A HISTORY OF HOPE GOSPEL ASSEMBLY

Right in the heart of the commercial district of Liguanea sits Hope Gospel Assembly. Sandwiched between a busy gas station and a historic shopping plaza, Hope is described as “an oasis of love in a dry and thirsty land”.  Like a number of other AGA churches, Hope owes its formation in great part to Pastor Henry White, church planting pioneer of extra ordinary means and methods.  In this case, there are multiple other significant persons who played key roles before and during the establishment of Hope Assembly. One such was Ivy Whittaker.

Ivy Whittaker was saved and baptized at Rehoboth in 1957.  Without any prompting, this young believer and her friend Florence Simmonds started a Sunday School at the back of Standpipe Lane.  It was a very poor area with board houses built on leased land, and with many children in need. These two young women asked a man in the area to allow them to use his premises, and he hesitantly gave permission to use the yard, and the verandah when it rained.
Before Ivy was saved, Deacon Aubrey Russell had another Sunday School going not far away in an area called Sandy Park.  A member of Rehoboth, he and Pastor White would walk the surrounding communities inviting children to Sunday School which was held under a number eleven mango tree.  This weekly gathering was at the DeMercado home; and while the parents of family of six children (Wesley, Lascelles, Cecile, Doreen and two others) were not deeply involved in the work, this second Sunday School formed the nucleus of hope that a work would prosper in the area.
There were those who ridiculed the idea of another church in that area.  Already there were three established churches: St. Margaret’s (Anglican), Sts. Peter & Paul (Roman Catholic), and Providence Methodist.  For Pastor White, the area still needed a church--an evangelical church, and one that would attract the economically poor people in the area.
Cottage meetings began in an old great house at 136 Old Hope Road, and the property was later purchased as the church site, the funds for the deposit coming personally from Pastor White. Services took place in the front part of the house while the Mills family lived in the rest of the house.  Lennox Mangaroo who became a deacon, and sister Allison Mills were the two children of Mrs. Mills.
In early 1959, a Sunday service was held to mark the establishment of the church.  Ivy and Florence surprised Pastor White and the company of persons at that initiating service when they marched in with about twenty children, and their parents.
Pastor White, as overseer of the newest church in the newly-registered denomination, dispatched within the first few years, a battery of able workers from Rehoboth, Bethel, and Calvary to help the recent installation.  Among the first to arrive were Robert Carr, Joseph Auxilly (who is considered the first pastor of the young church), Bert Myers who shared the preaching load, Clive Afflick and Ludene Tomlinson who both came fresh from Bible School. There were also those who helped with music in the very early days: Busta Deleon with the choir, Edith ‘Ditta’ Reeves and Annette ‘June’ Walker (now Creary) on piano, and Jean Tilly on the accordion.
A youthful Gidson Steele joined in after Pastor White urged Rehoboth members who lived in the Liguanea and Barbican areas to worship at Hope.  Rehoboth was already thriving so well, that the singing from Springvale Avenue was audible by echo all the way up to Liguanea.  Soon afterwards, a Sunday School was started in Barbican at the home of the Ellingtons.
Joseph Auxilly is the most recognized name of the early leaders.  Pastor Auxilly (though ‘Brother’ was used instead of the title ‘Pastor’ for all men including the most senior denominational leaders) strongly emphasized prayer, and as such, prayer meetings were well attended.  There was spirited if not simply novel vibrancy to the church and its witness.  Persons were being saved, and the multiple Sunday Schools ensured the attendance of many children, which opened the way into the homes.
Clive Afflick graduated from Philadelphia College of the Bible in December 1959.  He was not originally from the AGA but was introduced to the movement through Rev. Ernest Wilson, a Philadelphia preacher friend of Pastor White and other leaders.  Bro. Afflick was asked to help at Hope, and early in 1960 he began working in the Sunday School.  Plans changed as he was offered a scholarship by his alma mater to study towards his Masters degree; so after just a few months, he left his Sunday School class in the hands of his close friend Deta Burrowes and headed to the United States.  A medical condition occasioned Deta to be in New York, and when she arrived, the two decided to get married.  Choosing marriage over Masters, he returned to Jamaica in August 1960, and immediately went to visit Joseph Auxilly who was sick in hospital.  By the time he got there, Pastor Auxilly had left for his eternal home.
Pastor Clive Afflick worked diligently with the Hope congregation, maintaining a strong dependence on God through prayer.  The spiritual ground was very tough even though liberally watered with prayer and Bible teaching.  Hardened social habits and structures of fornication, marital infidelity, concubinage and other family-unfriendly departures from God’s standards, held many members hostage.  Others were unable to experience victorious living, and still others shunned membership because of their living situation.  Members were not submitting to the demands of God’s Word, or to those entrusted with their care.  Pastor Afflick resigned effective January 1963.  In his letter to the Executive Board, he stated among other things, that the church needed “an older and more experienced brother capable of keeping an unruly congregation in subjection in accordance with the Word of God”.
