Growing St. Lucian congregation adds a new building and a new pastor
Growing St. Lucian congregation adds a new building and a new pastor
With a building project ready to be started this summer and a new pastor on his way, Trinity, St. Lucia, is poised to make a difference to an entire nation.
The congregation is reaching out to a diverse group of people in a country where half of the population is made up of citizens 21 or younger and the education system suffers. Thomas Spiegelberg, pastor at Trinity, shares: “We want to spread the gospel. Our community is saying, ‘Do something for our youth.’ ”
To reach this group, Trinity has adjusted its approach to education to serve both adults and youth. In addition to Sunday school and teen and adult Bible studies, Trinity developed after-school programs, including reading and homework lessons coupled with the Word of God.
Then in 2006, with help from the WELS Church Extension Fund, Trinity purchased 7.5 acres of land where it plans to build a church, education building, and sports facility that will “pulse with the gospel message,” says Spiegelberg. “On an island of no more than 250 square miles where real estate is sold by the square foot, 7.5 acres is huge.”
By St. Lucian standards, the planned church building will be an evangelism tool in itself. The new sports complex will be the only covered basketball court on the island, hopefully drawing many youth to the leagues as well as training programs in coaching and Christian leadership.
With the construction of the building beginning this summer, Trinity is gearing up for growth by calling a second pastor, Bramdeo Ramgolam, a May 2008 graduate from Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary, Mequon, Wis.
Ramgolam was born in Guyana, South America, to devout Hindu parents and moved to St. Lucia with his mother at nine years old. He and his mom began attending Trinity when neighbors invited them to church. He was confirmed when he was 16 years old.
Ramgolam’s decision to study for the ministry in the United States was influenced by Pastor Joel Jaeger, who he lived with in high school when his mother moved to Canada. But he was even more inspired by the students from Luther Preparatory School (LPS), Watertown, Wis., who came to help with vacation Bible school in 1997. “I was surprised at how they, from a very young age, wanted to be pastors and teachers,” Ramgolam recalls. With this encouragement, Ramgolam traveled to the United States to attend LPS as a high school senior and then went on to finish his education to become a pastor.
“We are grateful that Bramdeo is willing and able to serve. This is another step in Trinity congregation assuming more of this expanding ministry,” says Harold Hagedorn, administrator of the Board for Home Missions, which is involved in the outreach ministries of the islands of St. Lucia and Antigua.
With the addition of Ramgolam to the ministry team and a plan for new facilities, the Lord is certainly blessing this ministry. Says Spiegelberg, “We have been given an opportunity not just to be another church on the block, but to influence a whole nation.”
The congregation is reaching out to a diverse group of people in a country where half of the population is made up of citizens 21 or younger and the education system suffers. Thomas Spiegelberg, pastor at Trinity, shares: “We want to spread the gospel. Our community is saying, ‘Do something for our youth.’ ”
To reach this group, Trinity has adjusted its approach to education to serve both adults and youth. In addition to Sunday school and teen and adult Bible studies, Trinity developed after-school programs, including reading and homework lessons coupled with the Word of God.
Then in 2006, with help from the WELS Church Extension Fund, Trinity purchased 7.5 acres of land where it plans to build a church, education building, and sports facility that will “pulse with the gospel message,” says Spiegelberg. “On an island of no more than 250 square miles where real estate is sold by the square foot, 7.5 acres is huge.”
By St. Lucian standards, the planned church building will be an evangelism tool in itself. The new sports complex will be the only covered basketball court on the island, hopefully drawing many youth to the leagues as well as training programs in coaching and Christian leadership.
With the construction of the building beginning this summer, Trinity is gearing up for growth by calling a second pastor, Bramdeo Ramgolam, a May 2008 graduate from Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary, Mequon, Wis.
Ramgolam was born in Guyana, South America, to devout Hindu parents and moved to St. Lucia with his mother at nine years old. He and his mom began attending Trinity when neighbors invited them to church. He was confirmed when he was 16 years old.
Ramgolam’s decision to study for the ministry in the United States was influenced by Pastor Joel Jaeger, who he lived with in high school when his mother moved to Canada. But he was even more inspired by the students from Luther Preparatory School (LPS), Watertown, Wis., who came to help with vacation Bible school in 1997. “I was surprised at how they, from a very young age, wanted to be pastors and teachers,” Ramgolam recalls. With this encouragement, Ramgolam traveled to the United States to attend LPS as a high school senior and then went on to finish his education to become a pastor.
“We are grateful that Bramdeo is willing and able to serve. This is another step in Trinity congregation assuming more of this expanding ministry,” says Harold Hagedorn, administrator of the Board for Home Missions, which is involved in the outreach ministries of the islands of St. Lucia and Antigua.
With the addition of Ramgolam to the ministry team and a plan for new facilities, the Lord is certainly blessing this ministry. Says Spiegelberg, “We have been given an opportunity not just to be another church on the block, but to influence a whole nation.”
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