St. Lucia

“The island, with its fine natural harbor at Castries, the capitol, was contested between England and France throughout the 17th and 18th centuries (changing possession 14 times); it was finally ceded to the U.K. in 1814. Self-government was granted in 1967 and independence in 1979.”

The Church of the Nazarene
In 1939, we have evidence that the first effort was made to plant a church on the island. This effort came from Rev. Joseph Garcia (of Barbados, 100 miles west of St. Lucia) who, due to other circumstances, was unsuccessful. Rev. Samuel Taylor happened upon this evidence in 1970 and became intrigued. He scheduled a scouting trip, again from Barbados for May 1971. When Taylor and a Barbadian pastor, Anthony Bailey, originally of St. Lucia, visited the island they found no holiness works present on the entire island. A report to Kansas City was given, and the reply was quick, “proceed with your plans to take the Church of the Nazarene to St. Lucia.”

The Church of the Nazarene was officially registered in January 1972. The first major step to an organized work arrived with Rev. and Mrs. Gene Smith, missionaries appointed specifically to St. Lucia in July 1974. The fist church was fashioned from an abandoned soap factory. Work and Witness teams from Illinois and Michigan helped with the revamping. In February 1976, the Castries church was officially organized.

George Leonce was the first St. Lucian student to attend CNTC. He is currently serving as the District Superintendent for the Windward Island District. The Windward Island District now has over 600 members. The church in St. Lucia is continuing to look for new areas to begin holiness works in St. Lucia.

Sources:
Parker, J. Fred. Mission to the World: A History of Missions in the Church of the Nazarene through 1985. Nazarene Publishing House, Kansas City, MO, 1988.
http://www.odci.gov/