Representatives of the fifteen circuits of the Methodist Church in the Leeward Islands District of the Caribbean and the Americas have been meeting in Anguilla over the past several days. The meeting of the District Council, a smaller group of what has been known as the Synod, was mainly to look at various challenges facing the Church in the region and how to respond to those challenges.
Reverend Franklyn Manners, District President, headed the meetings. Others working with him included Vice President of the Connexional Conference of the Methodist Church in the Caribbean and the Americas, Anguillian Mrs Muriel Hughes-Smith; Rev Dr Joan Delsol Meade, Secretary of the Conference; Rev Dr Wycherley Gumbs, Superintendent Minister of the Anguilla Circuit, as well as visiting clergy and lay representatives from the district.
Reverend Manners delivered the sermon at the District Welcome Service which was held at Bethel Methodist Church, South Hill, on Monday evening, January 13. He spoke afterwards to The Anguillian.
“This is a meeting of representatives from the fifteen circuits which make up the Leeward Islands District, extending from Guadeloupe in the east to the Netherland Antilles – including places like Dominica, Montserrat, Antigua, St Kitts-Nevis [and] St Martin/St Maarten…
“We come together once a year to review the work of the Church and to plan for the future. Part of all of this, is the deployment of our staff, some of the challenges which we face, both in terms of finding adequate numbers of Ministers, and also the challenges of placing them, given some of the [immigration] restrictions which are in place in today’s world. Of course, in our Mission and Evangelism Department, we also take into account some of the trends in our wider society which are likely to impact the proclamation of the Gospel.
“These are some of the distractions which our young people face – crime and violence, drugs, illicit sex and all of that. As I said, it is an effort to review the work, plan for the future as best as we could.”
Reverend Manners was asked whether the Church was responding effectively to the various challenges, and was well on top of the problems.
“Well, we are never one hundred percent successful and sometimes the results are not always recognisable, but we have to press on,” the very articulate reverend gentleman replied. “In a number of instances what we do represents sowing a seed. Who knows, it may take a decade to germinate and bear fruit, but we have to keep sowing. That is what the Gospel calls us to do.”
During his sermon, Reverend Manners focused on the theme of the District Council meetings: “Called To Care – If you love me, tend my flock”. He stressed that the task of the Church was its responsibility to exercise that caring in such a way that the widest possible community benefits from it. He called for the building up of the institutions within the life of the Church through which caring love needed to be exercised.
At the commencement of the service, a number of messages were delivered by several persons. The first came from Governor Christina Scott and was read in her absence by Reverend Dr Joan Meade. The other messages were from Chief Minister Hubert Hughes, on behalf of the Government and people of Anguilla; Mrs Ursil Brooks, Secretary of the Anguilla Christian Council on behalf of the Chairman, the Right Reverend Errol Brooks, Bishop of the Anglican Diocese of the North Eastern Caribbean and Aruba; Pastor Gareth Hodge, on behalf of the Evangelical Association and the Chairman Pastor Lucien McDonna; and Mrs Muriel Hughes-Smith, Vice President of the Connexional Conference.
Reverend Manners, the District President, responded to the messages with expressions of thanks. A roll call of representatives also preceded the rest of the service.
