Church leaders on Thursday called for a nationwide month of prayer to confront the country’s crime crisis, alongside urgent action on parenting, poverty, and drug abuse.
Their appeal comes as Barbados has recorded 18 murders for the year so far, the latest occurring at the end of the Easter holiday, shattering what was considered a peaceful four-day weekend.
Founder and senior pastor of Restoration Ministries, Reverend David Durant, called for April to be observed as a Month of Prayer, pointing to what he describes as the swift erosion of morals in Barbados.
He urged citizens to pray for five minutes daily at 6 a.m., 12 noon, and 6 p.m., and further called for a national gathering at Golden Square Freedom Park on April 23.
He said: “Let us come together as citizens of Barbados, seize this moment, and turn it into a time of national repentance by calling upon Almighty God, seeking spiritual renewal, and embracing hope.
“Many neighbourhoods often see incidents of crime, violence, and murder. As a result, families in these areas live in fear, hopelessness, and uncertainty. Many citizens have turned away from God and are now pursuing their own selfish pleasures for personal satisfaction.”
Reverend Durant called for urgent divine intervention and national spiritual renewal: “We pray for God’s intervention to remove spirits of crime, violence, murder, illegal guns, and dangerous mind-altering narcotics from our communities, and to spread His peace across the nation. We pray for Almighty God to guard our island, shield and protect our families and our youths, and to ensure the safety and peace of our parishes and communities.”
Reverend Dr Cicely Athill-Horsford of the Moravian Church expressed outrage and disgust at the state of crime, saying she supported national calls for prayer but believed stronger action was also needed.
She advocated for improved conflict resolution mechanisms, particularly for young people: “There must be some place where we can help people to resolve conflict rather than resolving it with a gun. We needed to find a way to help these persons, in particular young people, to resolve their conflicts other than picking up the gun and shooting.”
Reverend Athill-Horsford also warned about the dangers of revenge killings.
“It is important that we help persons to understand that life is precious and sacred, and they cannot just go around taking people’s lives, and sometimes some of them are innocent people, like one that would exit from a car, see a crowd of people, and fire indiscriminately. That we cannot live with.”
She stressed that prayer alone is not enough.
“Just calling for a day of prayer is good, but what else? As religious leaders, we have to say our outrage, not quietly go and say we are saying prayers for the nation only, but loudly demonstrate that enough is enough.”
President of the East Caribbean Conference of Seventh-day Adventists, Pastor Anthony Hall, said that while he supported national prayer initiatives, they must be matched with practical action.
He pointed to parenting challenges as a key driver of crime, noting that many parents are not adequately prepared for the task: “I believe that a lot is being lost because parents are not equipped to raise children in general, especially boy children.”
He also highlighted poverty and drug use as major contributing factors.
“We also have to do what we can to alleviate poverty, because some people turn to crime because of poverty. A third step would be combating the scourge of drug usage, because many authorities are claiming that drug usage and drug-related situations are fueling criminal behaviour.”
Pastor Hall proposed a multi-pronged response to the issue: “Prayer; parenting intervention, training and nurturing of parents; poverty alleviation; and addressing the scourge of drug usage and drug-related issues. These are the things that are fueling the bad behaviour, the deviant behaviour, and all social agencies have to be engaged in order to solve that. It is not a quick fix.”
He added that prayer must be supported by real behavioural and social change.
“Prayer alone wouldn’t do it. It needs to be something actively done in practical means. You can pray for people, but if people do not take upon themselves the value system to correct stuff in their lives, prayer may not be efficacious because people’s choices at the end of the day is what will carry them.”
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