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Last Updated: Jan 14, 2020 - 4:44:39 PM |
Campbell urges social services staff to bring even greater focus to twin pillars of social assistance/development in 2020
By Matt Maura
Jan 14, 2020 - 4:28:14 PM
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Minister of Social Services and Urban Development, the Hon. Frankie A. Campbell addressing hundreds of employees attending the ministry’s annual Church Service held Monday (January 13, 2020) at New Covenant Baptist Church, Independence Drive. (BIS Photo/Matt Maura)
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Nassau, The Bahamas – Minister of Social Services and Urban Development, the Hon. Frankie A. Campbell, told hundreds of employees attending the ministry’s annual church service that even greater focused attention in 2020 should be placed on the twin pillars of social assistance and social development.
The Church Service was held, Monday, at New Covenant Baptist Church, Independence Highway.
“We are about social assistance, but we are also about social development and it is pointless for us to focus on the one and not the other,” Minister Campbell said. “It is my fervent belief that, except for the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Social Services and Urban Development touches every single individual in this country in one way, form or fashion. And so if we accept that, we must accept how awesome our responsibility is.”
Reverend Trajean Jadorette, Senior Pastor, New Covenant Baptist Church, Independence Highway, delivers the Homily during the Ministry of Social Services and Urban Development’s annual Church Service held at New Covenant Baptist Church, Monday, January 13, 2020. (BIS Photo/Matt Maura)
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Minister Campbell referred the audience -- which consisted of staff employees from the Ministry of Social Services and Urban Development in addition to the various Departments, Divisions and Units that fall under the ministry’s remit -- to Psalms 82 and Galatians Chapter 6, which he said both provide guidance to the kind of focused attention the Ministry and its Departments and Divisions should bring to the job.
“Psalms 82 writes that we ‘have a duty to be kind to the poor and the afflicted,’” Minister Campbell said. “As a result, we must be mindful that but for an incident or an accident, we could move from the side of the table where we are providing the service and/or assistance, to the side that is in need of the service and/or assistance. We have a duty to make the service that we give not about personality, not about who we are, but about what we are, Public Servants with the emphasis on service.”
The Department of Social Services’ Choir performing 'The Lord is My Shepherd' during Monday’s Church Service as members of the clergy (from left, Bishop Chadwick James; Reverend Trajean Jadorette, Senior Pastor, New Covenant Baptist Church; and Bishop Ranford Patterson, President, Bahamas Christian Council) listen intently. Pictured (foreground) is Ms. Monique McKenzie, Choir Director, and (at far right) Ms. Leslie Anne Taylor, Lead Vocals. (BIS Photo/Matt Maura)
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Minister Campbell said Galatians 6:9, on the other hand, says “And let us not grow weary of doing good for in due season we shall reap, if we do not lose heart.”
“That would suggest to me that the heart is at the centre of doing good; that the heart is at the centre of the service you ought to give. I want us to ensure that our hearts see the needs of the people that we are called to serve,” Minister Campbell added.
Minister Campbell applauded staff for their efforts during 2019 and asked that they make an even greater commitment to providing the greatest service possible to clients during the year 2020 and beyond.
“We have a one in a million chance of a lifetime to get somebody to say ‘Thank You Lord.’ Do you know what kind of celebration they have in heaven when somebody says ‘Thank you Lord?’ So imagine if you were the one causing that celebration in heaven.
“I know the burden you face daily. I spent 29 years as a Police Officer and so I have seen all of the social ills. I have seen the poverty. I have seen the dilapidation that people live in. I have witnessed persons whom, even when they have been given good service, report you for having given poor service.
“I invite you, as the Psalmist invites you (in Psalm 23), by the Still Water. The thing about the Still Water is that you can look down in it and see your reflection. I invite you to join me by the Still Water and look at your reflection. Be satisfied that you are doing the best that you can. That’s all I will ever ask of you. That is all the Government of The Bahamas will ever ask of you,” Minister Campbell added.
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