An older, more experienced Lancelot (Bob) Smart was dispatched from Bethel.  He was one of five elders ordained in 1946 by Stanley Harris, and so had a good grasp of church matters as well as denominational practice.  He laboured diligently; but the soil remained tough, and the work was not advancing.
Wilbur Smith was saved in 1948 under the ministry of Albert Karram at old Rehoboth on Springvale Avenue.  He held no formal position at the relocated Rehoboth (Constant Spring Road) but was a gifted speaker, and talented entrepreneur.  The “senior men” sent him off to help Pastor Smart and Hope Assembly.  He gave competent help, which was quickly noticed by his own local church and throughout the denomination.  He brought innovation to the tasks of ministry, putting a spark at every level.  After a period of overlap, Pastor Smart moved on to Emmanuel, and Smith was left to continue the work.
Prayer meeting and Bible Study flourished.  Smith’s passionate eloquence in his gifted preaching caught the attention of doctors, nurses, and teachers—in fact persons from all walks of life.  The changing demographics of the large visiting numbers had an impact even on the members who wondered if ordinary people would still have a place at Hope.
Activities at the church were many and varied: beach trips, Independence events to keep the attention away from the worldly events, Christmas dinner for the whole church—presents included, Friday night fellowship with food and ice cream, monthly Sunday night Singspiration, local missions outreach and assistance to Trench Town, August Town, Hopewell and Richmond in St. Mary, Kemp’s Hill in Clarendon, and more.
Foreign missions to Haiti began with Devil Legrand being commissioned and supported by Hope.  Legrand, a native of Haiti, spent some seven months in Jamaica, and at Hope.  He expressed his desire to serve as a missionary of the AGA in his homeland.  He started several churches in the hinterlands of Haiti before moving overseas, starting also a work in Miami, Florida.  He credits the leaders of the AGA for his pioneering work.
Foreign missions also took in the diaspora.  Deacon Lennox Mangaroo migrated to New York in June 1969.  Following the word of encouragement given by Smith the day before he left,  Mangaroo joined forces with Roy Ellington in finding AGA migrants with a view to starting a church suited to what they were accustomed.  Smith felt a church in the United States would be better able to fund overseas missions; and within a few short weeks he received a call from his trusted deacon, and no effort was spared.  Smith went immediately to New York, gave the needed counsel and help, and by November of the same year, Olivet Gospel Assembly (later Olivet Gospel Church) was born.  Pastor Henry White went afterwards to this overseas church plant, and gave further denominational weight to the local church initiative spearheaded by the AGA Director of Foreign Missions, Wilbur Smith.
Pastor Smith motivated the Hope congregation, and the church grew.  The physical structure was expanded, and the grounds paved to accommodate a badminton court.  He firmly disciplined, quickly delegated authority, and gave generously.
A complicated set of related incidents led to the takeover of the church by the Executive Board, the resignation of Pastor Smith, and the defection of over half the membership.  Some very difficult days descended on what had been abundantly glorious years. Many of the defectors became part of a resulting fellowship known as Spring Grove Bible Church located on Central Avenue off Constant Spring Road. Two satellites to this fellowship emerged, one in Portmore and the other in Nannyville, the latter surviving to this day and continuing to carry out effective witness and ministry under Smith's leadership.
Albert Karram served wherever there was need. Now Hope needed a shepherd to keep the flock together and he went.  Pastor Karram had a different view of ministry from his predecessor, and this was visibly demonstrated when he removed the air conditioning units that Smith had put in to cool the entire sanctuary—-possibly the first such in the island.  Elder Karram poured his love, affection, and resources on the church, and especially the children.  Sunday School efforts under his watch, were maintained at the outstations in Kintyre, Sandy Park (and much later, began in Irish Town). The shock of the events related to takeover and Pastor Smith's resignation continued to resonate in the psyche of the church, and even wise expansion initiatives were detoured by the shattered psyche. The church struggled, and struggled--but struggled on!
Upon graduation from the Jamaica Theological Seminary in 1980, Peter George Washington Garth continued his work in Jones Town with the Church of the Firstborn.  Soon he was assigned by Dr. F. S. Bent to Coleyville in Manchester.  He was a promising preacher under Bro. Bent, but found that the doctrinal positions in the AGA were far more in line with those he had developed during his seminary training.  With his new bride, fellow graduate Flora Hanson, he took a position assisting Pastor Curtis Cole at Calvary in June 1982.  Just nine months later, Hope Gospel Assembly came under his pastoral stewardship.
Armed with training, experience, and a warm personality, the gifted evangelist encouraged the church to take the gospel to the streets. There began another broadened horizon in evangelistic outreach, with places such as Gordon Town and Elletson Flats hearing the gospel message proclaimed through Hope Assembly.  Rev. Garth taught that the Kingdom of God would benefit even if the local church at Hope did not get members from the evangelistic efforts. The church began shaking off the mire of the past and started again to look with glorious hope to the God who is ever-present.
