The Tribune

By ALESHA CADET

Tribune Features Reporter

acadet@tribunemedia.net

Members of the Righteous Revolution Youth Ministry of the New Bethany Baptist Cathedral are proud to have recently broken ground on a new community park on Key West Street.

The New Bethany Community Park is part of the relaunch of the church’s youth centre. Dedicated to the development of spiritual, educational and social needs of the church and local community, especially the youth, the centre will boast a computer lab, homework area, library, and a forum space to meet the needs of residents during town hall meetings, vocational classes and leadership sessions.

Also during this time of celebration, members have launched what they are calling DOVE – Daughters of Virtue and Excellence – a teen mentoring programme geared towards girls ages 12 to 19. Along with DOVE, there will also be a space for the New Bethany Conquerors basketball team, a sports evangelism initiative focused on mentoring young men in the community.

“We noted the need for the church to become intimately involved in the community beyond spiritual outreach, and the centre is important because we are determined to be a part of the solution. And with the recent spate of violent acts and anti-social behaviour in the community of Englerston, we are seeking to create opportunities for social and intellectual development with the hope that these proactive initiatives can help to curb the social ills while simultaneously developing community pride,” said Reverend Deno Cartwright, youth director at New Bethany.

He said they are seeking to become a “deep and wide” church that is focused on going beyond the “deep” through teaching and preaching, and going “wide” through evangelistic strategies targeting the youth of the community, starting at age five.

For Rev Cartwright, the church’s pastor, Bishop Victor Cooper, and members of New Bethany, the overall goal of this initiative is to bring the community together to rebuild, restore and revive itself through activities that have a physical, mental and social impact. They look forward to the centre becoming a hub in the Englerston community and pray that other churches follow in their footsteps to advance the Kingdom of God.

“We are ever mindful that when ‘good men do nothing, evil triumphs’, therefore, we have used this opportunity to reach the community and actively engage, impact and influence this community for the better. We believe that the sporting programmes, literacy and numeracy programmes, community fora on pertinent issues and library and computer centre will be vehicles that will provide access and opportunity for the community to better themselves,” said Rev Cartwright.