Pepper Farms and Rental Buildings: Caribbean Anglicans Turn to Their Land to Pay for Ageing Churches

• Anglican dioceses across the Eastern Caribbean are leasing church land for income
• Uses include homes, businesses and farming, from Antigua to Nevis
• The money helps restore churches, some of them centuries old
• A cleric said every diocese in the province had been challenged to use its assets

Anglican churches across the Eastern Caribbean are increasingly looking to their land to pay for the upkeep of historic buildings, The Living Church reported in July 2023. The Diocese of Barbados announced in November 2022 that it would explore renting vacant land to farmers, to raise income and support the island’s food security, and set up a secretariat to manage the plan.

The Diocese of the Northeastern Caribbean and Aruba, which spans 12 islands including Anguilla, Antigua, Barbuda, Dominica, Montserrat, St Kitts and Nevis and St Martin/St Maarten, has 36 parishes and 52 churches. “We do have situations of church land being leased or rented, both for residential and business purposes,” said its bishop, Ernest Flemming. On Nevis, land belonging to St John’s church has been rented to grow peppers for pepper sauce. In Antigua, rental buildings have been built on cathedral property.

The need is clear. Some of the region’s churches date from the 17th century, and St Paul’s in Antigua was marking its 350th year. Bishop Flemming explained that older buildings were put together with lime, and as the bricks age they “begin to crumble because of the lime that was used to keep the bricks together.” Restoration has traditionally relied on fundraising and parish pledges. “Monies for funding church restoration are raised primarily through fundraisers, and we have quite a few activities,” he said.

That model is under strain, and church leaders now see land as part of the answer. The Rev Canon Reid Simon of the Pro-Cathedral of St Mary in Anguilla said: “Each diocese within the Province of the West Indies has been challenged to make use of its assets, especially where land is concerned, to generate funds.” The income supports restoration and outreach work.

The Church in the Province of the West Indies includes Jamaica, where churches also hold land acquired over generations, much of it idle or informally occupied. The Eastern Caribbean approach offers a middle way between selling and doing nothing: keep the title and lease the land for homes, businesses or farming. For Jamaican congregations, and for returnees and diaspora investors looking for land, church leases could become a real option, provided the terms are written down and the titles are in order.

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