Cayman Islands Gets First National Overseer
The Church of God in the Cayman Islands, a British territory in the Caribbean situated south of Cuba, have a national overseer for the first time. Before this time, the Cayman Islands had been combined in the territory of the Overseer of Jamaica. Bishop Eitel Morris and his wife, Beverly Blair-Morris, were inaugurated on September 9, 2016, by Church of God World Missions Director David Griffis and Field Director Ishmael Charles.
The influences of American and European culture are most evident in the religion of the Cayman Islands, where Christianity is the most practiced religion. Within the island group, Christian denominations include Anglican, Baptist, Catholicism, Church of God, Presbyterian, and the United Church, among others. Respectful of religion as an important aspect of the culture of the Cayman Islands, most of the local businesses, as well as harbors and ports are closed on Sundays. The nation’s flag bears part of Psalm 24: “He hath founded it upon the seas.”
The Church of God has 363 churches with 105,359 members in the two nations. The Cayman Islands became part of the Church of God in 1969, and hosts a population of approximately 50,000.
“As you take up this new mantle,” Bishop Ishmael Charles, Field Director for the Caribbean, said in his official statement, “be a Biblical profile of a true Godly disciple.” These remarks were among many given at the ceremony from Bishop Charles as well as many other officials and pastors from the Caribbean.
In addition to the title and authority, Bishop Morris also received several symbolic gifts of leadership which included a jar of oil, a gavel, and a bible, symbolic of the Holy Spirit, his ordained authority as Overseer, and an admonition to remain true to the Word of God.
(Source: Church of God World Missions)
