The Oak Glades Seventh-day Adventist Church marked 30 years of ministry and mission under the theme, “Legacy of Faith: Honouring the Past, Embracing the Future,” with a week of homecoming celebrations held August 9–16, 2026.
Located at 249–251 Spanish Town Road, the church sits on five acres of land and continues to serve communities across Kingston 11 and Kingston 13. Over its three decades of existence, Oak Glades has been served by 11 pastors, five first elders, and has grown into a vibrant community church.
The anniversary week opened with a consecration service on Sunday, August 9, followed by a Prayer, Power and Praise service on Wednesday, August 12, a Sabbath evening vesper service on Friday, August 14, and an all-day grand celebratory Sabbath service on August 15 coordinated by the spirited Elder Margery Robinson-Gray. On that Sabbath morning, the church was filled to capacity with members, former members, well-wishers, and friends from the surrounding community, and shouts of “Praise the Lord!” and “Hallelujah? Anyhow!” punctuated the proceedings.
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A People Who Remember
Joining the congregation for the celebration were several leaders, friends, and supporting churches, including Pastor Adrian Johnson, Executive Secretary of the East Jamaica Conference; Pastor Sebert Hamilton, Vice President and Sabbath School Director of the East Jamaica Conference; Pastor Whain Graham, former pastor of Oak Glades; Pastor Theodore Henry, former intern pastor and Communication Director of the East Jamaica Conference; representatives from Riverton Meadows SDA Church; leaders from Hagley Park SDA Church, including Elder Jason Gough and Elder Joel Jackson; and members of the Greenwich Town men’s chorale, along with several elders including First Elder Sharon Headman, and Elder Andrew Dale.
Elder Wayn-wal Howson, who served as Oak Glades’ first first elder from 1996 to 1999, returned to stand alongside current First Elder Conray Forrester and former First Elder Joel Jackson to recount the miles of the journey that brought Oak Glades to this point.
The story, he recalled, began with an unaffiliated congregation whose minister had passed, leaving the group without a shepherd. Many of the members dispersed, and the place was left largely unoccupied. In 1994, Ethelbert Hibbert of the Hagley Park SDA Church heard of the location and recommended it to Elder Howson, who expressed great interest in seeing the Seventh-day Adventist flag planted on the spot and with permission received from those who could give it, he started a branch Sabbath School on the spot.
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What began as a meeting of about 15 children on Sundays soon grew, as the adults belonging to the children also began attending. This created a wonderful problem: more room was needed, and a much larger plot of land - roughly five acres of it - was soon identified as the potential site. Before foundations and walls would be erected, a tent was pitched and an evangelist was summoned to declare the everlasting gospel and start the church on the right footing. Greenwich Town SDA and Hagley Park SDA joined hands to conduct the series, Pastor Herman Ming was the man chosen to deliver the Word. In those six weeks, night after night of declaration and appeal, more than 100 persons made up their minds to follow Jesus.
Yet the dream almost came to an abrupt end. Those who had granted permission for the tent to be pitched were later found not to have the authority to do so. When the actual owner discovered what was taking place on the property, it appeared that the Oak Glades dream might come to an ignoble end. But Pastor Herman Ming, who was also the Treasurer of the East Jamaica Conference at the time, quickly met with the owner and, with the blessing of the Conference made arrangements to pay for both the time already spent and the property itself. The owner agreed and Oak Glades lived on!
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A Message for the Present
Pastor Ming returned for the 30th anniversary celebration and, in his characteristically fiery fashion, delivered a portion of one of the founding sermons preached 30 years earlier.
Intertwining the Parable of the Barren Fig Tree in Luke 13:6–9 with the imagery of the sanctuary fulfilled in the sacrifice of Jesus on the Cross, Pastor Ming reminded all within the hearing of his voice that salvation is made possible only through the sacrifice of Christ—both for those who lived before His earthly ministry and those who have lived after.
Yet, he urged, fruit is expected from those who have received the sacrifice and the space granted by the Master.
“Where are we now in our journey with God? Inside the vineyard and unfruitful?” he asked. “What is the legacy you are leaving? Is it just to come to church? It needs more than that.”
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A Church Beyond Its Walls
That challenge has long been part of the Oak Glades story. The church has not kept the good news of hope to itself, but has continued to minister beyond its walls in surrounding communities, including Union Garden, Delacree Park Housing Scheme, Caribbean Palm Estate, Palm Grove, Payneland, Crescent Road, Oak Glades Housing Scheme, Myrie Avenue, Oakland Road, and the Maxfield Park Children’s Home.
Its mission has also extended into the digital sphere. OGSDA Church has grown its digital ministry from a Facebook page launched in 2009 to weekly livestreamed Sabbath services. First streaming in 2012, the church officially expanded to YouTube and Facebook in 2016.
During the seismic shift of the COVID-19 pandemic, that livestreaming became central to keeping members spiritually connected and the surrounding community evangelised. The pandemic has passed, yet the Communication Department continues to share the Gospel across Facebook, YouTube, and now Instagram, X, and TikTok through the handles @OakGladesSDA and #OGSDA.
As a testimony of that work, the Sabbath morning Homecoming service concluded with two persons—a couple—and one little boy surrendering their lives to Jesus Christ and being baptised by Pastors Ralston Tyrell and Whain Graham.
The 30th anniversary homecoming celebration came to an end with a homecoming banquet on Sunday, August 16. Yet the presence, and more importantly the mission, of the Oak Glades Seventh-day Adventist Church continues until the Lord of all the faithful returns to say, “Well done, good and faithful servant.”
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