As pastor of Grace Baptist Chapel, Rev. Reid-Salmon leads the church in various ministries, offering dynamic worship, thoughtful and relevant preaching, and warm fellowship.
As the pioneering pastor-scholar of Caribbean Diasporan Theology, the Rev. Dr. Reid Salmon clarifies for his church constituency what he means by “Caribbean Diaspora” for the Caribbean diasporan community to which he belongs carries with it a critical perspective, a particular lens through which the experiences of Caribbean people in general and members of the Caribbean diasporan church, in particular, perceive and understand themselves.
In his introduction to his seminal text, Home Away From Home: the Caribbean Diasporan Church in the Black Atlantic Tradition (2006), Dr. Reid-Salmon argues in support of his use of the Caribbean diasporan community of faith “as a source for theological discourse.” Bound up in that discourse are the cultural history and diasporan experience as well as a Caribbean intellectual tradition through which he engages his congregants as they make sense of their lives in the USA and throughout the Black Atlantic world. This, of course, has serious implications, not just for the Caribbean diaspora in the United States, but for Caribbean diasporan communities all over the world.
Dr. Reid-Salmon embraces the pastor-scholar model of ministry, which is deeply rooted in Biblical Witness, the historic tradition of the Christian faith, and Black history and experience. As pastor-scholar Dr. Reid-Salmon believes that the pastor ought to be an interpreter and model of the Christian faith. Dr. Reid-Salmon is a Visiting Fellow at the Oxford Centre for Religion and Culture, Regent’s Park College, University of Oxford. He holds a PhD in Systematic Theology from the University of Birmingham, UK, a Master of Divinity degree from Harvard University Divinity School, and a Bachelor of Arts from Long Island University, NY. His publication includes several scholarly articles and, most recent book, Burning for Freedom: A Theology of the Black Atlantic Struggle for Liberation.
Dr. Reid-Salmon enjoys athletics, running, playing table tennis, reading, writing, and loves people. Above all, he loves God and is devoted to serving the church.
Grace Baptist Chapel is a Caribbean Diasporan Church. It so identifies because it came into being with the firm understanding of its people as members of the Universal Church whose outlook, world view, language, cultural expressions, and understanding of God emanate from their core “Caribbeanness”—Caribbean Identity.
At home in the Caribbean, they largely take these ways of being for granted because at home they don’t self-consciously think about who they are and what culture they practice, they just are! But in diaspora, as they are now, their lives, their aspirations, work ethic, sense of morality, community engagement, child-rearing and parenting practices, are all informed by this same Caribbean philosophical/ cultural interpretation – an emphasis of the ministry of Grace Baptist Chapel, an almost 34-year-old ministry, established and led, since its inception, by The Rev. Dr. Reid–Salmon. As pastor of Grace Baptist Chapel, he leads the church in various ministries, offering dynamic worship, thoughtful and relevant preaching, and warm fellowship. This includes prophetic engagement of an informative lecture series, relevant Christian education, and a growing and socially involved and informed community of faith consisting of people of all ages.