SDA Leadership Gets Refresher Training in Biblical Stewardship Model
Administrators, Stewardship Directors, Pastors and Elders of the Seventh-day Adventist Churches in the Caribbean Union (CARU) journeyed from January 14-21 to Barbados for the Holy Convocation 2023.
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Administrators, Stewardship Directors, Pastors and Elders of the Seventh-day Adventist Churches in the Caribbean Union (CARU) journeyed from January 14-21 to Barbados for the Holy Convocation 2023. There they joined with local Ministerial colleagues to preach the Word of God as it relates to being a Christian Steward to members of the East Caribbean Conference. The week-long initiative was part of an intense, intentional spiritual revival and training sponsored by the Stewardship Department of the Caribbean Union, in conjunction with local and regional counterparts.
The theme of this year’s Holy Convocation was “The Member, The Mission and The Money”, and focused on five (5) R’s of Christian Stewardship; Redemption, Relationship, Righteousness, Riches and Returning. This program followed the mandates of Joel 2:15-16, to call a sacred assembly, and to consecrate workers who would receive the Holy Spirit to fulfil the mission of preparing people for the Second Coming. Almost 50 presenters, including 30 administrators and directors, revisited stewardship principles as well as their roles and responsibility in strengthening members’ trust. It was the fourth such annual event organized by CARU Stewardship Ministries Director, Dr. Gandalal Samlalsingh.
“Given the environment and prevailing circumstances, we need more spiritual and financial education and better financial planning,” Dr. Samlalsingh said. “Therefore, it is imperative that we strategize our initiatives to provide for a more viable and sustainable environment that builds trust and confidence among our intermediaries. This trust should be safeguarded by every denominational worker and member so that we can secure long-term success in fulfilling the mandate to save a perishing world,” he said.
In closing remarks to the hundreds of constituents gathered at the end of the weeklong training program, Executive Secretary of the Inter- American Division (IAD), Dr. Leonard Johnson charged pastors and church elders to be faithful and practical Christians. That meant that they should believe every word found in the Bible and practice its tenets even as they shepherd their congregations.
“We are stewards of privilege,” added Stewardship Director of the General Conference, Pr. Aniel Barbe, when he addressed the gathering. “God has deposited all that we need to carry out the work. We simply need to be faithful [for] more than building and financing a sanctuary, God wants to dwell with us.”
Minister of Ecclesiastical Affairs for the Government of Barbados, the Honourable Colin Jordin, who is also an elder at the Mile and a Quarter Seventh-day Adventist Church, also offered words of inspiration: “We are aware that the times will not get less challenging. . . I encourage you to be faithful,” he said, adding that at one site, five persons were baptized and one professed faith in God because of the weeklong initiative.
With a focus on the member, the mission and the money, CARU President Dr. Kern Tobias commented that God “expects us to use our wealth to enhance His kingdom and preach the gospel and, here in the East Caribbean Conference, we are seeing that taking place. That mission commitment in members propels them to support the evangelism work of sharing the gift of the gospel,” he said. Dr. Tobias was joined by CARU administrators as well as the presidents of the Atlantic Caribbean Union, the Jamaica Union and the Dutch Union Conference.
Dr. Roberto Herrera of the Inter-American Division (IAD) commended the Stewardship Department for the thrust. “I want to congratulate you because you are seriously trying to put God first. Great and good things will come for the church in Barbados as a result of what has been experienced. The more faithful the church member is, the more generous and involved he or she becomes in the mission of the church,” said Dr. Herrera, who supported the initiative alongside his wife, Ivelisse Herrera, treasurer of the IAD.
In his remarks, Pastor Anthony Hall, president of the East Caribbean Conference, said that it was obvious to him that “something like that would produce rich rewards for the constituency.” While many had been somewhat hesitant about the nature of the initiative, President Hall indicated that, by the end of the week, members had grown confident in the ideas presented and outcomes promised. “When we are speaking about God’s work, we cannot talk failure,” Hall said. “Indeed, when God is in it, He can do anything.”
For Pastor Danny Philip, Stewardship Director of the North Caribbean Conference, it was a successful week of ministering to and visiting with church members. “It was an extraordinary week,” Pastor Phillip remarked, “and it was plain to see that the brethren must be visited, and the church must be shepherded,” he said. “The best that we can do is to pass on that passion for Christ -- that communion with Him, so that from there on, great things can take place in the church and the community.”
The “Holy Convocation” 2023 event in the East Caribbean Conference also featured speakers like Pastor Bertie Henry, Treasurer of the Caribbean Union, and falls in line with one of the conference’s strategic initiatives ─that of biblical stewardship principles geared toward young people and children. As a result of this initiative, 24 souls were baptized, 1 was re-baptized and 1 joined the church through profession of faith. Let God be praised!