Tarrant Baptist Church is this year celebrating its 125th anniversary of Christian service by opening its doors to the public for prayers 24 hours per day, while promoting entrepreneurship among its members.

“Our primary goal is to be the midwife of national repentance, revival, reformation, and transformation of Jamaica,” a release from the church quotes resident pastor Reverend Jeffrey Shuttleworth following last Sunday morning’s service marking the anniversary.

“The Tarrant Baptist Church, through her 24-hour prayer and worship offering, is rapidly becoming the church hub of Kingston and St Andrew, the wider parishes, and the nation at large,” he added.

The release explained that the church started in the 1890s when God moved a small group of faithful Christians from Hanover Street Baptist Church to start a Baptist Witness in the Tarrant/Molynes Road neighbourhood.

“Within this group were John and Alvira Phipps, who began hosting meetings in their home in 1893, and so the church was birthed, like the early Christian church, in a home. The church grew over the decades to include the Balmagie Mission in the Waterhouse area of Kingston. This mission began in 1958 and is now firmly established as a church guided by Tarrant Baptist,” the release stated.

“One hundred and twenty-five years of active service by any organisation, whether secular or religious, is not only commendable, but also enviable to say the least,” the church release stated, adding that the 125 years “gives credence to holy scripture which states that the gates of hell will not prevail against God’s Church”.

Over the years, Tarrant Baptist has benefited from the leadership of more than 14 pastors with one, Rev Dr Neville Callam, going on to become general secretary of the Baptist World Alliance, which oversees the work of ,all Baptist churches worldwide.

Today Tarrant Baptist operates TBC Radio, which can be found at 88.5 FM, and which is a solid ministry of the church.

Under the present leadership of the young, dynamic Reverend Shuttleworth, the church says it has been “creating spiritual waves in the community and the nation”.

During the full year of celebrations, an entrepreneurship competition is being promoted among church members.