The Port-of-Spain Church of Christ (PoSCoC) commemorated its 30th anniversary in July with a weekend celebration themed ‘The Hand of God.’ Planted in 1989 by the Kingston Church of Christ , Jamaica, the church, along with members of the original mission team who returned for this historical event, took the opportunity to reflect on the sometimes tumultuous, but always inspiring journey.

The weekend was planned to showcase how God’s hand hasbeen with us for the past 30 years and how his hand continues to be with us,molding and shaping us into his image.

On Saturday, July 27, the Cipriani College of Labour and Co-operative Studies, Valsayn, saw a fully-charged gathering of disciples, friends and relatives, visitors – among whom were many who were once part of our fellowship – and our Caribbean and international brothers, sisters and guests.

We began with three main teaching sessions, which were followed by an interlude for dinner before the second period when we lifted our hearts and voices in a worship segment led by our worship ministry. This was then followed by a video production of the history of our church in which previous and current leaders shared our journey through their experiences.

The first teaching session was for men and women in separate classes and was taught by former leaders of the PoSCoC, Sean and Robin Barnes, who now lead in Queens, New York. Sean and Robin led our fellowship for nine and a half years from March 1995 to July 2004.

The second session focused on walking with God through all stages of life and offered simultaneous classes for singles, marrieds and matures. Sam and Cynthia Powell from New York led the singles class; Tony and Leslie Millet, former PoSCoC leaders who are now in Hampton Roads, Virginia, taught the marrieds; and Matthew and Vanessa Bridges from Houston led the matures.

Formermission team members Brian and Michelle Santos, who came to Trinidad fromJamaica in 1989, had the privilege of teaching the final sessionwith an energizing and convicting “spiritual formation” class.

After dinner and a rousing hour-long worship session, the day culminated with a video presentation, with leaders chronologically telling stories. Sean and Robin Barnes, Gary and Kirtia Arthur, Leslie and Tony Millet and Nanieno and Merlene La Fleur, each linking their leadership experience to contextualize the journey of how God’s hand guided us to many victories and refined us through many hardships.

We were reminded of our early days when we were so filled with faith and zeal that we were willing to go wherever the Spirit led. Moving from place to place and experiencing changes in leadership, we pressed on, undaunted by the challenges. We recalled how many of our family members, friends, co-workers, classmates and strangers became disciples. We reflected on how Port-of-Spain became instrumental in the planting of churches in other islands, in Tobago and in other sectors of Trinidad, as we worked to spread the gospel.

On Sunday, July 28, we hosted a Bring Your Neighbor Day Service where approximately 250 disciples saw 580 in attendance – a full auditorium and our largest attendance in years. Sam Powell ministered to our hearts in a service where many Caribbean and international brothers and sisters led our hearts in prayer, communion and in quickening our hearts to our continued role of planting Christ in every nation.

From the original mission team, we also had in attendance Trinidadian Patricia Williams coming in from Jamaica. Paul Williams, who also led the church here for a period in the 1990s, came in from Barbados along with other disciples/leaders from Barbados, Guyana and Grenada.

To God’s glory, our women’s ministry announced therestoration of our sister Caroline Ravello, who shared a bit of her journey as superbtestimony to the power of the hand of God. Caroline was baptised in 1989 inBoston, returned to Trinidad and Tobago in 1990, and, for almost 30 yearsstruggled to find the confidence and peace in God needed for her journey. Herstory was a very inspirational part of our celebration.

Sunday was awe-inspiring, to say the least. It concluded with a dance presentation from our church dancers, Stytchez 3.0,and a true Trini style, jump-and-wave praise session led by internationalgospel artist, our own, Shane “Rizon” Gibson.

Many men and women expressed their desire to study theBible and many already have started their journey.

We are grateful to God for what he has done, and we look forward to his hand guiding us as we move on to our next chapter. We continue to revel in God and the rich history of our church reflecting on God’s goodness, his faithfulness, his unquestionable patience, his unfailing kindness, and his all-encompassing love.