CARIBBEAN BAPTISTS FACE DOWN CHALLENGES continued
job at reaching out to Spanish-speaking Cuba and Dominican Republic, and French-speaking Guadeloupe, Martinique
and Haiti. There is need, for instance, to make the Sunday School teacher and learner guides produced by the Caribbean
Christian Publications (CCP) available in both Spanish and French.
The CCP, which, in addition to Sunday School resources, publishes Vacation Bible School materials, tracts, and other
publications for Caribbean churches, continues its important ministries despite difficulties occasioned by the worldwide
economic recession. Sunday School Worker Training Seminars, an important ministry of CCP, are being held in various
locations in the Caribbean area, including in Panama, Guyana, Jamaica and San Andres, Colombia.
Several speakers at the assembly highlighted Caribbean challenges and urged Caribbean Baptists to redouble their effort
and commitment even in the face of these grave challenges. “There is the need for Caribbean church people to cultivate
a culture of daring,” outgoing CBF President Taylor declared. People in the region need “to think that one can make a
difference in devastating circumstances.”
“We know what pain is,” said BWA vice president and past CBF president Vincent Wood. “Situations in life change but we
rely on the unchanging God.”
Glenroy Lalor, Baptist warden and tutor at UTCWI, said that “the Caribbean can best be described as a community of
guests – we are all guests in these lands through enslavement and immigration on Amerindian lands.” Therefore, “we are
compelled not to mete out to others the same treatment we received.”
Deonie Duncan, a Jamaican Baptist pastor, stated that “the Caribbean Sea binds and separates the Caribbean.” The
region has suffered “historical divisions based on colonialism, neo-colonialism, separate languages, national sovereignty,
and religious influences.” But there are factors that bring people in the Caribbean together – common experiences, similar
sizes and settings, a history of being colonized, and a shared history of slavery.
Pinder expressed words of hope. “Regardless of the past, what we have is a future filled with opportunities, because of
who God is. We have all we need in God.”
Cawley Bolt, JBU president, hoped “that the CBF will be a sign of unity among Baptists in the region despite differing
experiences. It is possible for the Caribbean people to come together.”
PHOTOS: The CBF Executive Committee meets; Devon Dick, author of THE CROSS AND THE MACHETE, presents a
complimentary copy to BWA General Secretary Neville Callam
“It is possible for the Caribbean people to come together.”
- Cawley Bolt, JBU president
“. . . to think that one can make a difference in devastating circumstances.”
- Burchell Taylor, outgoing CBF president
“The Lord used the strike to bring the churches together”
- Dominic Dick, new CBF vice president
Haitian Baptists are offering aid and relief to the many thousands of victims.
- Moïse Dorsinville, consultant to the Baptist Convention of Haiti & coordinator of its earthquake relief efforts 21