Pastor Franklyn Baynes
“Look to God, he is our only tower of strength. The politicians can’t help us; the politicians themselves need help…. Everybody has been looking after themselves and that is bad. If we continue like that, it will not work.”
By Dale Andrews | Kaieteur News
As a young man, Franklyn Baynes felt he had a calling to serve God in a very big way. But fitting that calling in between 34 years in the postal service wasn’t easy. So when he retired from active work at the Guyana Post Office Corporation (GPOC) and dedicated most of his time in service to the lord, his calling was manifested and he is relishing it to the fullest.
Our ‘special person’ this week has been a blessing in the lives of many to whom he has ministered while serving in the Wesleyan Church in Guyana for more than three decades.
Such is the nature of his work these days that he only managed to steal a few minutes to sit with Kaieteur News (15 minutes to be precise) just before rushing off to officiate in the marriage ceremony of a yet another young couple. As a matter of fact, Pastor Baynes has done similar ceremonies more than 1000 times, something that he takes pride in.
Growing up in the village of Ann’s Grove, a young Franklyn had no choice but to attend church every Sunday, for although his father was not really a church member, “he was a religious man” and he insisted that his children, including Franklyn, visit the Ebenezer Congregational Church in the village.
In those early days, his Sunday School teacher got him involved in singing and almost every other thing that a young talented boy could engage in while at church.
Coupled with this, as he puts it, “my father never used to make joke with certain things. If he bought a pair of pants for you or a shoe, you got to wear it to church first before any party,” Baynes recounted with a slight chuckle.
With that indoctrination, he began committing himself to the church; though as a teenager “it was not a full commitment”.
He switched churches and began attending the Church of God of Prophecy, also in Ann’s Grove, which was held under ‘Saffie bottom-house’.
There must have been something about this bottom-house congregation, for out of it came a number of pastors, including Baynes himself.
But it was not all smooth sailing for him, for like most teenagers, negative influences threatened to steer him away from his calling.
“From about 17 to about 21 years old, from that period, I walked away.” It was that time when young men were looking for wives and the church was a little far from their thoughts.
Officiating at the marriage of one of hundreds of couples that came before him.
Around that time he had left Ann’s Grove for the Corentyne and the influence that his family had on him, especially when it came to attending church, was not there. He was actually on his own and vulnerable. “I just went off, start going to parties and sport like any other teenager, until 1976, when the lord put his hand back on my life.”
That was the year he found a soul mate who was inclined to serve the lord, and his love for her was so strong that he was forced to follow her in service to the lord. To this day, they remain husband and wife.
“She was not fully committed, but her parents were; she had to go to church and I started going too and then in 1976, I made a full commitment to the Wesleyan Church this time,” Baynes recalled.
That year he became a member of the New Amsterdam Wesleyan Church and was associated with the Courtland Wesleyan Church, which his girlfriend, now his wife, attended.
During this time he became a youth leader and Sunday School teacher. He also rose to Vice-Chairman (taking care of the Pastor) or as Baynes put it “watching the Pastor back”.
Although he was an active postman, his work in the church was not too demanding.
“It was a bit tough, because when I came home from work I had to go and do church business, but not being a full-time Pastor, I just fit in and did what I had to do.”
But in January 1984, still a postman, Baynes took up the pastorate of the New Amsterdam Wesleyan Church. He pastored that church until the end of November 1986.
Performing a water baptism on a new member of the congregation.
After leaving New Amsterdam, Baynes returned to the East Coast of Demerara when he took over the Nabaclis Wesleyan Church on December 7, 1986, a position he still holds today.
In the interim he also pastored other churches, including the Haslington Wesleyan Church, which is now the Restoration Wesleyan; the Springs of Life in Georgetown and the Ann’s Grove Wesleyan Church.
He was eventually ordained on November 29, 1990.
“As a Pastor, one has to shepherd the flock. The Lord Jesus Christ is the good shepherd and we are the under shepherds – giving guidance, spiritual, financial and scriptural. We set the example,” he said.
But one of the things that stood out throughout the early days of his ministry was his work to regularize the union between many common-law relationships.
