THIS year’s National Leadership Prayer Breakfast (NLPB) will focus on the healing and restorative power of peace, organisers announced yesterday.

The organisers also announced that the Violence Prevention Alliance’s (VPA) Child Resiliency Programme will be this year’s beneficiary as the NLPB celebrates its 40th anniversary.

The event will take place on Thursday, January 16 at the Jamaica Pegasus hotel, and will have as guest speaker Bishop Conrad Pitkin, custos of St James.

Chairman of the NLPB Committee, Rt Rev Stanley Clarke, announced at a press briefing in Kingston yesterday that the theme for the annual gathering will be ‘Pursuing the Power of Peace’.

Bishop Clarke, looking back over the past 40 years, noted that although much has changed since the NLPB emerged during the volatile decade of the 1980s, working towards peace remains a critical factor in promoting harmony and reconciliation.

Bishop Clarke also announced that the breakfast would be preceded by a week of prayer, during which leaders in various sectors of the society would be prayed for on selected days. He urged leadership in all sectors to adopt an intentional approach to such an objective. The prayers will concentrate on religious leaders; private sector leaders; public sector leaders; family leaders; agricultural sector leaders; educational leaders; students, youth, emerging and community leaders, and political leaders.

The National Leadership Prayer Week will begin with a Thanksgiving Service on Sunday, January 12, 2020 at the Waltham Park New Testament Church, 65 Waltham Park Road, commencing at 8:00 am. “We want to give special attention at this service to the Jamaica Agricultural Society, as they celebrate 125 years of service, and the farming sector, which is so important to the growth and stability of our nation,” said Bishop Clarke. He invited members of the public to join the NLPB organisers in celebrating Jamaica’s agricultural workers, who work hard to provide for the feeding of the nation and the health and well-being of its people.

Speaking at the launch, Naketa S West, manager of the Victoria Mutual Foundation, stressed the foundation’s ongoing commitment to the NLPB. Congratulating the organisers on their 40th anniversary, she emphasised, “We continue to be proud sponsors of the prayer breakfast since 1985. This event has the unique ability to unite the country’s leaders across sectors and help them focus on critical issues of the day.

“What could be a greater imperative in this New Year than peace, especially for future generations?” he said. “This year, leaders will be urged to reflect on ways in which they can encourage peace and harmony in the spheres where they work.”

“We need peace in communities, in homes, at the workplace, and in all matters of State and civil life,” Bishop Clarke added. “Conflicts are inevitable, but how we resolve them is critical to the stability of the nation. There can be no peace without God. It is only under God that Jamaica can increase in beauty and play her part in advancing the welfare of the entire human race,” he stressed.

The VPA’s Child Resiliency Programme identifies and supports children facing educational and development challenges, especially those suffering from abuse, neglect and violent situations. The VPA works with schools, churches, mental health services, community-based organisations and the police to create a network of protection for vulnerable young people. It offers academic support, life skills training and mentoring, family support, counselling and nutritional support. Sports and creative expression help to reinforce life skills and build resilience.

The proceeds from 2019’s NLPB ($503,347.90) were donated to the Peace Management Initiative’s (PMI) Safe Schools Monitors Programme.