh-day Adventists, said that it is because of strong leadership why the different conferences are where they are today.

“We are committed in ensuring that the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Jamaica continues to grow from strength to strength,” he said.

— Alicia Sutherland