By Michel Outridge

Although she is the village pastor, Pastor Jessie Gibson resides at Coverden Village, East Bank Demerara but ministers to the people in Pearl and its surrounding communities.

According to Pastor Gibson, ministering to the people is a calling and it takes you wherever even if it is out of your village.

She heads the Assembly of God Church in Pearl Village which is situated in the centre of the village.

The church building was constructed by funds pooled together by members and the land was available and paid for in Pearl Village.

Pastor Jessie stated that they have a few members from within the village but some are from outside the community as far as Timehri, Soesdyke, and the highway.

“We are very thankful we have our own building for the church because we started out as a crusade by the roadside then we rented a place and after some time we got the money to have a building erected on the land we bought,” she said.

The Assembly of God Church in Pearl Village started 20 years ago and it is the second building which is standing.

The congregation meets three times per week but due to COVID-19 they are doing services via Zoom and is hoping to reopen in two weeks’ time.

Pastor Jessie said the church has a membership of 40 and she ministers to the people in Pearl and other villages.

“Pearl is not a hostile community and the people are easy to talk to but their religious affiliation is a personal choice,” she said.

The Assembly of God Church has a youth group, a women’s missionary council, a deliverance department, and the men’s fellowship.

Pastor Clayton Rodney finds peace and quiet in Pearl Village
For nine and a half years, Pastor Clayton Rodney and his wife have enjoyed the quiet of Pearl Village, East Bank Demerara.

The elderly couple had a piece of land there for 23 years and it was the peace and quiet that made him move there for good so he can research and pray in the stillness while his wife enjoys the green landscape.

The 70-year-old is a pastor of the Assemblies of God Church located at Covent Garden Public Road, also on the East Bank Demerara.

“I was drawn to this place because of the sleepy quietness although [it is] bushy we live in peace here and like it very much,” he said.

As elders, Pastor Rodney told the Pepperpot Magazine that they don’t have a problem with noise nuisance and the people are very respectful, generous and neighbourly like a typical country-side village.

He is originally from Meten-Meer-Zorg, West Coast Demerara and spent his boyhood days there, after which he relocated with his family to Mocha Arcadia, East Bank Demerara then to Providence.

Pastor Rodney and his family ended up in Prospect where he resided for the past 38 years and then moved to Pearl Village.

The father of three said one of his daughters still lives in the family house at Prospect.

“Pearl is home for us now and we will be here,” he said.