Former Methodist Minister in Anguilla, Rev. Theophilus Rolle, has advised the people of the island to build strong family foundations which, as in times past, have accounted for their resilience and strength in the Caribbean today.
The Bahamian-born influential and eloquent preacher was appointed to Anguilla in 1995. He arrived four days before Hurricane Luis and served the island with distinction until his departure. He now holds the position of Bishop of the Bahamas and The Turks & Caicos Islands.
Accompanied by his family, Rev. Rolle is on his annual vacation in Anguilla. He has accepted a number of preaching engagements in the six Methodist Churches, serving in close cooperation with Superintendent Minister Rev. Dr. Wycherley Gumbs and others in the administration of the Anguilla Circuit. Among his engagements was a Family Rally, on Sunday afternoon, July 29, at Zion Methodist Church, which climaxed a week of home and family life activities.
“Wherever you go, people are talking about the family,” Bishop Rolle told the gathering of the six Methodist congregations. “I wish they were talking in their wonderful glowing terms about families and family life. But people are often talking about the breakdown of families across our nations and everybody, no doubt, can tell you why families are breaking down. There are too many divorces, some will say; too many teenagers having children; too many mothers working while their children are at home to fend for themselves; too many mothers who are not working and not caring for their families as they should; there are fathers who are absent, have abandoned and shirked their responsibilities; and then there are those who choose alternative lifestyles – and people often say that they are also contributing to the destruction of family life as well. Poverty is destroying families on some islands. How can we forget drugs, alcoholism and all of those illicit ills causing a breakdown in so many of our families?”
Bishop Rolle continued: “When I look across the Anguilla Circuit, there are some wonderful qualities that you should hold dear to yourselves. To see you here warms and thrills my heart that there is still hope for our nation when people can assemble together and share these wonderful great qualities. For any building to stand, it must have a firm foundation. I brag everywhere about the building structure here in Anguilla. It is something you ought to be proud of. I am not sure that there is another Caribbean territory where the buildings are at such a superior level as they are in Anguilla. The skill craft of your workmen says something about the high calibre of the buildings constructed in Anguilla.
“Many of your buildings were able to withstand much of the ferocious winds that came as a result of a hurricane that passed this way just last year. My family and I had the opportunity of sharing with Rev. Brian Seymour in the British Virgin Islands, and it was a far stark contrast to see the buildings in the BVI compared with what we see here in Anguilla. There is no doubt that you have suffered and have had setbacks as a result of the hurricane, but there is much that you ought to be thankful for.
“I believe that one of the things you should be thankful for is the foundations of your buildings which have been made firm and secure. The same is true about life itself. Without a proper foundation a life would be destroyed. The only sure foundation that anyone can stand on is the foundation of the word of Almighty God. If you want to be strong as a church, as families, and as a nation, then allow the word of God to be at the centre of all you do.
“For many years, the existence of the nation of Anguilla was a passion for God’s word, prayer and those intangibles which held family life together…We heard about some of those intangibles in your songs, jollifications and all the other events which have brought people together. Those things which people held on to passionately held your communities together. Nothing was like the church. It has stood for time immemorial as the centre of attraction in Anguilla. Everything in this nation took its point of departure from the church. It was the catalyst for everything on Anguilla. If our boat builders wanted to bless, dedicate or christen their boats, they made sure they had one of the ministers of the churches to ensure that their boats had a proper blessing before they sail around these islands.”
Rev. Rolle stressed that Anguilla, like the foundations of its buildings, had been built on strong family values which the people of the island must continue to cherish and practice. He observed that “the founding fathers – men who helped to bring about the Revolution – were able to construct [the resolve and plans for the future of] the island on solid, sterling principles which continue to undergird the whole structure of this nation.”
His sermon was preceded by presentations in singing and a skit by families from the six Methodist Churches. Others who took part in the Family Rally were Rev. Dr. Wycherley Gumbs, Rev. Wilmoth Hodge and Sister Evalie Bradley, head of the Ministry of the Church Mission and Evangelism Committee which organised the home and family life activities.
