“Buildings Are Not Monuments”: A Church Turns Its Barbados Headquarters Into a Refuge Centre

• The New Testament Church of God is converting its Fairchild Street headquarters in Bridgetown into a community refuge centre
• The building has been renamed the Alvah A. Hunte Centre for Ministerial Excellence
• Infrastructure work is estimated at about $500,000, with more needed to fit it out
• The church has applied for a $500,000 grant from a government fund for faith-based groups

The New Testament Church of God in Barbados is turning its national headquarters on Fairchild Street in Bridgetown into a refuge centre for the surrounding communities, Barbados Today reported in July 2026. The building has been renamed the Alvah A. Hunte Centre for Ministerial Excellence.

The centre will keep the church’s national administrative offices, Bethel Bible College of the Caribbean and a conference centre, and add refuge services. Planned services include counselling, legal aid clinics, health and wellness support, educational help, mentoring, food and clothing assistance and pathways to jobs. The church says the work is aimed especially at the Nelson Street area, which it described as facing crime, violence and poverty.

The report put infrastructure costs at about $500,000, with further spending expected to fit out the space. The church has applied for a $500,000 grant from the Faith-based Organisations Special Fund Grant Facility, which has an annual allocation of $5 million.

Administrative Bishop Dr Kenroy Burke and government minister Colin Jordan were among those named in the report. The church framed the project around the idea that buildings are “instruments through which God advances His kingdom” rather than monuments, and described the centre as a place where families in crisis can find support.

The New Testament Church of God is also one of Jamaica’s largest denominations, and the Barbados project is a model many Jamaican congregations could study. Headquarters buildings, halls and offices often sit idle for much of the week. Repurposing them as service hubs, and using public grant schemes aimed at faith groups, can put church real estate to work in the communities around it. The practical questions are the same everywhere: the cost of converting and fitting out the space, the cost of staffing and running it, and whether a grant covers only the building or the services as well.

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