{"id":4027,"date":"2019-09-27T02:46:00","date_gmt":"2019-09-27T02:46:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/disciplestoday.org\/clone\/clone\/2019\/09\/27\/caribbean-missions-society-in-canada-reaches-exciting-milestone\/"},"modified":"2023-06-02T07:14:52","modified_gmt":"2023-06-02T05:14:52","slug":"caribbean-missions-society-in-canada-reaches-exciting-milestone","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/disciplestoday.org\/clone\/caribbean-missions-society-in-canada-reaches-exciting-milestone\/","title":{"rendered":"Caribbean Missions Society in Canada Reaches Exciting Milestone"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

While many of the churches in the Caribbean are celebrating milestones, they are joined by the Caribbean Missions Society (CMS) in Canada. Formed in March of 2017, the official charitable status was granted by the Canadian Government on May 30,2019. The journey to obtain charitable status was an interesting and amazing experience. <\/p>\n

On a full-time basis, I run a CPA firm as the Managing Partner. Clara, my wife, is employed by the firm as our Controller and Software Trainer. We also served as lay leaders for a marrieds\u2019 sector in the Toronto Church. Leading a sector of over 80 people with five family groups spread across the north end of the city was not only demanding, but also very time-consuming. <\/p>\n

Our personal lives became very challenging due to the health of our parents and the many commitments that entailed. It was after my father passed away, helping my mother to re-organize her life and dealing with my mother-in-law\u2019s struggle with dementia, that Clara and I made the difficult decision to step down from our many years of being lay leaders. After a year of focusing on and ensuring that our elderly mothers were well taken care of, we began our journey to figure out what God had planned for us to do next. <\/p>\n

After much prayer, I heard there was a Caribbean Missions Society (CMS) meeting held in St. Louis at the North American Discipleship Summit in July 2016, which some of my fellow Canadians attended. <\/p>\n

Now, let\u2019s step back for a bit. I was born in Guyana, South America and immigrated to Toronto, Canada when I was 17 years old to attend school. I was fortunate to meet my amazing wife Clara (born in Canada from Italian descent), who had never visited the Caribbean. For many years, it had always been on my heart to make a difference in Guyana and I thought that getting into politics would be the best way to have a practical impact in the country. However, my Italian-Canadian bride would have none of it. The desire still haunted me, so when I heard about the CMS, I was really excited to get involved. My bride supported this one \u2013since this was God\u2019s plan. I emailed Sean Barnes, treasurer of the US CMS and waited for a response. If God wanted me to get involved, he would make it clear. <\/p>\n

After sometime, Sean got a hold of me and with discussions with me and Brian Santos, Chairman of the US CMS, we made a decision to begin the process to incorporate a CMS in Canada and apply for charitable status as soon as possible. As a Canadian, we cannot give money to a US charity, i.e. the US CMS. Normally it takes two weeks to set up a Canadian Not-for-Profit organization, the first step in the process. When my wife completed the online application, we received approval in two hours! We were both shocked and elated at the same time. God wanted this done! Since the first step took a matter of hours, we confidently thought the next steps would be a piece of cake. God had very different plans; it was his timing, not ours. <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\n \"\"\n<\/center>\n

<\/p>\n

After two years of struggling and being rejected by the Canadian Government for charitable status, we spent over three months preparing documentation, writing detailed programs, budgets, and biographies of all the Canadians involved in the CMS in Canada, before we reapplied. This time, we filed our application leaning on God\u2019s will, not relying on our talents and strengths. We asked all the Caribbean leaders, members of the US CM,; and many, many Caribbean disciples living in Canada for prayers. <\/p>\n

Our vision for the CMS in Canada is to raise sufficient funds in order to reach every soul in the Caribbean by providing training for local leadership, assist in church plantings and provide shepherding for the churches. Short -erm mission trips will enable Canadians to become more aware of the needs in the Caribbean. We also hope to facilitate Christian-focused workshops in the Caribbean, led by Canadians who are experts in their fields, on topics such as finances, conflict resolution, eldership development, parenting special needs children, preteens & teens and developing campus ministries. <\/p>\n

We were given official charitable status on May 30, 2019. To God be the glory! We are now looking forward to seeing the amazing things God will do in the Caribbean. <\/p> If you would like to donate, please click here<\/a>.

