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The Church of the Nazarene in Trinidad and Tobago is a part of the international Church of the Nazarene. [1]
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The Church of the Nazarene in Trinidad and Tobago is a part of the international Church of the Nazarene. [1]
The Christian denomination entered Trinidad and Tobago in 1926 by sending USA missionary couple James and Nora Hill and Barbados missionary Carlotta Urchilla Graham. Their labor culminated in the incorporation of the Church of the Nazarene in Trinidad and Tobago by Act of Parliament in 1974. The story of the growth of the Church of the Nazarene in Trinidad and Tobago is recorded in the book, A History of the Church of the Nazarene in Trinidad and Tobago by Dr. Gelien Matthews. [2] [3] In 2013, the Church of the Nazarene in Trinidad and Tobago has approximately 4,000 members in 31 congregations, [4] and is part of the Mesoamerica Region of the International Church of the Nazarene. [5]
The growth of the Church of the Nazarene in Trinidad and Tobago has also been tied to the establishment of a Nazarene College (NTC then CNTC and now CNC) in Trinidad. This story has been vividly captured in the book, Triumph in Trinidad-God's Promises never failed [6] by USA missionary Dr. Ruth O. Saxon, who served as Professor, Academic Dean, and President in her forty-three years at the College, and as a Supply Pastor to a number of Local churches.
The Church of the Nazarene in Trinidad and Tobago is led by the ministry of the District Superintendent. In the early years the church was led by American District Superintendents Raymond Miller (1949–55), Prescott Beals (1955-57), Wesley Harmon (1958–63), and William Fowler (1963–71). The first Local District Superintendent was Hugh Mc Kenzie (1971–75). He was followed by nationals Farrell Chapman (1975–83), Carl Bompart (1983-86), Clifford Manswell (1986-2006). [7]
The Church of the Nazarene in Trinidad and Tobago is currently led by District Superintendent, the Rev. Dr. Victor Everton George, [8] who assumed this ministry in 2006.
The Church of the Nazarene is an evangelical Christian denomination that emerged in North America from the 19th-century Wesleyan-Holiness movement within Methodism. With its members commonly referred to as Nazarenes, it is the largest denomination in the world aligned with the Wesleyan-Holiness movement and is a member of the World Methodist Council.
The Holiness movement is a Christian movement that emerged chiefly within 19th-century Methodism, and to a lesser extent other traditions such as Quakerism, Anabaptism, and Restorationism. The movement is Wesleyan in theology, and is defined by its view of personal sin, and emphasis on the doctrine of a second work of grace generally called entire sanctification or Christian perfection. For the Holiness Movement "the term 'perfection' signifies completeness of Christian character; its freedom from all sin, and possession of all the graces of the Spirit, complete in kind." A number of evangelical Christian denominations, parachurch organizations, and movements emphasize those beliefs as central doctrine.
Religion in Trinidad and Tobago, which is a multi-religious country, is classifiable as follows:
Pilgrim Holiness Church (PHC) or International Apostolic Holiness Church (IAHC) is a Christian denomination associated with the holiness movement that split from the Methodist Episcopal Church through the efforts of Martin Wells Knapp in 1897. It was first organized in Cincinnati, Ohio, as the International Holiness Union and Prayer League (IHU/IAHC). Knapp, founder of the IAHC, ordained and his Worldwide Missions Board sent Charles and Lettie Cowman who had attended God's Bible School to Japan in December 1900. By the International Apostolic Holiness Churches Foreign Missionary Board and the co-board of the Revivalist the Cowmans had been appointed the General Superintendents and the Kilbournes the vice-General Superintendent for Korea, Japan and China December 29, 1905. The organization later became the Pilgrim Holiness Church in 1922, the majority of which merged with the Wesleyan Methodists in 1968 to form the Wesleyan Church.
Pentecostalism has grown in India since its introduction in the early twentieth century. Several Pentecostal missionaries who had participated in the Azusa Street Revival visited Kerala from 1909 onwards. During the 1920s the missionary Robert F. Cook established the Indian branch of the Church of God, based in Kerala. In 1922 Assemblies of GOD church was established in Melpuram which was part of then Travancore state by missionaries. It has been one of the early pioneering churches in the region. Two other churches founded around this time were Ceylon Pentecostal Mission (CPM) later became The Pentecostal Mission, in the 1980s, founded in Sri Lanka by the Indian evangelist Pastor Paul, and later brought to India; and the Indian Pentecostal Church of God, set up by K.E. Abraham after he split from the church founded by Cook. A later foundation, in 1953, was the Sharon Fellowship, which runs the Sharon Women's Bible College. Many of the Pentecostal churches in India are represented in the Assemblies of God in India.
The Indian Pentecostal Church of God (IPC) is the largest Pentecostal Christian Denomination in India. It has over ten thousand congregations around the world. Its organisational headquarters is at Hebronpuram, Kumbanad, Kerala, India. IPC has some similarities with Kerala Brethren especially in orthodoxy and eschatology where large group of early members were from this denomination. IPC shares its beliefs with Assemblies of God, Church of God and Sharon Fellowship Church. However, it distances itself from TPM, which according to IPC promotes legalism. The church has a tendency to stray from ecumenism, as several of its leaders often denounce high church liturgy as a method of worship, instead embracing low church contemporary worship. It believes in Baptism of the Holy Spirit as separate event and does not believe in cessationism.
