World Missions Celebrates 100 Years This Week
The Church of God is celebrating a significant milestone in its history with a gathering in Nassau, Bahamas January 5-7.
Hundreds are gathered in the tiny Caribbean nation to celebrate 100 years of missionary activity in the Church of God. Church leaders from the international offices in Cleveland, Tenn., including General Overseer Raymond Culpepper and World Missions General Director Douglas Leroy, are celebrating the centennial with worship services, fellowship gatherings and outreaches to the local area. The three-day time of honoring and thanking God for his provision is the culmination of months of planning and publicity, which included the January 2010 issue of the Evangel dedicated to the centennial.
On New Year’s Eve of 1909, R.M. and Ida Evans and Carl Padgett left Florida and set sail for the Bahamas. They arrived in Nassau on January 14, 1910, and immediately began preaching. The Evanses spent three years in the Bahamas. Street meetings were conducted, along with cottage prayer meetings and eventually services in tents.
The Evanses worked hard and the fruits of their labor are still evident today. A church that was started in Green Turtle Cay is the oldest continually existing Church of God outside the United States. Today among the relatively small population of about 300,000 in the Bahamas, the Church of God boasts some 70 congregations.
Establishment of the church in the Bahamas heralded the beginning of an expansion movement around the world. Churches were planted in Canada in 1919 and Romania in 1922. Missions work exploded in the 30s and 40s. Twenty-seven new countries entered the church in that two-decade period. Growth has continued and today the Church of God is present in 179 countries/territories outside North America with some seven million members in all countries.
The celebration in Nassau this week is the official denominational observation of the centennial. It has been billed as a “Vacation with Purpose.” Many who came for the celebration are opting to add a few days, arriving earlier or leaving later, or both. The event includes celebratory services Tuesday and Wednesday evenings, as well as breakout sessions Wednesday and Thursday mornings.
For more information on Church of God World Missions or the centennial, visit www.cogwm.org.
