Caribbean: No-one is an Island

Most of the Caribbean’s IFES (CARIFES) movements are on islands. But not one of them need be like an island – isolated, disconnected, vulnerable. Four student leaders from Barbados, Guyana, Cayman Islands, and Guadeloupe are showing how.  

Since attending last year’s CARIFES Academy, they’ve been spearheading a project “to ignite and strengthen student ministry in territories where it’s small or emerging”. No-one is an island. 

It all started at the CARIFES Academy. The IFES regional team dreamed the initiative would be a tool to identify, train, and connect staff and student leaders from their 20 movements. It didn’t disappoint.   

After receiving initial input online, 50+ students gathered in Trinidad for six days in August 2024, including Angel, Rekey, Lucas, and Abygale. These four were eager to apply the skills they were learning and signed up to serve in a spin-off project called the Caribbean Pioneering Initiative (CPI). 

Kerwin Stuart, Associate Regional Secretary, is delighted at how it’s developed: “Over the past months, CPI has turned out to be a hands-on leadership laboratory for these committed student leaders!” 

The students have met regularly online with the national staff worker and CARIFES staff to help plan a mission project in Antigua and Barbuda, where the CARIFES team has been seeking to revitalise the movement.  

The CPI mission project will bring 25 students from across the region to Antigua in January for 9 days. They’ll participate in evangelism, school outreach, discipleship, and acts of service. This program is what the CARIFES Academy alumni have taken the lead on – planning its content and promoting it to fellow students across the region. 

Angel says, “My hope is that students joining the project team will step up courageously in their faith and inspire those in Antigua to do the same”. 

Interest in this region-unifying project has been strong. Despite students facing the challenge of raising funds to attend, 24 have already signed up. A student from Guadeloupe recently contacted Kerwin: “Is it too late to join?”. 

To sustain local ministry beyond the project, the planning team has ensured that five places are reserved for Antiguan students. They’re also concluding with a fellowship day so that all the locals who got involved can stay connected. 

The regional team hopes that CPI Antigua will serve as a model for pioneering ministry in other places like Anguilla and the ABC Islands. They may be separated by water, but such projects are defying geography as movements stand side-by-side, connected and strengthened. 

PARTNER BESIDE US – CARIFES GIFT WEEK 

This month the IFES Caribbean team is inviting students, staff, supporters, and churches across their many islands to become “partners beside us”. You can stand alongside them too. Their Gift Week (24-30 November) is raising funds to strengthen and sustain their vital work. Will you show them your support?  

Find out more here or give now.