“It Was Going to Be Used for the Service of the Lord”: Sisters Fight a Church’s Plan to Lease Its Old School to Government

• The Seventh-day Adventist Church in the Bahamas considered leasing its former Bahamas Academy building to government
• A $3.5 million complex was proposed for the Wulff Road site
• Two sisters descended from the first Adventist missionaries objected publicly
• The church’s treasurer said no documents had been signed

A proposal to lease a disused church school to the government of the Bahamas ran into opposition from inside the Adventist family in June 2015, The Tribune reported. The building at the centre of the row was the former Bahamas Academy on Wulff Road in Nassau, owned by the Seventh-day Adventist Church, and a $3.5 million complex had been proposed for the premises.

The objection came from Margaret and Hadassah Guillaume, who describe themselves as great-granddaughters of the first Adventist missionaries to the Bahamas, William Charles Antonio and Mary Griffith-Antonio. The couple established the denomination in the islands in 1893. The church’s first school opened in 1912, and the original Bahamas Academy building went up in 1948.

For the sisters, the history mattered more than the balance sheet. “When it was dedicated, it was indicated that it was going to be used for the service of the Lord,” Hadassah Guillaume said. Her sister raised a second, doctrinal objection, arguing that a government tenant would not keep the church’s day of rest: “The proposed lease agreement will violate God’s Sabbath command.”

The church’s response was measured. Pastor C Melvin Lewis, treasurer of the South Bahamas Conference, said the deal had not been concluded and left the door open to members who wanted a say. “We have not signed any documents. If they want to, they can come back and we can sit and talk,” he said.

The dispute captured a tension that runs through church property decisions across the region: a building that no longer serves its original purpose can become a source of income, but members who remember its dedication may see any commercial use as a breach of trust.

For Jamaica, where the Adventist Church and other denominations hold school buildings, halls and lots that are under-used or empty, the Nassau row is a useful warning. Leasing church property to government or private tenants can steady finances and keep old buildings in repair, but boards that move without consulting members, or without explaining how a lease fits the original purpose of the gift, risk a public split. Clear title, a written policy on what church property can be used for, and early conversation with the congregation are the stewardship basics that make such deals easier to defend.

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