Costs Up, Collections Down: Jamaica’s Churches Settle In for COVID’s Long Haul

• Faith leaders told the Gleaner their short-term pandemic measures had to become long-term plans
• The Seventh-day Adventist Church has over 700 local churches and 350,000 members
• Assemblies of God Bishop Conrad Pitkin said operating costs rose as contributions fell
• His 1,000-member congregation moved to livestreamed services with only technical staff present

By September 2021, Jamaica’s churches had stopped treating COVID-19 as a short interruption and were planning for a long haul, the Sunday Gleaner reported. Writer Mark Titus spoke with leaders across several faith communities about how they were adjusting worship, outreach and finances as restrictions dragged on.

Pastor Charles Brevett of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, which has more than 700 local churches and 350,000 members in Jamaica, described a paradox: people who once stayed away from church now longed to attend when they could not. The church had stepped up support groups and outreach calls, and Brevett said “the short-term measures that we had in place must be revamped” for the long term.

Bishop Conrad Pitkin of the Assemblies of God said his church’s operating costs had gone up while contributions had fallen. His 1,000-member congregation had adapted to capacity limits by livestreaming services, with only technical staff physically present on Sundays.

The report also covered other faith groups. The Ahmadiyya Muslim community had adjusted Friday prayers, a Revivalist bishop had moved her programming online, and a Rastafarian leader said his community would follow health protocols but rejected vaccines.

Bishop Pitkin’s point about rising costs and falling giving is the one property owners will recognise. A church building has fixed costs such as utilities, insurance, security, and maintenance, and they do not fall when the pews are empty. Moving worship online can add new costs at the very moment offerings drop, testing a congregation’s reserves. For church boards, it was a lesson in keeping a maintenance fund and cash buffer, considering income-earning uses for halls and land, and making sure that a building remains an asset rather than a burden when attendance is interrupted.

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