RECENTLY, President David Granger was guest of honour at the 165th Anniversary of the Zoar Congregational Church in Plaisance Village.

The Congregational Church is deeply intertwined with the history of Guyana, and not only gave spiritual guidance to but was deeply immersed with the social and economic progress of society.

The Church began ministering to the enslaved plantation workers, and continued to do so after Emancipation. In its own quiet way, it struggled for human rights during slavery, and this led to the martyrdom of Rev John Smith, the Congregational missionary who was associated with Quamina, his close friend, and the Demerara Slave Rebellion.

Indeed, in the history of religion in Guyana, there were two martyrs: The Rev John Smith and, over a century-and-a-half after, Father D’Arc, a serving priest who was also a photographer for the Catholic Standard newspaper.

President Granger, in his inspiring and informative address which evidenced his knowledge as a fine Guyanese historian, pointed out the social, economic and even democratic impact Congregationalism has had on Guyana. Just over a century ago, Professor Tawny wrote his famous ground-breaking study, “Religion and the Rise of Capitalism”.

President Granger, likewise, was pointing out the part the Congregational religion played in the Village Movement, and in the formation and growth of successful societies in the villages founded by the emancipated African slaves.

In the President’s own words, “Guyana is eternally grateful to the Congregational Church. I would go so far as to say that without the Congregational Church, the Village Movement would not have achieved what it achieved; it gave the freed Africans a sense of purpose, a sense of dignity, and it is that dignity, that yearning for freedom that propelled them.

“The Church was not an instigator, but it gave the freed Africans a vision…”
For those who may not have had knowledge of the Village Movement to which President Granger referred, the following explanation may be of help:
When the plantation slaves were Emancipated in 1834, they were subjected to a period of “Apprenticeship”, whereby they would have to continue to labour on the plantations for a number of years, but would now receive a small wage.

When Apprenticeship ended in 1838, the African freedmen were now fully legally liberated, and they could negotiate for their wages, which they could not do when they were under the Apprenticeship System.

The freedmen tried to negotiate a fair wage but the planters would not give way, and, eventually, between 1840 and 1842 there were two strikes which were unsuccessful, and the freedmen decided to leave the plantations and set up their own villages. They had carefully saved the small wages they had received under Apprenticeship, and with theses fund, in the two or three years thereafter, they were able to purchase abandoned plantations from which they created villages like Buxton and Victoria and Plaisance on the East Coast Demerara, Queenstown on the Essequibo Coast, and others in the Counties of Berbice, Essequibo and Demerara.

The story of the creation of these villages is an epic one, of which every Guyanese could be proud. These simple freedmen laid out the groundplan of the village replete with house lots, roads, drainage, public buildings, community centres and sports grounds, and established a village government. They laid out farmlands, and were even able to inspire and train various types of tradesmen.

President Granger sums the impact these villages have had on Guyanese life thus: “There was nothing you could want which was not produced by these villages; these villages were rich in fruits, vegetables, provisions, sugar cane and other cash crops. In addition, Plaisance and other villages produced carpenters, cabinet makers, gutter smiths, masons, painters, plumbers and tailors; and those men were held in high esteem.

“Their schools graduated brilliant sons and daughters who became attorneys, businesspersons, civil servants, doctors, engineers, teachers, nurses and other professionals. The villages once had vibrant business sectors, which included small manufacturing, shops and stores.

“These were not accidental achievements; they were the result of hard work, of the intelligence of the forefathers who set up the pillars: The family, the farm, the school and the church. These pillars must be reinforced if the villages are to enjoy a renaissance.”
In this renaissance Congregationalism could today play an important role, as President Granger indicated ‘in reigniting the beacon of spirituality and hope for the communities; reintegrate with the communities by participating in social, civic and economic initiatives; reinvent opportunities for young people by working with cultural and sporting groups and reengage with neighbourhood democratic councils, other churches and civil organizations to arrest social decay.’