Years of Worship Above a Shop, Then Land of Their Own: A Bequia Congregation Dedicates Its New Church

• Streams of Power Ministries dedicated a new two-storey church on Bequia in May 2019
• The congregation had worshipped for years in the Society Hall, upstairs a shop in Paget Farm
• After several years, the ministry bought land on the island to build
• Hundreds travelled from the mainland for the dedication service

A congregation on the Grenadine island of Bequia has moved out of a hall above a shop and into a building of its own. iWitness News reported on 22 May 2019 that Streams of Power (SOP) Ministries had dedicated a new two-storey church on the island at a service the previous Sunday.

For years, the Bequia congregation had held its weekly services in the Society Hall, which is located upstairs a shop in Paget Farm. According to the report, after several years the ministry purchased land in Bequia to construct a church building. The work on the island was started 33 years earlier by missionary Carmalie Daniel, and the ministry is led by Pastor Errol Daniel. The cost of the land and the building was not disclosed.

Hundreds of members from the ministry’s three mainland branches travelled to Bequia for the dedication, joined by guests including Opposition Leader and area representative Godwin Friday and Herman Belmar, Deputy Director of Grenadines Affairs. The featured speaker was Reverend Jewell Calendar, senior pastor of The People’s Cathedral in Barbados, who told the congregation that “Places of worship must be built where people can come to be nurtured and discipled.”

Friday praised the church’s role on the island. “The SOP Church is an important part of the Christian community in Bequia and has contributed significantly to the development of the people,” he said. The report said the new building would benefit people in Bequia who use it to access spiritual and holistic help.

The journey from rented room to owned building is one that many small Caribbean congregations know well. Renting keeps costs down in the early years, but it leaves a church at the mercy of a landlord and limits what it can offer. Buying land, often after years of saving, gives a congregation security, an asset, and space to expand into outreach.

Plenty of Jamaican churches, especially newer Pentecostal and evangelical congregations, still meet in rented halls, schools or shop spaces. The Bequia story is a reminder that land ownership is achievable with patience and planning. Congregations considering the step should secure a clean title, get proper planning approval before building, and keep transparent building-fund accounts, and diaspora members who once worshipped in such halls are often the natural partners to help make the purchase possible.

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