The initiatives that have been undertaken at Hope over the past twenty-eight years are many and diverse—-more than can readily be itemized.  The ministries of the church have been driven by the well researched expository sermons of Rev. Garth.  His preaching, marked by evangelistic stylings, was a significant catalyst in focusing the ministries of the church on the next generation; and young people have had all manner of opportunities to serve God and the church in creative ways.  That same preaching has also driven the expensive, expansive, and still expanding social outreach of Hope Gospel Assembly.
Concerning the latter, over one thousand boys and girls were given back-to-school assistance in 2010: bags, shoes, fees among the types of help that the community looks forward to and receives each year from the church which is now “owned” by the community.  The business fraternity shares partnership with Hope in various ways: providing needed parking for large functions, donations for the needy, pharmaceutical supplies at discounted prices. Residents in the area, as well as some from far outside have benefitted from the well-resourced health fairs that are now so large and well attended that they cannot be held on the church grounds.
The general ministries include a vibrant Sunday School and annual DVBS, the Women’s Fellowship which assists Sandy Park Basic School, Family Ministry to singles and marrieds, a Music Council which takes in its remit the multimedia provisioning for worship services, an annual Youth Camp, and Cell Group structures for fellowship and encouragement.
Specific cutting-edge innovations in ministry include ‘God N I’—a sound system ministry with the expressed aim of spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ through music, WeDFC (We Dance For Christ) for youngsters and young adults, Actss of Hope with dramatic impact in choral speaking, and Holy Hands signing on with hearing-impaired language.
Training has been engaged in a number of areas: pulpit ministry through the School of the Prophets, personal witnessing through Evangelism Explosion (EE) and Operation Andrew, and a variety of mentoring efforts. Music has had a rich variety of expressions such as Generation Hope, Shalome, Remade, a male quartet, a female team known as the Hope Trio and of course a choir that has toured almost every AGA church over the years.
Twenty-nine men have served at Hope as Deacons since formation in 1959: Herbert Allwood, Derrick Anderson, Michael Barnett, Burvin Butler, Dean Ebanks, Louis Davis, Owen Ferguson, Patrick Goulbourne, Hubert Grimes, Joel Hayman, Leroy Hayman, Neville Laing, Kevin Llewellyn, James Lyons, Lennox Mangaroo,  Horace McDonald, Harold Morrison, Bruce Scott, Sherburn Silvera, Littleton Slater, Wilbur Smith, Gidson Steele, Earl Thompson, Melford Thompson, Wilfred Tracey, Robert Walker, Ronald White, Ewart Wilkinson, and Keith Williams.
Nine elders have served the church over the years: Patrick Aiken, Kensworth Edwards, Owen Ferguson, Joel Hayman, Horace McDonald,  Bruce Scott, Sherburn Silvera, Wilbur Smith, and Keith Williams.
Although there was no formalized pastoral position in the local church or denomination for many years, the following list is of thise who were the leading persons, and who in fact carried out the functions of the pastorate since the inception:
Henry White (General Overseer)
1959-60 Joseph Auxilly (aided significantly by Bert Myers)
1960-62 Clive Afflick
1963-72 Lancelot (Bob) Smart
1978-1978 Wilbur Smith
1978-1983 Albert Karram
1983-Today Peter Garth
Hope Gospel Assembly has grown to become one of the largest and most influential churches in the AGA. Expansion work was done in 1989, with Dr. Clive Afflick in participating attendance as Principal of the Jamaica Theological Seminary. When the milestone twenty years of Rev. Garth's ministry had arrived, a packed hall of members, visitors and business community thanked God for the oasis that his ministry helped to bring about. The nation and denomination owes much to the positive impact that Hope Gospel Assembly and Rev. Peter Garth continues to have on them. Added to thirst-quenching water, they have provided life-giving and despair-banishing HOPE!
Donovan D. Cole
Kingston, Jamaica
2011 *********************************************************** Many sources have been consulted in doing the research for this project. Notes and tapes of multiple face to face or telephone interviews with the following persons contributed to the information gathered over a twenty-year period:
Henry White
Olive White
Albert Karram
Stanley Karram
Lloyd Bewry
Hazel Cole
Clive & Deta Afflick
Hyacinth Peart
Ronald White
Roy Ellington
Dawn Bennett
Dennis Brown
The persons listed hereunder were all interviewed or consulted by telephone between October 2010 and January 2011, with the exception of Wilbur Smith who was interviewed personally:
Derrick Anderson
Vernon Auxilly
Joe Auxilly
Annette Creary
Peter & Flora Garth
Millicent Goodwin
Lorna Hylton
Lennox Mangaroo
Harold Morrison
Edith Pinnock
Gertel Plummer
Desmond Smart
Wilbur Smith
Gidson Steele
Melford Thompson
Allison Mills Wade
Ivy Whittaker Lewars
Paisely Whittaker
Ewart Wilkinson