'We are all God's children'

No matter our differences we are all children of God, family, and we were put on this earth to serve Him and each other.

That was the main message of the National Congress of Incorporated Baptist Organisation of TT Incorporated Spiritual/Shouter Baptist Liberation Day celebrations yesterday at the Eddie Hart Savannah, Tacarigua.

The celebration’s theme, Twelve Tribes of Israel Coming Together, was highlighted by the opening ritual of the Twelve Tribes of Israel. Each tribe presented their banners and said what tribe they represented. All was done in the midst of the singing of hymns, ringing bells, quoting of scripture, libations of water, grain, and flowers, and the hugging and welcoming each other as the leader of each tribe stepped forward to lead their part .

Patriarch Stephen Julien explained that the ritual portrayed the twelve tribes meeting to praise and worship God. “The ceremony is a representation of Spiritual Baptists coming together. We need to show the population that we are not divided as some think we are.”

Queen Mother Hilary Stapleton-Nedd brought home the point with her address to the crowd.

She said although the Spiritual Baptists at the event were from different churches and represented different tribes, they were one in the spirit and in the Lord. She said they had different backgrounds and were from different tribes so there would be disagreements but sometimes they had to agree to disagree because they had a common understanding that God was God.

She said people got confused by the different ways the Spiritual Baptist dioceses administrate but they should not. “We have to put aside those petty things and understand our administrations serve the one true and living God. We have to understand no matter what may come our way, we are the children of God.”

She explained the variations saying when they were banned, they separated and went in the “woods” and when the ban was lifted over three decades later, everyone “came out with something different.”

She told them to remember the struggle of their ancestors because they did not have it easy. They were reproached and went through a lot of sorrow but they did not give up. Now however, she said they were no longer separated, they were blessed and could defend their faith and praise God in the open.

“It was not about themselves but about the generations to come... As practitioners we are not here to build dynasties we are here to work towards establishing and building the Kingdom of God.”

Stapleton-Nedd stressed that they were “fellow workers in the vineyard of God,” that Christ came as an example for his people, not to be kings and lords, but to serve. Therefore she said they could not live selfishly. She said everyone had their own strengths and they could teach each other. “Ministry is not a competition. We can enhance each other. We can help each other...What we are doing is not for vain glory but for the honour and the glory of God.”

She added that no gift was insignificant just as no part of the body was. She said someone had to be a finger or a toe. “We have to learn that we are all joined and fit together in the body of Christ. And so no matter what God gave you to do, I want you to do it to the best of your ability. I want you to know we are all equally important.”

She said when people went to God at the end of their earthly lives, each person’s legacy should be a good one. People should say that the person was good, that the person touched their lives, that they heard the person preach and pray.