After 85 years of ministry to thousands from its perch in the heart of the tough Kingston Central area, the Wildman Street Pentecostal Tabernacle with its storied past is a monument to Christianity’s central themes of incarnation and nascent hope.

Birthed in 1935, the church, which now occupies property on both sides of Wildman Street, stretching from North Street on one end, to Charles street at the other, mushroomed from the early residence of Pentecostal pioneer Mother Russel at 69 Wildman Street, growing in tandem with the needs of the communities that it serves.

Easily one of the most rapidly growing congregations in times past, revered for its music ministry and charismatic leadership figures, members past and present speak readily of having to attend church on a shift system and still having to jostle for space despite turning up for services way earlier than the official scheduled start times. Parking, too, was a logistical nightmare but never a deterrent for the hundreds that attended any service.

Those glory days, however, have not escaped the landslides from internal storms which have seen that congregation more than halved twice after tragic separations; one in the 1960s and one as recent as 2017.

Now a mere 15 years from its century milestone, the assembly’s eighth pastor, Leroy S Laing, who was handed the reins of the church in May 2019 after close to 80 per cent of the congregation left to form a new ministry, is the man tasked with teaching those who remain to dance amidst splinters as they celebrate 85 years of service.

“Our aim really is to continue this journey that the Lord placed in the heart of Mother Russell 85 years ago and so our theme is ‘Celebrating our Apostolic Heritage: A Rich Past, A Bright Future’,” the 58-year-old told the Jamaica Observer during a recent interview.

Laing, who had been farther afield in an equally rough community, Buck Town, St Catherine, where he had been sent to pastor in 2000, was recalled to lead the ministry after the split. It was a return he never envisioned but now, strangely understands.

He remembers only too well returning to his home ground as its pastor after much prayer and agonising to the still shocked remnant.

“That was the first Sunday morning, it was when everything was just splintered. Persons were standing at the front door looking in and wondering what, it’s like they were shell-shocked but hitherto has the Lord helped us,” Laing reminisced in characteristically reasoned tones.

“I think I came out of a cause, this is our home and I believe in the process of rebuilding. I’ve always had the view that Pentab was one of the most blessed places when I think of what the Lord has done, the ministry here and how it has impacted lives, not just locally but internationally. With such a rich heritage I thought it was an honour for me to return home,” he told the Sunday Observer with quiet resolution.

After all, being emptied out is not a death knell but simply the harbinger to renewal and rebirth, he pointed out.

“The Lord has helped us and it is just interesting to note that we did have a major split in the 1960s so this is the second and we bounced back and became even stronger than before,” he stated.

That bouncing back, however, he said is not being left up to chance nor any one person.

“I was seeking the Lord. There were some thoughts that came to me but we knew our plans would have to be guided by the Holy Spirit. We did a leadership retreat where we did some strategic planning in terms of the direction to go and came up with the acronym GIM – Growth, Improvement and Maintenance,” Laing shared.

“Our growth plan focuses on spiritual growth which is the foundation for all other growth, so we are focusing on the fundamentals. Improvement in ministry, we want to be effective in whatever we do. And maintenance, to maintain our core values, our apostolic identity which includes our doctrine of oneness, our apostolic revival and our apostolic unity,” he outlined.

It is a walk of faith on more levels than one for the new pastor.

“I said with the right structure and the right team, together we can do it. I believe the Lord has done it. We have some very dedicated and supportive members who are very passionate about the rebuilding because they know this ministry means a lot and we really endeavour for it not to die but to spring up and be even more vibrant than before,” he stated.

The church, known for pouring into the communities of Beeston street, King Street, James Street, Hanover Street, Southside, Hannah Town, Fletcher’s Land, East Queen Street, Text Lane, Maiden Lane and as far afield as Nannyville, Waterhouse and Rollington Town has been affected by its reduced numbers but has capitalised on the strictures brought by the COVID-19 pandemic, resulting in it still being able to do more with less.

Under the reconfigured social outreach programme, sidewalk Sunday school participants now hear the word through a town crier and food packages are distributed during drive throughs. A box hoisted on top of one of the church’s buildings serves to broadcast the content of services held in the sanctuary to community members who cannot access streamed services on other platforms.

“One Sunday they didn’t hear the service and they complained. We try to reach out and reach in, we try to reach out to our shut-ins. Church is people. We want to ensure that whatever we do we are touching people. It’s a small number and sometimes we are stretched, but people are coming (new converts),” Laing shared.

As the pieces continue to resettle, Dr Mavis Ferguson, JP, professional counsellor, educator, trained forensic social worker and a foundation member, stated that, “some that left have returned and are returning, some people don’t seem to have known why the transition and now that it has settled some are retracing their steps while some have moved on to other places”.

Every now and then, Buck Town, a community where others have tried to establish churches without success, has beckoned to Laing, most recently calling for his calming influence when violence erupted there.

“I went back there a few times,” he told the Sunday Observer.

Broken but not undone, Wildman Street, which was the first home of the Caribbean Bible Institute and the headquarters of the United Pentecostal Church of Jamaica, remains home to the Pentab Group of Schools which include a daycare, a nursery school, a basic school, a high school, an evening institute and an aftercare. The institutions which emerged out of the church’s move to clean up the corners in the area which were hotspots for young people, many of whom were school dropouts, including teenaged mothers and fathers, have maintained their shape.

The high school, which was made a full high school by the Ministry of Education in 1988, still serves its core purpose which is to give a second chance to these students; while the daycare serves to ensure their children are kept in a safe space while they retool and also to cater to the children of working young married couples who are members of the church as well as the wider community.

Now, the basic school, which was the first educational institution established by the church, is set to experience a make-over with a new building to be gifted by the Ministry of Education in place of the current one.