Amerindian Mission Project Launched in Guyana

 They may form a minority group; but when it comes to salvation, the indigenous peoples who reside largely in Guyana’s forested hinterland are as significant as any. This is just the reason that God inspired the conceptualization of the multi-million dollar Amerindian Mission Project that was launched at the Head Office of the Guyana Conference of Seventh-day Adventists on August 5, 2005.

 In presenting the opening address at the launching, Director of Personal Ministries in the Inter-American Division of Seventh-day Adventists, Pastor Carlyle Bayne recognized the project as “an important vehicle for finishing the work of the Gospel of Jesus Christ in Guyana’s interior by taking the Good News into the homes and lives of the Amerindian people.” His counterpart from the Caribbean Union Conference, Pastor Samuel Telemaque, explained that the project was designed to allow Amerindians to meet in small groups to discuss and study the Word of God.

 The Amerindian Mission Project is a two-year venture that seeks to make the Good News of Salvation more widely available to Amerindians living in the interior of Guyana. Those familiar with ‘off-coast’ regions can attest to the challenges they pose. The sprawling expanse of these regions is interspersed with dense jungles, rugged mountains, and dangerous rivers and wildlife. Accessibility from the coastland is usually limited to expensive air travel, while ‘inter-interior’ journeys are accommodated by canoes and walking. Added to these natural physical barriers, are limited infrastructural development and the unique cultures of the indigenous peoples. The project intends to surmount these barriers and spread the gospel in these areas by establishing thirty House Centres in communities where there is no or limited Adventist presence.

 Brainchild of Ministerial Director of the Caribbean Union Conference, Pastor Andrew Farrel, the project has been adopted and financially supported by both the General Conference and Inter-American Division. Seventy-five percent (75%) of the eight million Guyana dollars ( or US$40,000.) needed for funding has been injected by the General Conference. The Inter-American Division, the Caribbean Union Conference, and the Guyana Conference share the remaining expense on a 10:6:4 ratio. These funds provide for the purchasing of power generators, television sets, DVD players, necessary accessories, and audio-visual materials for each of the 30 House Centres. In addition, monies will be available for stipend disbursements to volunteer mission workers.

 The project approach requires mission leaders and their teams to develop close relationships in target communities, identify with existing cultures, and assume meaningful and legitimate community roles. More importantly, they are expected to use opportunities to expose the people to specially designed health and religious instructions using the equipment provided. Thus it is anticipated that just as it happened when Jesus walked the earth, many in the vast jungle of Guyana’s interior will be gradually motivated to adopt the teachings of the Scripture.

 The initiative is a welcome one and the soldiers who have volunteered their service are mustered and on the move. Initial ground work has already been done in a number of territories and at the time of launching, five groups had already implemented the project. 

Pastors Bayne and Telemaque (front left and right respectively) at launching ceremony


One of the team leaders with a sample of the equipment