History

Portmore Missionary Church: A Retrospective of 45 Years of Ministry

[PART 1: FOUNDING] The social change of early 1970s and the dormitory settlements across the waters from Kingston, which rose from barren, desert-like lands, were the crucible in which Portmore Missionary church was formed, some four and a half decades ago. This was a time in which the Missionary Church Association in Jamaica was pursuing expansion in the Corporate Area. Having established a strong presence in Kingston and Spanish Town, the MCA set its sights on the new community of Portmore, and begun house to house interactions with the first residents, with a view to planting a Missionary Church. This effort by MCA pioneers, including David Clark and a young seminarian Orville Neil, of going into the community and meeting with families would prove to be seminal in the formation of the church in Portmore. Interestingly, the founders had initially considered a different location in Edgewater for planting a church for the believers who would meet in homes, but that property was acquired by the Baptist Church. As God would have it, ground was broken in the Sector F section of Edgewater on August 12, 1973, at the present Karlene Avenue site, for the construction of what was then termed Edgewater Missionary Church. By December 3, 1974, only a Sunday School Building was completed at the time of Dedication. However the foundation was laid, some walls erected, and perimeter was established for the adjoining Church Sanctuary. Ian McSevney, a student at the Jamaica Theological Seminary, was inducted as the student pastor of the congregation, under the supervision of Eastern District Superintendent David Clark. The Portmore Missionary Preparatory School was also founded in 1974 as a ministry of the Church to the community. It would take until October 1976 that the completed sanctuary and adjacent lot would be formally dedicated in a service, and several months later Pastor McSevney was ordained in the Ministry. In April 1977, the Edgewater church, now officially renamed Portmore Missionary Church, was left without a Pastor, as the Reverend Ian McSevney and Mrs. McSevney left for the United States.
[PART 2: THE REVEREND SAMUEL GREEN: GROWTH AND EXPANSION] Portmore Missionary Church managed to maintain a Sunday School of approximately 200 persons, while having a solid 40 members committed to the fellowship in the year and a half between Pastors. Unbeknownst to a young visiting Pastor from Moy Hall Missionary Church in St. James, his agreement to bring the message to PMC over several weeks, would serve to be prayers answered. The Reverend Samuel Green, or ‘Sam’, ‘Uncle Sam’ or simply “Rev” answered the call to be the next Pastor of PMC and was installed in the 1970s. Pastor Green’s ministry was exemplified by his leadership which emphasised family life, study of the word, community outreach, evangelism, discipleship and missionary work locally and overseas. Reverend Green and Portmore Missionary Church quickly became synonymous with what was positive about Portmore. Along with the then-Bridgeport Secondary School, PMC and its Prep. School were pillars of community, the Church ministry was regarded as a moral and ethical lighthouse and place of refuge. The Church compound grew to include an Educational Complex to meet the demands of the rapidly growing Prep. School and would later feature Evening Classes. Reverend Green’s 20 years of ministry at PMC is remembered fondly for how he befriended everyone; his winsome smile and confident handshake; how he and Sis. Green willingly opened the Manse/Parsonage to the church family; and, above all, his unshakeable faith in God. Reverend Green embraced fully the manifold aspects of being a Pastor, particularly in being the voice of reason and wisdom in many challenging situations for believers. After leaving an indelible mark on Portmore Missionary Church, Rev’d Green and his family answered the Macedonian Call to serve at Grace Missionary Church in the 1990s. Once again, Portmore Missionary was left without a Pastor. Happily, the Church Council and body of leaders were well prepared by Rev. Green to utilise the institutional resources of the church to keep the fellowship together.
[PART 3: REVEREND GARNET ROPER AND THE CHURCH WITHOUT WALLS] The Reverend Garnett Roper, having himself also served in Kingston for approximately 20 years as Pastor of Grace Missionary Church was called and installed as the next Pastor of Portmore Missionary Church in 1999. Reverend Roper was able to not only lead in picking up where Reverend Green left off, but ambitiously sought to expand the scope, reach and depth of PMC’s ministry in community. Reverend Roper and his family quickly interwove themselves into the fabric of PMC and set a course that would lead to significant step in the modernisation and evolution of the church. Reverend Roper is known for building consensus around the theme “Attempt Great Things From God, Expect Great Things From God” as the clarion faith call for ministry. This underpinned the church’s approach to building a new sanctuary, which obviated the need for two Sunday Morning Worship Services, but also to how PMC would engage the community in ministry. This was a time when there was now greater sensibility and inclusiveness in meeting the needs of the community in a manner that was not before prioritised. The Roper years saw continuation of the traditional missionary and evangelistic efforts, but also a deeper focus on the taught word and appropriating an understanding of the gospel that was fit for everyday human challenges. To this end, Reverend Roper and the leadership subscribed to the theme Putting the Gospel at the Crossroads of Human Experience. This led to the formation of new ministries, including a Media Ministry which utilised technology to establish a gospel presence for the church on public radio, as well as the establishment of a Sign Language Ministry to the deaf, and various local missions in communities such as Reid’s Meadows and the Forum Fishing Village. With Reverend Roper’s leadership, PMC sought to be a “Church Without Walls”, which derived from the Pastor’s public theology outlook on the value of a church in community. This saw the establishment of Community Groups in which the fellowship met in members’ homes for periodic bible study. This was a kind of return to the foundational practice of the church that is appropriate for the vast territory from which members were drawn from and commuted to Edgewater, particularly Greater Portmore and suburbs of Spanish Town. Pastor Roper will be fondly remembered for taking the time to know persons in the fellowship individually, for challenging them to participate in ministry; for his Sunday morning walk to church along Cecille Avenue; for greeting congregants at the church door, for his many sermon series and intensive Bible Study series; and for taking the church to his farm for Family Fun Days. In 2009, in completing doctoral studies in England, the Reverend Dr. Garnett Roper and Sis. Roper also answered a call to leave the pastorate of PMC, this time for Pastor Roper to take up duties as President of the Jamaica Theological Seminary.
[PART 4: REVEREND SPENCER COLQUHOUN – RECALIBRATING THE CHURCH FROM FIRST PRINCIPLES] In 2011, after another period without a resident pastor, Portmore Missionary Church called and installed the Reverend Spencer Colquhoun to be its next Pastor. Reverend Colquhoun had served as Pastor of the Waterford Missionary Church since 1985. As a Senior Pastor in the MCA, Rev’d Colquhoun and Sis. Colquhoun sought the Lord about how his assignment at PMC should begin. He was convicted that the Church needed to return to the first principles of faith, particularly to a focus on prayer and study of the Word. Reverend Colquhoun appreciated that to make the next step in the evolution of PMC’s ministry, the believers needed to re-establish the fundamental disciplines of Christian faith. This was done simultaneously with maintaining the ministries of the church and Prep School. Pastor Colquhoun has managed to leverage the existing energies of the leaders in the church, while grooming a new generation of leaders, as evidenced in his taking under his wings the young graduate seminarian Cavaugh Edwards as Assistant Pastor of PMC. Today, the focus of Portmore Missionary Church is on Repositioning the Church for Community Transformation and the leaders have adopted the vision espoused in St. John 4:35 – “Lift up your eyes and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest.”