Basseterre, St. Kitts, July 16, 2018 (SKNIS): The Lighthouse Baptist Church Ministries Incorporation Bill 2018 was passed in the National Assembly in St. Kitts and Nevis on Friday, June 13, with Senior Minister and Minister with responsibility for Ecclesiastical Affairs and mover of the Bill, the Honourable Vance Amory, praising the church for its community involvement.
Senior Minister Amory noted that the Bill is simple as it seeks to incorporate through legislation the Light House Baptist Church as an entity within St. Kitts and Nevis. He noted that the church has always been an active organization in society.
“The Lighthouse Baptist Church has been involved in a number of outreach programmes for the people of St. Kitts and Nevis. Clearly because of its situation in the Sandy Point area and for a period of six years 1992-1998, the church had under its direction medical attention from doctors visiting from overseas, providing services in Dentistry, Ophthalmology and providing it free of cost to the people in the village,” said the senior minister.
He touched on the Lighthouse Baptist Church’s involvement in the lives of the youth of the Federation and applauded the church for the time and dedication given to the children.
“The church also hosts an annual Vacation Bible School in which it provides instruction to the children of the area. I think we would agree Mr. Speaker that the manner in which we are going in our society of St. Kitts and Nevis, it is important that we support those kinds of activities by our churches to try and bring our children back in line so that we can have a more peaceful society,” he said. “In addition to the Vacation Bible School and youth camps, the Lighthouse Baptist Church also provides assistance for youth attending regional conferences for spiritual upliftment.”
He added that every third Sunday of each month the church also conducts health checks for the people in the community in the forms of blood pressure and blood sugar screenings free of charge.
“Mr. Speaker, based on the activity and the involvement of the church, I think it is important that the government through the Ministry of Ecclesiastical Affairs continues to support the effort of this assembly, and it is important also that we do similarly for other churches…” he said.
The Lighthouse Baptist Church was established in 1992 by Pastor Keithley Saunders. The following year marked the birth of the institution with 22 chartered members. In 2000, the church received a plot of land in the Crab Hill area in Sandy Point and the building project for the church began in 2002 with completion in 2003. In 2014, the church was remodeled and now houses the Amazing Grace Experience Museum.