The Vision for Guyana: A Lighthouse and a Storehouse

By Ron Barnes

The Guyana Branch was founded by a Godly woman by the name of Emily Chung. God greatly used Emily during her tenure and she was instrumental in making SLM a household name for Gospel literature. She was the sister of the first president of Guyana and that relationship opened many doors.

She had access to many schools and churches, and the momentum of her ministry carried over for many years. But her sudden death left the Branch for many years without a full-time Director who could focus significant time on the SLM ministry. The facility she used fell into disarray until eventually the property was no longer accessible to SLM and our partners. Many people were disappointed to find it so difficult to get access to our materials.

But God raised up a man. He himself had been significantly discipled using the courses growing up, so much so that he sought out how to serve the SLM Branch. For many years he served as a board member until he eventually, after having spent some time hearing the concern from the SLM Director, Ron Barnes, approached SLM about joining and resuming the Branch as its next Director. He is a church planter, teacher, and now the SLM Director and has already seen many improvements to the work.

SLM’s desire and strategy would be to establish a church and an office in Guyana, used as a model for encouraging church-based discipleship schools throughout the country. While we have not been able to find the exact property we desire, centrally located and easily accessible, our prayer is that God would provide $40,000 to see these works established. From this property, our desire is to be a lighthouse and a storehouse for evangelism, discipleship, church ministries, and literature distribution.

Please be in prayer that God would be preparing just the right location at the right price, and then for God to once again meet the need!