Feb 06, 2012 Kingston, Jamaica

Nigel Coke/ANN staff

Seventh-day Adventist world church President Ted N. C. Wilson met with top Jamaican national leaders during a recent tour of the island nation to promote the church’s Revival and Reformation initiative.

Wilson, his wife Nancy and local Adventist Church officials paid a courtesy call to Jamaica’s Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller and Governor General Sir Patrick Allen. The visit coincided with the island nation’s 50th anniversary of independence.

Miller commended the church’s contributions to education and national development in the country. “The Seventh-day Adventist Church plays such an important role and has been doing a wonderful job in Jamaica,” she said.

There are some 270,000 Adventists worshipping at more than 650 churches in Jamaica. Church officials in the country estimate that about one in every eleven people there is an Adventist.
Wilson told the prime minister that he hopes the church in Jamaica continues to meet the “high Biblical standard of service to others and service to God.”

“We want to be seen as an integral part of society. We want Seventh-day Adventists to be known as people who truly and genuinely fulfill the ministry of Jesus,” he said, citing education, health outreach, social programs and spiritual guidance.

Before praying with the prime minister for the government and people of Jamaica, Wilson read Micah 6:8, which he said provides a formula for leadership. The Old Testament verse cites justice, mercy and humility as goals worth striving for.

While in the Caribbean, Wilson also toured Haiti. Two years after a devastating earthquake, Adventists there continue to rebuild churches and schools with the help of Maranatha Volunteers International, the Adventist Development and Relief Agency and the offerings of church members worldwide. 

Wilson addressed the media, offered church members a message of hope and encouragement, and visited church institutions, including Haiti Adventist University. More than 25,000 displaced persons found refuge there after the earthquake.

Click here to watch a video report of Wilson’s visit to Haiti. 

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