January 2017
New Years Rally – This year, the New Years rally was held on January 8th at Colihaut. Various Baptist churches across the island congregated for a joint service, praise and fellowship.
April 2017
Easter Rally – The Easter Rally was held at the Benjamin’s Park in Portsmouth on Easter Sunday.
Dominica Independent Baptist Fellowship Crusade – Following the Easter Rally, the Dominica Independent Baptist Fellowship hosted a week of special nightly services. It was held at the Benjamin’s Park with the purpose of drawing people to Jesus Christ. Guest speaker Pastor Cato from the USA along with his international missions team were invited to conduct the services. Many people made the decision to accept Jesus Christ as their personal Lord and Saviour during that crusade week.
May 2017
Virgin Islands Missions Inc. Conference – Pastor Angust and Sister Valerina Simon along with five others members of our church attended the 50th Missions Bible Conference. This conference is held annually at the Bethel Missionary Baptist Church in St. Thomas, under the leadership of Pastor Bentley Thomas. Daily sessions were held under the theme “Unity and Reconciliation in the Body of Christ”. Sub topics included; Unity in Christ, Unity with the Local Body, Unity with the Persecuted Church and Unity with the Global Church. Nightly services consisted of several special guest speakers throughout the week.
Christians are encouraged to attend conferences because they provide access to training and resources that greatly help in the development of one’s spiritual well being. Furthermore, the information gained can be passed on which will further strengthen the local church.
June 2017
Ladies Month – Ladies month is an annual event organised by the Ladies Fellowship of our church to boost the ladies on towards spiritual maturity. Several activities were organized by the ladies under the leadership of the Ladies Fellowship president – Sister Karen John Baptist. These activities involved the participation of the entire church and sermons preached were based on the ladies month theme. This year’s theme was “Transforming into truly beautiful women by developing a meek and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight.” The theme verse was 1 Peter 3:3-4.
Some activities throughout the month included:
- a discussion on public media and social media technology in terms of how it affects the church and how it can be used to enhance the church.
- prayer meetings at the homes of two elderly ladies from the church – Sister Carty and Sister Cole.
- a full moon cookout at the Purple Turtle Beach
- a talk by Nurse Catherine Hypolite discussing the changes that the female’s body goes through as she ages, how to deal with it, and how husbands can be understanding during that time.
- a talk by Pastor Benjamin on the men’s role as fathers and husbands.
- Father’s Day lunch
- a Ladies conference where ladies of sister churches were invited to join us to listen to the dynamic guest speakers – Sister Pierre of the Grace Baptist Church at Clifton and our very own Sister Valerina Simon.
- an exhibition where the ladies displayed their art, crafts, embroidery, cooking and sewing skills
Northeastern Caribbean Church Leadership (NCCL) Conference – Three members of our church attended the 12th Annual NCCL Conference from June 12th – 16th . This conference takes place at the Good News Baptist Church in St. Maarten, under the leadership of Pastor Roderick Webster. This year’s theme was “The Church on the Move – Going to another level”. Attendees had the option to choose any two daily sessions under the following ministries; Bible and Theology, Pastoral, Preaching, Church Development, Worship, Leadership, Counseling, Women’s Ministry, Youth Ministry and Community Development. Nightly services during the week consisted of special guest speakers including Dr. Tony Evans, who spoke for the final three nights.
August 2017
Baptism Service – A Baptism service was held on Sunday August 6th at the Purple Turtle Beach in Portsmouth. Seven persons testified of their desire to follow Jesus and got baptized.
Vacation Bible School – Vacation Bible School commenced from August 14th to August 17th. V.BS. attracts about 200 children every year. During these four days, the children take part in fun activities, songs, bible lessons and opportunities to win prizes. V.B.S. is hosted annually by a team from The Virgin Islands Mission Inc. under the leadership of Pastor Bentley Thomas. Additionally, evening services are held during those four days where various pastors on the team, spiritually build up the congregation with dynamic messages.
Mission Trip to the Carib Territory – A team from our church under the leadership of Pastor Preston Simon conducted our first ever mission trip to the Carib Territory from Tuesday August 22nd to Sunday August 27th, with the aim of winning souls to Jesus Christ. This included house to house witnessing/evangelism in the mornings along with free medical assessments/checkups done by Brother/Dr. Mark and his medical team. In the afternoons from 2:00pm-4:00pm, Vacation Bible School was held for the children of the community. The children were taught various lessons from the theme “The Fruit of the Spirit”. They were also entertained with a puppet show. From 7:00pm, nightly crusades were held and many persons were invited to come and listen. The mission trip came to an end with a final church service at the host church (Open Bible Baptist Church led by Pastor Tony Cornelius) on the Sunday morning of August 27th.
When the mission team returned, they were excited to report that the trip was a major success. Many persons accepted Jesus Christ as their personal Lord and Saviour during the house visits and nightly crusades. The team further testified of their various life changing experiences during the trip, the friendships that they built and the joy that they experienced as persons came to know the Lord. Brother Mark and his medical team were further able to provide much needed medical assistance to many persons. This mission trip has sharpened the faith of the mission team and they are eagerly looking forward to the next mission trip.
September 2017
On 17th September 2017, Hurricane Maria caused significant damage to the church building. Church services could not be held for weeks after the hurricane.