The church is still running strong, says Bishop Duncan

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By Sara Westhead

Second part in a multi-week series reflecting on the 2010 Census data and the current state of the religion in Bermuda.

The Church of God, in its various forms, has long been a staple in Bermuda’s religious society, and so it came as a great surprise to see that those claiming to be an adherent to any one of the Churches of God dropped by a significant 21 percent.

It is important to realise, though that there is more than one Church of God in Bermuda, including two main denominations the New Testament Church of God and the First Church of God as well as a few smaller, independent congregations.

While the numbers may not look good, according to Bishop Lloyd Duncan, leader of the New Testament Church of God in Bermuda, the church is still running strong.

“At New Testament we’re seeing excitement and enthusiasm,” Bishop Duncan shared.

“We are for all in intents and purposes, we are young church.”

“There is room for improvement. Across the board, churches are being challenged, but our congregations are really stable.”

That said, the church has long faced challenges of keeping their flocks.

“We do have the challenge of keeping people in,” Bishop Duncan said.

“Every church has what is called a revolving door. People may move to another churh or stop attending for one reason or another.”

Keeping the faith has also been a challenge for many young people, and while they may make a confession of faith, the practice of walking it out may prove to be too difficult in light of the constant challenges young people face in today’s society.

“Bermuda is a very affluent country, and we find that people, as opposed to looking to God, tend to look to themselves for solutions. The challenge is pointing people to God as the source of all things.”

“I think, unfortunately, our island has produced ... the family of yesterday does not exist today. Subsequently, when I was coming along, the family was in place you had mom and dad, and on Saturday or Sunday you knew you had to go to church or sabbath school. Unfortunatley we have moved from that level and now ... this generation does not know much about God and does not know much about church”

In addition to societal challenges and the crisis of faith it has caused for many young people, the New Testament Church of God has also faced some internal upheavals as the reins have been passed along and there have been changes to the church’s leadership, particularly as Bishop Duncan, himself, has moved from pastor at Greater Smith Hill, to the Heritage Worship Centre.

“We have had a major change at the churches, and it has caused us to have to rebuild,” Bishop Duncan said.

“Our youth leader, Mr Troy Washington, he, along with his team of Mr & Mrs Jamal Simons, Ms Shaloi Duncan and Mr Lates Trott, they’ve been presently leading and brainstorming to launch our youth ministry at the end of this month.”

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