“What has stood out over the years is that at one time about one-tenth of the membership was people who I actually marry. There were a lot of people who were actually, what we call… living home. And we know that isn’t in line with God’s teaching. So I worked with them, and the joy is to see those people married, and it was I who married them, and they eventually became members of the church. That’s a real satisfaction.”
In the early days when Baynes took over the Nabaclis Wesleyan Church, the building was an old wooden structure; small with zinc sheets for windows, the back stairs were falling apart. Piece by piece he managed, with his small congregation, to extend it.
But then it was realized that merely extending the building was just adding new pieces to an old structure; hence a decision was taken to build a new church. It took a relatively long time to actually build the new church, four years to be precise. But the finished structure is one to be proud of.
It has the capacity to hold about 600 worshippers, and has a pastor’s office with washrooms.
Baynes was also instrumental in the construction of the church at Haslington.
“They had no building at all, while we had a building at Nabaclis. So that was satisfying.”
All this time, Baynes was juggling his postal work (having risen to the level of post master) with pastoring the churches.
So it was some sort of a blessing when he retired from the GPOC to concentrate on serving the lord full-time.
“After retiring, when I see the amount of work I’m doing now, I’m wondering how could I have done all that work, because now it’s tough.”
Baynes has been on the Wesleyan Church’s National Board for 14 years, 10 of them as the Treasurer, as well as the Assistant District Superintendent, even while pastoring the church at Nabaclis.
He is now the Chairman of the Non Pareil/Victoria Ministerial Fellowship, an organization which he said is doing quite well in terms of bringing the churches together for worship.
According to Baynes, this movement was born out of an inspiration he received from God.
At first he was a bit apprehensive about the challenge to start the fellowship, but he pressed on, and it was amazing how many pastors responded. It’s been four years now and the fellowship is growing.
Pastor Baynes delivering one of his Sunday messages
“Of course, with home and a wife and some other things, it’s hard work, and I wonder how I used to do all this work and was still working as a postman. But I am enjoying it because that was my calling. Dealing with people is challenging, but you know you will make it because God calls you and when he calls you, he’s going to be with you. He did not promise it was going to be a bed of roses.”
He recalled a minor setback to his ministry when in 1988, a few members of the church challenged his leadership, in what was somewhat a mutiny. But that challenge was soon put to rest and Baynes ,with renewed energy, went about doing the Lord’s business.
“When things are going smoothly, you might tend to slacken your prayer life, but when things start to get rough, you realize that you have to get help. You have to find time to get to God with fasting and prayer.”
It was with this in mind that Baynes recalled a special moment of his life in the Ministry.
There was a time when there were very few males in the church. Baynes was not satisfied with only shepherding those members who were already in the church; he wanted to fulfill the biblical calling of being a fisher of men.
He realized that something had to be done to rectify this situation; so together with two female church members, Sister Edna English and Sister Olga Jafferally (both deceased) they set out to “right the wrong”.
“We came together and said we got to pray for men, and we began fasting and praying… for years. Our time was twelve o’clock every Wednesday, and then men started to come; young men…I always talk about this, because that’s memorable. Men did come,” Baynes said.
The cycle of serving the Lord in a special way has not stopped with Baynes himself. All of his children have been “saved”. In fact he has a son, who was his Assistant Pastor and is now a Youth Pastor in a New York, USA church, almost a full-time pastor.
“The second one, he used to play instruments and sing and preach in the church. But he is away now, I know he is still at church but I don’t know if he’s preaching still.”
His wife, who is popularly known as Sister Baynes, has been a tower of strength in his ministry. He credits her with giving him the inspiration to undertake the pastorship when he was called to do so in 1983.
“I started thinking that I would not be able but she said ‘No, God will help you’. I had started to think, ‘where would I get things to preach for a whole year and then another year’ but she said ‘No, Franklyn, put it to God’. And I took her advice and the Lord just helped,” Baynes declared.
Since then his wife has been integrally involved in his ministry.
He has this advice for Guyana in the coming year.
“Look to God, he is our only tower of strength. The politicians can’t help us; the politicians themselves need help….we need unity and cooperation. Guyana has so many resources that we should have been in a better position, but everybody has been looking after themselves and that is bad. If we continue like that, no matter how many programmes we try, it will not work.”