<\/p>\n

\n \"\"\n<\/center>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

While many of the churches in the Caribbean are celebrating milestones, they are joined by the Caribbean Missions Society (…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25,"featured_media":4028,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ghostkit_customizer_options":"","ghostkit_custom_css":"","ghostkit_custom_js_head":"","ghostkit_custom_js_foot":"","ghostkit_typography":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_hide_featured_image":false,"_jetpack_featured_image_duplicate_dismissed":0,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[71],"tags":[61,54],"post_folder":[151],"class_list":["post-4027","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-missions","tag-north-america"],"featured_image_src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/disciplestoday.org\/clone\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/Untitled-7c13ee5c.png?fit=596%2C452&ssl=1","author_info":{"display_name":"dtadmin","author_link":"https:\/\/disciplestoday.org\/clone\/author\/dtadmin\/"},"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/phsvEw-12X","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2854,"url":"https:\/\/disciplestoday.org\/clone\/caribbean-missions-society-facilitates-marriage-workshop\/","url_meta":{"origin":4027,"position":0},"title":"Caribbean Missions Society in Canada Facilitates Virtual Marriage Workshop for Caribbean Disciples","author":"dtadmin","date":"August 25, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Over 230 couples from the Caribbean completed an eight-week marriage workshop hosted by the Winnipeg Church of Christ.","rel":"","context":"In "News"","block_context":{"text":"News","link":"https:\/\/disciplestoday.org\/clone\/category\/news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/disciplestoday.org\/clone\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/CaribbeanMarriageWorkshop.png?fit=800%2C443&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/disciplestoday.org\/clone\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/CaribbeanMarriageWorkshop.png?fit=800%2C443&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/disciplestoday.org\/clone\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/CaribbeanMarriageWorkshop.png?fit=800%2C443&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/disciplestoday.org\/clone\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/CaribbeanMarriageWorkshop.png?fit=800%2C443&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":4812,"url":"https:\/\/disciplestoday.org\/clone\/caribbean-south-and-central-american-church-leaders-connect-at-miami-school-of-missions\/","url_meta":{"origin":4027,"position":1},"title":"Caribbean, South and Central American Church Leaders Connect at Miami School of Missions","author":"dtadmin","date":"December 14, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"January 2019 marks the 10th annual Miami School of Missions. Initially the school, devoted to deep bible study, fellowship and practical teaching, focused on church leaders from Brazil. Last year, over 100 visiting church leaders attended, expanding the impact of the school to all of South America, Central America and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "News"","block_context":{"text":"News","link":"https:\/\/disciplestoday.org\/clone\/category\/news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/disciplestoday.org\/clone\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/miamischoolofmissions.jpg?fit=960%2C640&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/disciplestoday.org\/clone\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/miamischoolofmissions.jpg?fit=960%2C640&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/disciplestoday.org\/clone\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/miamischoolofmissions.jpg?fit=960%2C640&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/disciplestoday.org\/clone\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/miamischoolofmissions.jpg?fit=960%2C640&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":25655,"url":"https:\/\/disciplestoday.org\/clone\/global-missions-service-team-report-2024\/","url_meta":{"origin":4027,"position":2},"title":"Global Missions Service Team Report 2024","author":"Sunday Awolowo","date":"February 19, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"The Global Missions Service Team (GMST) is a group of men and women representing the 12 different mission societies in our fellowship.","rel":"","context":"In "Leadership"","block_context":{"text":"Leadership","link":"https:\/\/disciplestoday.org\/clone\/category\/leadership\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/disciplestoday.org\/clone\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/eyes_that_see.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/disciplestoday.org\/clone\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/eyes_that_see.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/disciplestoday.org\/clone\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/eyes_that_see.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/disciplestoday.org\/clone\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/eyes_that_see.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/disciplestoday.org\/clone\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/eyes_that_see.