THE CHURCH NEEDS to re-evaluate and retool itself for the 21st century.

This was the advice of district superintendent of the Wesleyan Holiness Church, Reverend Carlyle Williams.

"It is time to stop playing church. We have the challenge of repositioning ourselves in order to be relevant to our times. We are a dynamic society, so the church has to be proactive and retool our members with training," he said.

Williams said his denomination was engaged in a number of programmes of that nature, such as Bible study, family life education and ministerial training, but said there was still a long way to go.

"I am not satisfied yet. I am challenged to mobilise more officers but it is also a challenge to get people to apply the training and not to be afraid to take risks," he said.

Williams was speaking to the DAILY NATION after a quarterly service of its nearly 40 churches at the tabernacle in Whitepark Road, the City, yesterday, that was attended by thousands.

Another concern he highlighted was the lack of attendance of youth at Sunday school.

"There is a decline in youth in the church and we have to come up with an action plan to link with parents and guardians to offer as many services as we can in helping to alleviate the problems of children and the family in order to find out why they have fallen off," he said.

He added the problem was sometimes they did not understand adolescents, so they were teaching members how to develop people skills.

Addressing the issue of the future of the church, Williams said his vision was to see a "greater union of different denominations, all speaking one language for the sustained leadership of this country".