Missions Full Circle In Guyana
by Sean LundayGuyana is the only South American country that lists English as its official language. However, the name Guyana is an Amerindian word meaning “land of many waters.” The country was known as British Guiana until 1970 when it officially became the Republic of Guyana. Even though it is located on the continent of South America, culturally, Guyana is very unique. According to the 2012 census, 40 percent of Guyana’s population is of East Indian origin and 25 percent are Hindus, making Guyana the country with the highest percentage of Hindus in the Western Hemisphere. Almost 80 percent of the country is covered by dense rainforest. Four major rivers wind across this small tropical country. All along those rivers are located hundreds of small villages, many that have never had a Gospel witness.
Noel Shrivnauth left Guyana as a young boy when his family moved to New York City. While serving in the US Navy, he surrendered his life to Christ. Upon completion of his military service, he went to Bible college where he met and married Charlene. The Shrivnauths recently celebrated 30 years as missionaries, serving in Guyana since 1994 and starting several churches around the country. Their main church Victory Baptist is in Georgetown. They have a small Bible institute called Teaching All Nations with 17 students enrolled who have just completed their first year of classes. Noel states: A key to their ministry is the Foundations of My Faith discipleship lessons being used to help those who want to get grounded in their faith. I am discipling two medical people. One is an optician and the other a medical student in medical school. Last year I went through the three levels of the course with a medical doctor who is originally from India and attends our church. He and his wife completed the three levels. Before he came here, he was not a Baptist, but after getting grounded in the faith, he chose to become a Baptist. Through online teaching, he is now reaching others in India.
Noel notes that the doctor and his brother run a ministry in India to help pastors and to train them. He has already finished teaching all three levels of the Foundations of My Faith discipleship lessons to 160 pastors. The doctor said, “Since then, trained pastors started practicing soul winning, and more people are coming to Christ.” Noel says the doctor “has translated the lessons into the Hindi and Telugu languages of India so that he can reach a larger audience. He is now working to implement the Teaching All Nations Bible institute curriculum to that crowd.”
Guyana stands today in desperate need of God-called missionaries who will give their lives as “living sacrifices” to reach the hearts and souls of her people. An old Guyanese village chief, whose village sincerely wanted a missionary to come and live among them, was sorely disappointed when he was told that there was no one available to go to his village. Not understanding the problem, he innocently asked, “If the Bible says Go and my village and I say Come, why is there no missionary for our village?” Can you answer the old chief’s question? Who will GO to be Guyana’s next missionary?
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