A Century on Charles Street: Jamaica’s Seventh Day Baptists Launch a $5 Million Bid to Restore Their Kingston Headquarters

• The Jamaica Seventh-day Baptist Conference has been at 29 Charles Street since 1923
• The building once housed Crandall High School and has badly deteriorated
• A gospel concert was set to launch a $5-million restoration
• Plans include a modern sanctuary, counselling suites and training space

A downtown Kingston church building that has served one denomination for more than a century is getting a fundraising push. The Jamaica Observer reported in May 2025 that the Jamaica Seventh-day Baptist Conference would use a gospel concert to start a $5-million campaign to restore its headquarters at 29 Charles Street.

The building once housed Crandall High School and has been the conference’s home since 1923. The Observer reported that it had deteriorated significantly over the years. The concert, “Jesus All the Way”, was scheduled for Sunday, June 29, 2025 at the Ranny Williams Entertainment Centre, with Kevin Downswell, Rhoda Isabella, Alicia Taylor, Kevin Heath, and Nadine Blair and Perpetual Sounds of Praise on the bill.

Pastor Kevin Carter, the conference president, said the aim was to turn the facility into “a modern administrative centre with updated infrastructure.” The plans include a modern sanctuary, youth-development and counselling suites, community outreach facilities, training space for young people and new ministers, and offices for the conference’s leadership.

“We are rebuilding more than with bricks and mortar; we are strengthening and reinforcing a foundation already laid as we move boldly into the future,” Carter said. He described a century of work: “For a century we have proclaimed hope, educated young minds, and served vulnerable communities.”

Downtown Kingston holds many old church buildings like this one, often owned outright but costly to keep up. The Charles Street plan is a familiar model: raise money from the public and turn a tired building into a space that works every day of the week, not just on the Sabbath. For diaspora Jamaicans who grew up in these congregations and now give from abroad, campaigns like this one are among the most direct ways to help keep a historic property in use in a part of the capital where urban renewal has long been a priority.

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