Hill Side Chapel Church twisted and destroyed in Paloma’s path.

With the passing of Hurricane Paloma still fresh in the minds of those who experienced the horrific ordeal on the Sister Islands, the churches that were badly affected decided to continue with their regular church services on Sunday. This saw them hosting a special combined thanksgiving service, geared towards giving thanks even though the island had suffered great loss, while at the same time expressing their gratitude to God for sparing the lives of everyone on the islands. The church service was held on Sunday, 16 November at Kirkconnell Supermarket parking lot and the warm morning sun did not hinder members of the community from coming out.

In attendance were the Sister Islands MLAs Juliana O’Connor Connolly and Moses Kirkconnell. Mr Kirkconnell was the host of the event and distributed refreshments to those at the ceremony.

The passing of Hurricane Paloma has left all the churches on Cayman Brac with at least 70 percent of damages, with Hill Side Chapel appearing to have sustained the worst damage. Pastor Audley Scott from Hill Side Chapel led the praise and worship, as he told everyone that there is much to give God thanks about. “God knows best” was the sentiment echoed by all of the pastors.

Based on its geographic location, the Sister Islands has often been spared great devastation and loss from the passing of hurricanes in recent times, and most pastors in their exaltation during the service shared the belief that God ‘has spoken’ and that the residents of the Sister Islands need to get closer to their maker.

‘All these things are temporal’ was the general sentiment by the church leaders as they diverted their thoughts of praise after witnessing the passing of a category four hurricane and no loss of life.

This is a time for the churches to stand together, Pastor Joel Scott from Cross Road Church of God said. He encouraged the church to remain firm believers in Christ while the community battles to rebuild and claim the souls which are lost to drugs and other social and moral ills within the community.

“The pastors on this platform are standing as one in unity and we expect the members of the churches to do the same,” he added.

Mr Kirkconnell said it was blissful to welcome members of the community to meet in this fashion. He also gave them the permission to continue for the next three weeks until most of the churches have returned to normal.

The churches have decided to continue meeting in this fashion for the next three weeks until some normality has returned to their varied places of worship. Each Sunday morning service commences at 9:00 am and Pastor Scott is urging those who desire to join in fellowship to be on time for them to have a grand time worshiping together.