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":4666,"url":"https:\/\/disciplestoday.org\/clone\/miami-school-of-missions-reaches-next-generation\/","url_meta":{"origin":4027,"position":3},"title":"Miami School of Missions Reaches Next Generation","author":"dtadmin","date":"February 14, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"More than 130 church leaders from South and Central America and the Caribbean attended this year\u2019s Miami School of Missions.","rel":"","context":"In "News"","block_context":{"text":"News","link":"https:\/\/disciplestoday.org\/clone\/category\/news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/disciplestoday.org\/clone\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/miamischoolofmissions2019.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/disciplestoday.org\/clone\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/miamischoolofmissions2019.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/disciplestoday.org\/clone\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/miamischoolofmissions2019.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/disciplestoday.org\/clone\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/miamischoolofmissions2019.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/disciplestoday.org\/clone\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/miamischoolofmissions2019.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":11932,"url":"https:\/\/disciplestoday.org\/clone\/south-american-missions-conference-gets-a-makeover\/","url_meta":{"origin":4027,"position":4},"title":"South American Missions Conference Gets a Makeover","author":"dtadmin","date":"March 16, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"The Missions Conference is a highlight for church leaders from South and Central America and the Caribbean, serving as a hub for sharing best practices and receiving ministry training.","rel":"","context":"In "News"","block_context":{"text":"News","link":"https:\/\/disciplestoday.org\/clone\/category\/news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/disciplestoday.org\/clone\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/south-american-missions-society.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/disciplestoday.org\/clone\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/south-american-missions-society.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/disciplestoday.org\/clone\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/south-american-missions-society.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/disciplestoday.org\/clone\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/south-american-missions-society.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/disciplestoday.org\/clone\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/south-american-missions-society.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":3809,"url":"https:\/\/disciplestoday.org\/clone\/caribbean-school-of-ministry-reaches-milestone\/","url_meta":{"origin":4027,"position":5},"title":"Caribbean School of Ministry Reaches Milestone","author":"dtadmin","date":"December 31, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"The Damian Jean-Baptiste Caribbean School of Ministry (DJBCSM) was launched in April 2014 and in October 2019 reached a significant milestone by completing its first round of training.","rel":"","context":"In "Bible Study"","block_context":{"text":"Bible Study","link":"https:\/\/disciplestoday.org\/clone\/category\/bible-study\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/disciplestoday.org\/clone\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/damianjean-baptistecaribbeanschoolofministry.jpg?fit=1200%2C569&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/disciplestoday.org\/clone\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/damianjean-baptistecaribbeanschoolofministry.jpg?fit=1200%2C569&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/disciplestoday.org\/clone\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/damianjean-baptistecaribbeanschoolofministry.jpg?fit=1200%2C569&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/disciplestoday.org\/clone\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/damianjean-baptistecaribbeanschoolofministry.jpg?fit=1200%2C569&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/disciplestoday.org\/clone\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/damianjean-baptistecaribbeanschoolofministry.jpg?fit=1200%2C569&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/disciplestoday.org\/clone\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/Untitled-7c13ee5c.png?fit=596%2C452&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/disciplestoday.org\/clone\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4027","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/disciplestoday.org\/clone\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/disciplestoday.org\/clone\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/disciplestoday.org\/clone\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/25"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/disciplestoday.org\/clone\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4027"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/disciplestoday.org\/clone\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4027\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/disciplestoday.org\/clone\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4028"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/disciplestoday.org\/clone\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4027"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/disciplestoday.org\/clone\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4027"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/disciplestoday.org\/clone\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4027"},{"taxonomy":"post_folder","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/disciplestoday.org\/clone\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/post_folder?post=4027"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}