BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – SUSTAINABILITY of assistance for youths, particularly those who are troubled and lack proper mentorship, is at the centre of a programme currently being crafted by the Evangelical Association of St. Kitts.
This was revealed by President of the body Bishop Ron Collins who had recently spoken with SKNVibes about the Charlie Charlie Challenge phenomenon that is causing some concern across the Federation, the Caribbean and further afield.
Bishop Collins informed what the programme would be called and the reason for the initiative.
“The Evangelical Association is working in collaboration with some churches abroad for a new initiative called Youth Advocates, which would be launched shortly. Our aim is to have intervention for young people before it reaches a point of no return and they have to be sent to the Horizons and the prison and so on.
“We were seeking to mentor them, provide assistance, especially for those who are misguided and do not have that type of supervision and mentoring at home. We want to be able to reach out to them. So we want to work systematically with the Department of Youth and Education and so on in a programme that we are currently designing.”
Collins did not specify the form that the programme would take or when it is expected to be officially launched. He however indicated that the administrators of the programme would include pastors and youth leaders.
“It is not just the pastors involved, but youth leaders. And last year we had a conference on child abuse where we brought pastoral ministers in St. Kitts and pre-schools in churches. We brought them together with the church community along with the Christian Council and Evangelical Association and we had an opportunity to share with each other on greater circles of safety in St. Kitts.
“So this is our attempt to continue that work…but as a sustained effort to really address the problem and make a difference.”
The Evangelical Association President also hinted on another project called the Chaplaincy Programme, which is being worked on.
“There are some schools that have pastors who provide services in the mornings and we are trying to structure that in a meaningful way by implementing a Chaplaincy Programme in all schools and standardise how we deliver our Christian education and training so that we can be more effective.”
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