Kathleen Dyke

Kimoni Harris, Staff Reporter

One would never have guessed that at 92 years old, anyone would be preaching a sermon.

Well, be surprised because a very humble and small-framed, but vibrant Kathleen Dyke is such a preacher. Born October 26, 1916, the second of 11 children, Dyke is the epitome of the phrase, 'likkle but tallawah'.

Growing up in a district called Douglas Castle in St Ann, Dyke knew from age 24 that she wanted to be a preacher and she made no obstacle prevent her from going after her calling.

Dyke told The Star that she was ordained to be a preacher and she knew that from a vision she had in 1951. "I vision a clock with four numbers and a voice asked, 'Do you know what the number four represents in the scriptures?' and she replied, 'yes', it means the four beasts," she recalled.

Dyke said she decided to preach that message the next day and it was at this point that she got the inspiration to form her own church as she could change the lives of persons. That night she formed the Douglas Castle Church of God Seventh-day with only nine members. Today that church still exists.

driving force

Dyke now resides in Kingston and she is a driving force in the Jamaica Council Church of God Seventh-day at 54 Chisholm Avenue, the church that she built and still pastors at times. She told The Star that she preaches two Sabbaths, every three months and she is also part of an outreach missionary programme formed by the youths to help spread the word of God daily.

"I am still very active in the church. I attend all church functions and services. The church is my life, I love it. I realised preaching was my calling as I would preach everywhere, my seniors would want me to preach at conventions and all the important events, I knew God called me to be a preacher," said Dyke smiling.

Dyke sees the Jamaican society as being desperate as she said, "People are in need of God, what people want is what they reject, if persons respected and loved God, they would not be so evil and covetous."

Finally Dyke had this to say, "if you break one, you break all - that's the 10 commandments, people diligently seek God now."