The Guyana Congregational Union will conduct a number of activities this month in observance of the Bicenten-nial of Congregationalism in Guyana starting with a one-week visit by the General Secretary of the Council for World Mission today.
A release from the Guyana Congregational Union said that the high ranking church official, Reverend Dr Desmond Van der Water is expected to pay courtesy calls on some senior functionaries and clergy men tomorrow.
According to the release, the clergyman is a South African who is very experienced in theological work both at the practical and academic levels. As General Secretary, he is responsible for a worldwide organization with 31 affiliates.
On February 6, Van der Water is scheduled to take part in one of the Sunrise Services being held at all the Congregational Churches in Guyana to mark the actual date on which Reverend John Wray arrived in Demerara.
Wray arrived in Guyana on February 6, 1808 to minister to the slaves on the estate located at Le Resouvenir on the East Coast of Demerara and owned by Hermanus Post, a Dutch Planter who had extended an invitation to the London Missionary Society to send a missionary to function in the church he had built.
Van der Water is also billed as the guest speaker at a lecture on February 7, at the Lecture Room of the National Library after which he is due to take part in a television panel discussion.
On February 10, he will deliver the sermon at the Bicentennial Service at Smith’s Memorial Congre-gational Church which starts at 10 am and which will be preceded by a march in the vicinity of the church.
Later in the month, on February 29, the Congre-gational Union will host a dinner and cultural presentation at the Ocean View International Hotel and during the August holidays it plans to host an International Youth Camp. The union has already extended invitations to overseas sister organizations to take part.
