Pastor Ingrid Ryan Ruben: Research needed into Baptist 'landmarks'

When you hear the word "landmarks," your mind immediately travels to a physical space, one that Waze or any other digital navigation systems can easily find.

But in the spiritual world, landmarks take on a different definition.

Ingrid Ryan Ruben took the small audience gathered on March 28 at the National Trust's headquarters, Mille Fleurs, Maraval Road, on a spiritual journey in observance of Spiritual Baptist/Shouter Liberation Day.

Ryan Ruben, founder and pastor of the 13-year-old Academy of Grace Institute of the Holy Spirit (AOG), lectured on Spiritual Baptist Ancient Landmarks.

An exhibition on the same theme at runs at Mille Fleurs until April 13.

Spiritual Baptist/Shouter Liberation Day was declared a national holiday in 1996 by the former Basdeo Panday-led UNC government, it commemorates the repeal of the 1917 Shouter Prohibition Ordinance that prohibited the activities of the Baptist faith.

Ryan Ruben opened the lecture by singing a Baptist hymn. She then moved into the definition of a landmark and then an ancient landmark.

In her definition, she said, a landmark was not just a physical space or thing but also a way of doing things.

She explained some of the church’s practices, such as "mourning," saying Spiritual Baptists baptised people with live water and used fresh/live flowers as they represented the living process.

She also explained that in the faith’s churches there were altars of different shapes, as they depended on “the spiritual inspiration.” Blessing the four corners of the church was a way of “preparing a space for the Holy Spirit to enter.”

Ryan Ruben said the centrepoles found in many Spiritual Baptist churches were the “spirit centre from which one could connect with God.”

She also explained how one is given spiritual assignments such as mother, father, teacher, and the significance and uses of candles and bells. The bells, she said, were like the voice of God.

Ryan Ruben worried that the loss of these ancient "landmarks" of the faith was leading to “no healing, no revelations, corrupt guidance, corrupt leadership, false prophets and false healers.”

Ryan Ruben said in an interview after her lecture that more research was needed into the physical landmarks occupied by Spiritual Baptists and cited the Moruga corridor.

During the question-and-answer session, Ryan Ruben said Spiritual Baptist churches as much as 85 years old were still in existence.

Asked if she felt more research was needed into Spiritual Baptist physical landmarks, she said, “Yes, I do and that is why I talk a lot about the Moruga corridor. Remember the Merikens settled there, and what happened between them and their God and their understanding of the Spiritual Baptist Faith in America.”

She said many female Orisha believers joined with the Spiritual Baptist Merikens (brought here after the 1814-16 war between the British and the United States) and developed Trinidad and Tobago’s version of the Independent Baptists, which had an effect on the Spiritual Baptist faith.

“When you go in that corridor, the way they worship as a Baptist is different...What they do up there is important.”

Spiritual Baptist figures from the Meriken Company Villages, such as the healer Ebenezer “Papa Neezer” Elliot, form an important part of the country's history.

“When we could not go to a doctor, we could go by Papa Neezer. There were no psychiatrists to go to. There was Papa Neezer and Mother Cornhusk (Catherine Brizan): they were fixers.

"A lot of Spiritual Baptist mothers and fathers were community fixers, counsellors. People from all walks of life could be found by these people to get advice and guidance about what was happening in their life.”

Ryan Ruben added that was why the AOG was spending time doing research and has been producing papers on the topic.

In her lecture, she also expressed concern about the dioceses in the faith. She said while there is growth in the faith the dioceses was altering purity of the faith and it often resembled other religions like Catholics and Pentecostals.

For her, the liberation and popularisation of the faith have been both positive and negative. Elements of it can now be found in books, movies and plays produced in TT.

“When you become part of the languaging of the people, when you are represented as such, people saying you are like a Baptist, it means that you are part of the culture. And when you become part of the culture, it can be negative or positive.

"Our job is to ensure that we continue to hold on to our faith, our faith in God, and to operate in the community in a way that we are respected.”

She called on her fellow Spiritual Baptist practitioners to learn theology.

“The largest number of Baptist churches was in Laventille. Now a lot of them don’t exist any more, because we have dropped the ball, and those communities are being destroyed for lack of a connection with the spiritual.”

Ryan Ruben said other communities are doing well because they have not lost that connection to the spiritual and are grounded in it.

“The church brings the community together,” she said.

She also expressed concern about government housing developments, saying communities were being built with no community spirit.