11 February 2026 | Guernsey, Channel Islands [Victor Manangazira with tedNEWS]
Members of the Channel Islands Seventh-day Adventist Company gathered in Guernsey, Channel Islands, on 7 February 2026 with family and friends to witness the baptism of Esther Gyamfi and Rona Mariz Gorieza, marking the first baptism in this territory.
Pastor Nathan Stickland, Executive Secretary of the South England Conference (SEC), UK, preached a sermon entitled “Look, There Is Water”, based on Acts 8:26–40. He baptised the two candidates and welcomed them into the Seventh-day Adventist Church.
“It is a joy to see growth through baptisms, and I can see a time coming soon when these groups on Jersey and Guernsey, in the Channel Islands, will become churches in their own right,” Stickland said. “These two islands have a combined population of about 170,000, so there is much to do and many people to reach, with 30 miles of ocean between them.”
Pastor Laszlo Liebhardt, Church Growth and Adventist Mission Director at the SEC, offered words of encouragement to both the new and current members of the Channel Islands Adventist community regarding their role in God’s mission to the Channel Islands and beyond.
Local elders, who had helped organise the event, officiated the service and prepared the candidates for baptism. Praizapella, a singing group from Guernsey, led out in music during the service. Elder Mandla Mlambo, leader of the Channel Islands Adventist Company, thanked the SEC leadership for their continuing support and for visiting the Channel Islands for this service.
The Adventist presence in the Channel Islands began in 2007 when four believers arrived in Jersey and, finding no local Adventist church, started worshipping in someone’s house. They have since grown, and believers now gather in temporary places of worship on both Jersey and Guernsey.
The Channel Islands are self-governing British territories in the English Channel, located between southern England and northern France. They include the Bailiwick of Jersey and the Bailiwick of Guernsey, along with Alderney, Sark, Herm and other smaller islands.
[Photos: Courtesy of the Channel Islands Seventh-day Adventist Company]
