Baptists in Grenada

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Baptists in Grenada have been around since the 1970s. Most of the Baptists in the Caribbean island state are united in the Grenada Baptist Convention (formerly the Grenada Baptist Association ). There are also some independent Baptist churches. The so-called Spiritual Baptists , who immigrated from Trinidad at the beginning of the 20th century , are a syncretistic religious community that - despite their name - does not belong to the Baptist denominational family.

history

Baptist missionary work in Grenade began with the murderer Leon Edwards, who was sentenced to life imprisonment . He was an inmate of the Richmond Hill Jail in St. George’s , Grenada 's capital . In 1972 he heard the Baptist Hour on the radio , an evangelistic program on the Baptist radio that was then broadcast from Fort Worth , Texas . He was converted and contacted leading Baptists in Jamaica and the United States and asked for a minister to be sent to Grenada. The Southern Baptists then sent a television crew to Grenada to film Edwards' story. Team of the Baptist preacher JP Allen, who as a theological consultant for the part Radio and Television Commission of the Southern Baptists worked. He received permission from the prison authorities of the Richmond Hill Jail before the film was finished to baptize Leon Edwards in the Caribbean Sea at his request .

Two years after these events, Manget and Elaine Herrin arrived in the capital of Grenada. You served on the Foreign Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention (FMBSBC) and had previously served as missionaries in Guyana . After a stay at home in the USA, they had been refused a follow-up visa for their mission field. Immediately after their arrival in the island state, the couple contacted Leon Edwards. With him and other prisoners who were converted by Edwards' testimony , Manget and Elaine Herrin organized the first Grenadian Baptist church. The services were initially held exclusively in the prison. The couple later rented a commercial building in town. At the inauguration of the shop church , the prison management allowed prisoners to attend, but under guard. In 1975 Leon Edwards died of a stroke in his prison cell. Over 30 guests attended the funeral service at which Manget Herrin preached the sermon. It is considered to be the first public Baptist worship service in Grenada. The Richmond Hill Jail established a worship center in Edward's cell and the surrounding area in 1977, dedicated to the memory of Leon Edward. The prisoners were largely involved in the renovation and furnishing of the church service room.

The movement grew slowly but continuously. Within a few years, in addition to the congregation in St. George's, three other Baptist congregations were established in Grenada with a total of 200 members. The collaboration with the Jamaican Baptist Missionary Society (JaBMS), especially the common radio program, which was very popular on the island, was also helpful in this development .

In 1981 the Grenada congregations, which had 250 members at the time, formed the Grenada Baptist Association (now the Grenada Baptist Convention ). In 2017, the Grenadian community association had five communities with 510 members.

The Grenada Baptist Convention , which is part of the Baptist World Federation and its regional association, the Caribbean Baptist Fellowship , operates several social-welfare institutions, including two health centers and a prisoner welfare.

In addition to the congregations belonging to the convention , there are also several independent Baptist churches today, including Happy Hill and Mama Cannes Independent Baptist Church .

Web links

literature

  • Albert W. Wardin (Ed.): Baptists around the world. A comprehensive handbook . Broadman & Holman Publishers: Nashville / Tennessee 1995. ISBN 0-8054-1076-7 . Pp. 312-14
  • William H. Brackney: Historical Dictionary of the Baptists . Volume 25 in the Historical Dictionaries of Religions, Philosophies, and Movements series . The Scarecrow Press, Inc .: Lanham, Maryland, and London 1999. ISBN 0-8108-3652-1 . P. 194
  • Justice C. Anderson: An Evangelical Saga: Baptists and Their Precursors in Latin America . Xulon Press: [no location] 2005. ISBN 1-59781-495-4 . Pp. 558-561

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Justice C. Anderson: An Evangelical Saga: Baptists and Their Precursors in Latin America . Xulon Press: [no location] 2005, p. 559
  2. ↑ The film was released in 1976 ( IMDb.com: The Man Who Sang in the Dungeon ); Accessed March 22, 2020. See also Justice C. Anderson: An Evangelical Saga: Baptists and Their Precursors in Latin America . Xulon Press: [no location] 2005, p. 559
  3. ^ Albert W. Wardin (Ed.): Baptists around the world. A comprehensive handbook . Broadman & Holman Publishers: Nashville / Tennessee 1995. p. 313
  4. ^ Justice C. Anderson: An Evangelical Saga: Baptists and Their Precursors in Latin America . Xulon Press: [no location] 2005, p. 560
  5. ↑ Elaine Herrin: Prison Worship Center Dedicated By Inmates . In: Baptist Press of August 9, 1977. PDF online p. 2 ; accessed on March 22, 2020
  6. ^ Justice C. Anderson: An Evangelical Saga: Baptists and Their Precursors in Latin America . Xulon Press: [no location] 2005, p. 560
  7. ^ Justice C. Anderson: An Evangelical Saga: Baptists and Their Precursors in Latin America . Xulon Press: [no location] 2005, p. 561
  8. ^ Albert W. Wardin (Ed.): Baptists around the world. A comprehensive handbook . Broadman & Holman Publishers: Nashville / Tennessee 1995. p. 313
  9. ↑ BWA.org: Statistics. Caribbean ; accessed on March 22, 2020
  10. ^ Albert W. Wardin (Ed.): Baptists around the world. A comprehensive handbook . Broadman & Holman Publishers: Nashville / Tennessee 1995. p. 313