W. Talmadge Johnson is a minister and emeritus general superintendent in the Church of the Nazarene.
Donald Dean Owens is an American general superintendent emeritus in the Church of the Nazarene, and also a retired ordained minister, missionary, professor, and seminary and college president. Owens is the founding president of the forerunner of Korea Nazarene University, and Asia-Pacific Nazarene Theological Seminary in Taytay, Rizal, Philippines (1983–1984), and served as the pioneer missionary for the Church of the Nazarene in the Republic of Korea (1954–1966), and as a missionary for four years in the Philippines (1981–1985), where he was the first Regional Director of both the Asia Region (1981–1985) and the South Pacific Region (1981–1983) of the Church of the Nazarene. Owens was the 2nd President of MidAmerica Nazarene College in Olathe, Kansas for 4 years from 1985. In June 1989 Owens was elected the 28th General Superintendent of the Church of the Nazarene, and after being re-elected in 1993, served until his retirement in June 1997.
Asia-Pacific Nazarene Theological Seminary (APNTS) is a graduate-level theological institution located near Metro Manila in the Philippines. APNTS is a seminary in the Wesleyan theological tradition and affiliated with the Church of the Nazarene through its Division of World Mission. Its mission is to prepare "men and women for Christ-like leadership and excellence in ministries." Its institutional vision is: "Bridging cultures for Christ, APNTS equips each new generation of leaders to disseminate the gospel of Jesus Christ throughout Asia, the Pacific, and the world.
The Christian Holiness Partnership is an international organization of individuals, organizational and denominational affiliates within the holiness movement. It was founded in 1867 as the National Camp Meeting Association for Christian Holiness, later changing its name to the National Holiness Association, by which it was known until 1997, when its current name was adopted. Its stated purpose is to promote "the message of scriptural holiness" primarily through evangelistic camp meetings. The Christian Holiness Partnership is headquartered in Clinton, Tennessee.
Ambrose University is a private Christian liberal arts university located in Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
Manie Payne Ferguson was a pioneer leader in the American Holiness Movement, a Christian evangelist and social worker who co-founded the Peniel Mission, and the author of several hymns, most notably "Blessed Quietness".
Stan A. Toler was a minister and general superintendent emeritus in the Church of the Nazarene. He was also an author having written 100 books, many of them published through the Nazarene Publishing House. He served as a Pastor in Ohio, Florida, Tennessee and Oklahoma.
The history of the Church of the Nazarene has been divided into seven overlapping periods by the staff of the Nazarene archives in Lenexa, Kansas: (1) Parent Denominations (1887–1907); (2) Consolidation (1896–1915); (3) Search for Solid Foundations (1911–1928); (4) Persistence Amid Adversity (1928–1945); (5) Mid-Century Crusade for Souls (1945–1960); (6) Toward the Post-War Evangelical Mainstream (1960–1980); and (7) Internationalization (1976-2003).
Susan Norris Fitkin was a Canadian ordained minister, who served successively in the Society of Friends, the Association of Pentecostal Churches of America, and finally in the Church of the Nazarene. Fitkin was the founder and first president of the Church of the Nazarene's Women's Foreign Missionary Society from September 1915 until her retirement in June 1948. Fitkin served twenty-four years on the General Board of the Church of the Nazarene. In 1924 Fitkin and her husband Abram Fitkin funded and founded the Fitkin Memorial Hospital in Manzini, Swaziland, and also funded and founded Nazarene Bible Training Schools in China, and Beirut, Lebanon.
The Baháʼí Faith in Trinidad and Tobago begins with a mention by ʻAbdu'l-Bahá, then head of the religion, in 1916 as the Caribbean was among the places Baháʼís should take the religion to. The first Baháʼí to visit came in 1927 while pioneers arrived by 1956 and the first Baháʼí Local Spiritual Assembly was elected in 1957 In 1971 the first Baháʼí National Spiritual Assembly was elected. A count of the community then noted 27 assemblies with Baháʼís living in 77 locations. Since then Baháʼís have participated in several projects for the benefit of the wider community and between 2005 and 2010 various sources report near 1.2% of the country, about 10,000–16,000 citizens, are Baháʼís.
Youth organizations in the United States are of many different types. The largest is the government run 4-H program, followed by the federally chartered but private Scouting movement groups: the Boy Scouts of America (BSA) and the Girl Scouts of the USA (GSUSA). Another somewhat smaller but co-ed Scouting derived group is Camp Fire. Other youth groups are religious youth ministries such as the evangelical Christian Awana, Seventh-day Adventist Pathfinders, and Assemblies of God Royal Rangers.
Carla D. Sunberg is an American ordained minister in the Church of the Nazarene, administrator, academic, author, speaker and former missionary and registered nurse, who is the 2nd woman elected as a General Superintendent in the Church of the Nazarene, and was the first woman and the 10th person elected as president of Nazarene Theological Seminary. At the time of her election on January 3, 2014, Sunberg was co-District Superintendent of the East Ohio District of the Church of the Nazarene, having served in this role since November 1, 2011. Dr Sunberg was elected the 43rd General Superintendent in the Church of the Nazarene on the 11th ballot by the delegates of the 29th General Assembly of the Church of the Nazarene on June 27, 2017. Sunberg is the only daughter of Jerald Johnson, the 24th General Superintendent of the Church of the Nazarene.
Isabel Ursula Teshea, TC was an Afro-Trinidadian social worker, human rights activist, and politician. One of the founders of the People's National Movement, she served as vice chair of the party and was the first woman to hold the office. When Trinidad and Tobago gained its independence from Britain, she ran as a candidate, becoming the first woman elected in the newly established House of Representatives. She became the first woman cabinet Minister and later ambassador for the country. Posthumously, she was awarded the Trinity Cross, the highest honor of the country.
