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A letter from Tricia Lloyd-Sidle in the Caribbean

December 2, 2009

Friends,

Good news: Individuals in mission

2009 has been “a turn-around year” for the sending of long-term mission workers by the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). Hunter Farrell, director of World Mission, writes “This year, we sent out more mission workers than we did in 2008, and with God’s help, our intention is to continue to increase the number in 2010. This turnaround, despite the major economic downturn of the past 14 months and World Mission’s increased costs (given the decreasing value of the dollar overseas), is a major event to celebrate and for which to thank God!” I am thankful for the generosity of Presbyterians across the country and the strong commitment on the part of the General Assembly Mission Council that makes this possible.

Great news – Communities in mission

Photo of eight men and women standing in a row facing an audience (which is out of the picture frame).

At the commissioning service for newly elected CANACOM officers. Left to right: Rev. Osbert James (Grenada), Rev. Nicole Ashwood (Jamaica), Rev. Joel DoPico (Cuba), Rev. Danielle James (Canada), Rev. Dave Spence (Jamaica), Deaconess Ashim Gadjadar (Trinidad and Tobago), Rev. Karen Herbst-Kim (United States), Mr. Garth Blackford (Jamaica).

Mission co-workers are not lone rangers. We join communities in “building up the body of Christ” (Ephesians 4:12). We use our God-given gifts to cooperate with the gospel witness of these communities in mission in the places where we serve. Many of these communities in mission are churches, such as the Presbyterian-Reformed Church in Cuba, the Dominican Evangelical Church and the United Church in Jamaica and the Cayman Islands. There are also ecumenical agencies, community groups, educational institutions and others.

I want to tell you about the great news of a community in mission with which I work. The most unique aspect of my ministry is my participation in the exciting and creative mission community called “CANACOM.”  The name, Caribbean and North American Council for Mission, or CANACOM, describes its membership (churches from both the Caribbean and North America), but it does not begin to capture its dynamism.

Why is CANACOM so exciting?

Its structure, a round table, embodies mutuality in mission. All 13 member churches (ten Caribbean, three North American) put resources “on the table” and participate equally in making decisions. Power imbalances between rich and poor do not disappear, of course, but we are freed from the donor/recipient dynamic and have more energy to bear common witness to Christ’s love.   

The notion that mission is an activity done by wealthier people to assist the poor still lingers in our churches. CANACOM’s style of working together provides opportunities to change and deepen our understandings of mission.  For a young Guyanese woman, there is the realization that God calls all people to mission, not just those who can travel “overseas.” She shared this with her CANACOM colleagues saying: “We [Caribbean people] are a product of colonial racism. We accept what has been handed down to us, uncritically; with an inferiority complex.  [We are learning that] to be a missionary does not mean going to other countries. It means letting people see Christ through you!”

In this model, all are donors and all are recipients. All member churches are invited to submit requests for support of particular projects. Grants up to $5,000 are made to support important evangelism and mission efforts of the churches. Grant requests are discussed around the table, decisions are made, and then we enter into a time of prayer for the project, the church that requested it, and the persons who will be participating in it. At our November meeting in Trinidad, CANACOM funded:

  1. Christian education curriculum with focus on gender, Presbyterian-Reformed Church in Cuba. ($3,000).  The discussion began with a question: What does “a focus on gender” in a Christian education curriculum mean? The Cuban Presbyterians explained that there is a need for a strong biblical foundation for children growing up in a society with many contradictory messages about what it means to be a man and what it means to be a woman.
  2. Contribution to the churchwide fund to assist congregations with their work with poor children, Dominican Evangelical Church ($5000). The statistics on the plight of homeless and near-homeless children in the Dominican Republic were devastating to read. There was confusion, however. How could $5,000 help address such a massive problem? Our Dominican colleague explained that every congregation works with this population of children in some way. It is a denomination-wide mission priority and the denomination has an emergency fund to assist congregations when special needs arise. 
  3. Youth exchange visit from United Protestant Church of Curação to Guyana Congregational Union ($5,000). The church in Curação has three congregations, so even a churchwide youth gathering is not very large. A trip to another island for worship, faith-sharing, and service with youth there is a wonderful way to strengthen their faith and identity as Christians. The CANACOM grant added to local fund-raising efforts by the youth made it possible.
  4. Volunteer from Jamaica to work in Grenada with youth and young adults for two months ($2,000). This project has been waiting for five years to happen. In 2004, a grant had been approved and a volunteer selected to travel to Grenada when Hurricane Ivan devastated the island, including the Presbyterian Church in St. George’s and several other church facilities.  It has taken five years to restore buildings—although not the historic sanctuary—and sufficient stability to go ahead with this intensive youth project. 

CANACOM churches not only challenge and empower one another to carry out mission in their respective countries. We also organize young adult work camps, joint mission teams, and mission conferences. Together, by the grace of God and the power of the Holy Spirit, we seek to be Christ’s witnesses in Kingston or Port of Spain or Atlanta, in all the Caribbean and North America and even to the ends of the earth. This, of course, is the greatest news of all! 

Tricia

The 2009 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p. 272, 274

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