MISSION TO THE FRENCH WEST INDIES 2

Bapstismal Service in Port Louis

Mission to Martinique and Guadeloupe

GUADELOUPE May 24-29

On May 24^th in the morning, I woke up not feeling well. I realized that I had caught the chikungunya and we were to embark at 14:30 for Guadeloupe. Fortunately for me our landlady knew about plant care and with more prayer, I was able to fly with Jacques to Guadeloupe.


We were greeted at the airport by a brother delegated by Pastor Dominique DICK who couldn't come as something turned up. Then we were  installed in the premises of  the Federation of Evangelical Baptist Churches of Guadeloupe. We later learned that some changes had occurred in the program we received before.

Apart from meeting with the pastors of the EEA churches and the baptismal service, our interventions in Guadeloupe were identical to those of Martinique and the same method and the same theme.

On Sunday 25^th we were invited to preach at the church “Soldats du Christ” (Soldiers of Christ) in St.

Anne. The meeting was a richness we had not suspected. After a presentation by Jacques of Lifeline, I preached again on slavery and freedom basing my argument on Exodus 12. We had in front of us, a very open assistance and sensitive to the issue of slavery and its legacy. His pastor told us that he had participated in the Lifeline March in Guadeloupe in 2005. We were literally sprinkled with questions and asked to come back on Tuesday night for another meeting.

The next day on May 26, we had a meeting with some pastors of the EEA churches. The discussion was passionate and we shared the goals and objectives of our movement for reconciliation and our ministries. We then gave them some Lifeline Expedition DVDs.

the baptismal service

On May 27^th, the day of the celebration of the abolition in Guadeloupe, the Federation of Evangelical Baptist Churches of Guadeloupe hosts an annual and common baptismal service at the beach in Port Louis. Sixty people of all ages took the baptism that day. I was invited this year to share the message during the service. I brought a message of evangelism and launched a call to conversion. That day also, many people gave their lives to Jesus. After the baptism, Jacques was asked to introduce our reconciliation movement. We had a picnic on the beach where we shared a festive time of fellowship and enjoyed swimming at the beach in Port Louis. We left our friends well before the end of the fellowship because we had to rest and prepare for the evening meeting.

 

In the evening, a brother picked us up to take us to St. Anne were we had to preach for the second time. This meeting was even more intense than the first one at the point that it was difficult to end it and leave, as people still had questions. The next day some teachings in Grand Camp with the churches of Point-A-Pitre and we were all blessed both by our interventions and by the people’s reactions.

We received an unforgettable welcome in Guadeloupe and projects have been implemented with Pastor Dominique DICK that we will achieve in 2015 and 2016.

On Thursday 29^th we flew back to Martinique were we were expected for another program.

As my bother Jacques said so aptly in his report, we felt a door is widely open to allow to deal with this tragic story that still affects many lives. We felt among the people of Martinique and Guadeloupe that we met, a deep desire of healing from this past, a courageous consciousness of the necessity to be free from hatred, anger and resentment against the white oppressors and African brothers who contributed to this story and its consequences, releasing forgiveness with the desire to build a future filled with hope.

Bu I want to thank Jacques and admire his courage because it certainly was not easy for a European

to cope with this history and the claims of justice and reparation and restitution in relation to this issue, which we have been confronted at throughout this mission. May our God and Father of our Lord Jesus give him healing, wisdom and discernment in relation to this problem knowing that our identity is in Jesus and not in what defines us by our origins, our past or human groups to which we belong!