The earliest date recorded for a Church of Christ in Jamaica is 1858. J.O. Beardsley was sent to Jamaica by the American Christian Mission Society (ACMS). Several small churches were started but there was no strong leadership. In 1876 the W. J. Williams family was sent to Jamaica by the Christian Women's Board of Missions (CWBM). They attempted to revive the earlier work, and by 1909, there were 256 workers in Jamaica serving in churches, schools and hospitals. Most of these efforts were taken over by the Disciples of Christ.

C. Vincent Hall was a lieutenant in the British Army and was stationed in Jamaica for a time during World War I. After the war, he became a preacher for the Church of England and in 1935 he returned to Jamaica to preach in an Anglican Church in the Moco Mountains. The beautiful stone building is still there. He was a diligent student of the Bible and began to discover that much of what he had been taught in seminary could not be found in the Scriptures. So he began preaching what he was finding in the Bible. Eventually word got back to England of what he was preaching. He was ordered to preach Anglican doctrine or his license to preach would be revoked. He refused to comply and kept preaching what he was learning in the Scriptures.

He and a number of the members whom he had converted began meeting in the open air on the mountain side about a mile from the Anglican church building. They purchased some property, built a small building, an outdoor baptistry, and mounted a large bell on a concrete base a few yards from the building. The building is still there in Moco.

Children at Mineral Heights Church of Christ

Brother Hall was somewhat discouraged, when he came to America for a visit. While in the states he found several Churches of Christ who believed and preached the same thing he had been preaching, and was greatly encouraged. On his return to Jamaica, he established several other Churches of Christ in the Clarendon Parish from 1935 - 1950. E.A. Watts, Luke Elliott, Donald Hurley, and Lonnie Dever were a few who went to Jamaica to help Brother Hall expand the work of the Lord on the island.

Since then, several from America spent time in Jamaica helping in the work of the Lord. Among those were Jim Herget, Donald Fream, Grayson Ensign, Woodrow Phillips, Harold Hill, Fred Hintz, Walter Stram, Harvey Bacus, and Bob Blanshan. In 1947. Archie Word held revival meetings and in three weeks, 88 people were baptized into Christ. Fred and Vicky Hintz began the new congregation in Mandeville in 1957. Vicky died of cancer in 1975 and is buried in Kingston. She was only 44 years old.

Church of Christ building at Mandeville, Jamaica

Bob and June Blanshan moved to Jamaica in 1975 and lived in the Mandeville area for two years. June is Vicky Hintz's sister. They returned for another two years in 1980-1982. They worked primarily with the church in Mandeville and a country church in an area known as Broadleaf. Bob gave preaching leadership training to Patrick Parchment (who preaches at Mandeville), Wesley Answer (who now preaches in England), and Roger Scott (who preaches in Mineral Heights), and several others. Others who made brief trips to the island to teach and preach include the late Henry Shaw, Donald 0. Hunt, Raymond Lyon, Tim Paul, Jerry Weller, Richard Geringswald and Gordon Wells.

In 1986 at the Centerville Rally, Bob Blanshan expressed his desire for someone younger to carry on the work he had been doing in Jamaica, because of his deteriorating health. I accepted the challenge and have been to Jamaica nine times, and serve as forwarding agent for two Jamaican preachers, Patrick Parchment and Roger Scott. We periodically put out a newsletter updating interested people on the work in Jamaica. I traveled to Jamaica an average of once a year for seven years preaching in several congregations, holding revival meetings and street meetings, and conducting training classes for several young preachers.

Mineral Heights Church of Christ in Jamaica under construction.

My wife Sharon and I also conducted classes on marriage and the Christian Home. Most Jamaicans have no idea what a Christian home should be like. They have had few role models. But in 1994 I was stricken with cancer, and was unable to go back to Jamaica until February 1999. I went with a work team from Lakeland, Florida to help work on an apartment on the second floor of the church building in Mineral Heights to provide a permanent home for Roger and Sharon Scott and their two boys. My wife Sharon and I returned in November 1999. I taught a class on the New Testament Church in the Jamaica Christian College in Kingston, and my wife taught ladies' classes. I also taught men's classes in several churches throughout the central part of the island.

If funds are available we want to go back again in February 2001 for more training classes at Mandeville and Mineral Heights. Both Patrick Parchment and Roger Scott have been to America. Both have spoken at the Centerville Rally in Iowa. Patrick spoke at our Coos Bay Family Camp a few years ago. Both were well received. They both preach excellent sermons and teach edifying classes and are very well respected in Jamaica and are quite influential, yet very humble servants. Both congregations have "basic schools" similar to our pre-schools here.

We need to send Roger and Patrick each $1000 per month in order for them to spend their full time preaching and teaching the Word.