AN eight-year-old girl, who on Saturday took the pulpit at her church and delivered the sermon, appealed to gunmen in the island to disarm themselves for the sake of the country's future.

Eight-year-old Chaddae Donaldson emphasises her point during the service at Spanish Town SDA yesterday. Donaldson was one of eight children who took the pulpit at the church during its week-long children's evangelistic series. (Photo: Lionel Rookwood)

"I call on all the gunmen to turn over your guns, to forgive and let God take control of your lives. Do it for the adults. Do it for the children. Do it for Jesus' sake and the reason He went to Gethsemane for all mankind," urged the child.

So far this year, almost 600 persons have been murdered.
"Crime and violence in this our beloved country leaves us daily with the question in our minds, 'who is next?' It could be you or me. Children are no more safer than adults these days. In fact, we are more vulnerable to abuse and the acts of various crimes which now endanger the future of our country."

Chaddae Donaldson, a student at Willowdene preparatory, presented the sermon at Spanish Town Seventh-day Adventist church on Saturday's culmination of its week-long children's evangelistic series. The theme for the week was 'When children thirst for Jesus'.

Chaddae's presentation was based on the topic 'Gethsemane: A Sign of Hope for All'. She used references from Luke 22: 39-45, Mark 14: 32 and Psalm 77:7-10 to illustrate the difficulties faced by Biblical pioneers and by Jesus himself and how they each used prayer to prepare themselves.

"The world is crowded with Gethsemanes. Herrods slaughtering the innocent, crime and violence on the rise, a teacher in St Mary arrested for scolding a child, the death of loved ones, homes breaking apart, and the list goes on and on and on," little Chaddae continued.

"Yes, the world is full of Gethsemanes; times when the innocent have suffered. In the face of such unspeakable horror, we ask ourselves these questions: Who do we turn to?"

She asked two other questions: "What are we to do?" and "Where do we go from here?" and the answer she provided for all three was prayer.

"The answer isn't easy because life isn't," said the grade three student, exuding the confidence, experience and wisdom of a 30-year-old.

"At times we all seem to be running from the garden of despair to the hill of suffering [but]...when we are faced with troubles we need to pray. This is what Jesus did and He is our example.

When we are faced with sorrows, no matter how painful and although at times it seems more than we can bear, we must get on our knees and pray to our God. We should pray in good times and bad times. Pray and pray and pray until we feel a sense of peace," she said.

Had the words come from the lips of an ordained preacher, they would no doubt have stirred emotions, but that they were uttered by an eight-year-old girl made them even more forceful. And the effect was not lost on members of the congregation who often shouted 'Hallelujahs' and 'Amens' in response to Chaddae's moving and engaging speech.

Chaddae was the youngest of the eight child preachers to present sermons during the church's evangelistic series which started last Sunday. The others were Romone Reid (9), Janelle Smith (9), Lascelles Morris (11), Keino Thompson (12), Lindon Baldwin (12), Lovan Page (11) and Juantae Rodriques (10).

"What was interesting about this year," said director of the children's choir, Lovell Page, "is that we have more boys than girls. Last year they were all girls but this year there are only two girls," she said.