ECC Expands Possibility Ministries, Hearing Impaired Elders Ordained to Service
The Seventh-day Adventist Church in the East Caribbean Conference (ECC) for the first time ordained two elders and a deacon from the hearing-impaired membership in Barbados.
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Pastor Deborah Spooner of the East Caribbean Conference is presenting the ordination certificate to newly ordained Elder Anthony Pile. He currently holds the office of First Elder, Men’s Ministries Leader and Assistant Sign Language Coordinator.
The Seventh-day Adventist Church in the East Caribbean Conference (ECC) for the first time ordained two elders and a deacon from the hearing-impaired membership in Barbados. The ordination service drew church leaders, volunteers and more than 35 hearing impaired persons to the ECC center on March 11, 2023, to witness the historic occasion.
Brother Anthony Pile and Sis Sandra White-Belgrave were ordained as elders while Brother David Oliver was ordained as a deacon in an impressive service in which attendees waved their approval in unison during the call and response ritual.
Pastor Jason Peters in his homily challenged the new leaders to become servant- leaders who provide for the physical, social, and spiritual needs of its most vulnerable church members —widows, orphans, sick, poor, elderly, single parents, unemployed, bereaved, physically and mentally handicapped, substance abusers, homeless, and battered and abused victims.
Pastor Jason Peters offering the prayer of ordination for all the elders ordained during the service. Included in the group are elders from the sister church in the district.
The ordination service comes at a time when the church is placing renewed emphasis on the Possibility Ministries movement and intentionally including individuals with special needs into its fellowship. Accordingly, Pile has been invited to sit on the conference’s Possibilities Ministry Committee where the needs of that demographic can be articulated. “We want them to function with a sense of pride, dignity and self-worth,” said ECC President Pastor Anthony Hall. “In the East Caribbean Conference, we are aware that the message of God is for every person and, as a church, we have the responsibility to deliver this message of salvation using all of the means available so that they all can understand and accept it in their lives.”
Deaf Ministries began in the ECC about 30 years ago with Elder Earlwaine Cumberbatch who desired to see the gospel spread to the Deaf and the Hard of Hearing. Over the years, considerable progress was made from initially having only a Sabbath School program to acquiring company status to being fully established as a church in 2004.
Having attained church status, they worshipped for a number of years in a classroom at
the SDA Secondary school until, in May 2017, through an initiative approved by the East Caribbean Conference, by the direction of Elder Beresford Hunte and under the pastoral care of Deborah Spooner, they moved to bigger and better premises at the former Cave’s Nursing Home.
Pastor Deborah Spooner presenting certificate to Bro. David Oliver. Bro. David Oliver, was one of the deacons ordained in the service. He is the first ordained Deaf Deacon in this conference.
The current church membership includes sixty five active baptized deaf persons. The newly minted First Elder Pile holds additional offices as Men’s Ministries Leader and Assistant Sign Language Coordinator. Sister White-Belgrave holds the offices of Associate Elder, Assistant Head Deaconess, Assistant Sabbath School Superintendent and Communications Leader. Deacon Oliver holds the coveted designation of being the first ordained Deaf Deacon in the ECC.
“It is a high honor to participate in the service,” said Spooner who assisted in distributing the ordination certificates. “This fills a great need in our population, thanks to God,” she said.
Pile agreed. “There is a great need for ministry to the deaf community and this ordination service has brought additional meaning to our lives as a deaf community,” he said.