Who We Are
The Beginning
St. John’s Pentecostal Church had very humble beginnings. Under a coconut palm tree, a few Pentecostal Christian immigrants from Montserrat met within a small shed to worship God and preach the Pentecostal message. The early pioneers: Brother James Rodney, Sisters Mary Brades and Alley Browne (all deceased) started the assembly in St. John’s, Antigua in 1943.
After these Pentecostal pioneers failed to find any group of similar persuasion in Antigua, they decided to gather together for fellowship and to worship God. The small assembly blossomed from sessions of prayer, Bible Study, Children’s Ministry and open air evangelism. Sister Browne hosted prayer and Bible Study sessions at her home on Alfred Peters Street in the Villa Community. The Children’s Ministry took place on Sunday afternoons under some large trees on Dickenson Bay Street. Driven by their passion for God and compassion for the unsaved, they helped to convert souls for Christ.
Along with the new converts, the church membership quickly grew to include other believers, who chose to embrace the Pentecostal doctrine. Soon after, the church outgrew its location and the worshippers relocated to Mannix Hall on lower Bishopgate Street. Thereafter, they shifted to a wooden building at the corner of Bishopgate Street and Wapping Lane. With assistance from the Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada, in August 1951, the church acquired land and started erecting a new building, which was completed in October of that same year.
The size of the congregation rapidly increased as other Pentecostals from Montserrat arrived in Antigua to join the group and assisted in spreading the Gospel. Although other communities were targeted, the pioneers’ focused on the city of St. John’s—particularly The Point and Villa Area where they resided—as a primary mission field.
Advancing The Kingdom of God
Throughout the formative years of the church, Canadian missionaries played an integral role in the growth of the fellowship. When the work developed beyond what the pioneers could manage, they appealed to Montserrat for help. Canadian missionaries affiliated with the Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada (PAOC) and who were based in Montserrat contributed to the development and leadership of St. John’s Pentecostal Church. Pastor John Morson from the PAOC’s branch church in Montserrat, subsequently, became pastor and served from 1943 to 1946. In 1944, Brother Alfred Bailey Mulcare, Pastor of the Cork Hill Pentecostal Assembly in Montserrat along with Sister Emily Osborne-Wade also responded to the “Macedonian Call.”
The Canadian missionaries and the local pioneers worked tirelessly to ensure that the Pentecostal message was spread to communities across Antigua and Barbuda. Reverend and Mrs. Jack Piper, who later stood at the helm of St. John’s Pentecostal Church was influential in sending local missionaries to open other ministries across Antigua in the communities of Pigotts, English Harbour, Bethesda, Pares Village, New Field, Liberta, All Saints, Freeman’s Village, Bendals, Crabbe Hill, Old Road and at Kentish Road. In 1954, Rev. A. T. Jacobson succeeded the Pipers and served until 1961. From 1961 to 1965, the church experienced several changes in leadership.
By January 1965, Reverend Peter Lee and his wife Mrs. Mariam Lee took up pastorate of St. John’s. Rev. Lee served as the pastor of St. John’s Pentecostal Church for more than 20 years. His pastorate came to an end in early 1991. During this year, Pastor Raymond Prosper, Brother Hollis Henry and Brother Everette Jonas assisted in pastoring the church. In 1992, then Evangelist Stephen Andrews and his wife Mrs. Lourdes Andrews arrived in Antigua and initially took up a temporary position at the Pentecostal church. In 1993, Andrews was installed as pastor of St. John’s Pentecostal Church. By 2011, the membership of St. John’s Pentecostal Church had greatly expanded and a new sanctuary was then established on Lauchland Benjamin Drive in Woods Estate.