Church in the Province of the West Indies

Church in the Province of the West Indies
Primate	John Holder
Territory	Barbados, Belize, Guyana, Jamaica, the Bahamas, the North-Eastern Caribbean and Aruba, Trinidad and Tobago, and the Windward Islands

The Church in the Province of the West Indies is one of 38 member provinces in the worldwide Anglican Communion. The church comprises eight dioceses spread out over much of the West Indies area. The present position of Archbishop and Primate of the West Indies is held by John Holder. Drexel Gomez was the previous primate until 2009, and has retired. The church is also part of the Global South.

The West Indies became a self-governing province in 1883 because of the Church of England missions in territories that became British colonies. It is made up of two mainland dioceses and six island dioceses, including Barbados, Belize, Guyana, Jamaica, the Bahamas, the North-Eastern Caribbean and Aruba, Trinidad and Tobago, and the Windward Islands. Great emphasis is being placed on training personnel for an indigenous ministry. The island locations and scattered settlements make pastoral care difficult and costly.

The Jamaica Church Missionary Society is the recognised missionary agency of the Diocese of Jamaica and the Cayman Islands in the Province of the West Indies. The society focuses on evangelisation with special relevance to daily human needs.

The society was established in 1861 as a subsidiary of the church, intended to target those sections of Jamaica's "hard to reach" population. For many years the mission stations established and maintained by the society provided the only means of reaching the masses of the population with Christianity and basic education.

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