Lloyd Samuel Thorpe

The services for Lloyd Samuel Thorpe will be live-streamed; to access the webcast, please click HERE.

Lloyd Samuel Thorpe went home to be with his Lord and Savior on Monday, June 29, 2026 at the age of 80. Lloyd was born in St. James, Jamaica, West Indies on March 14, 1946 to Claudius Agustus Thorpe and Rebecca (neé Grenion) Thorpe.

In 1963, at age 17 and a half, he migrated to the capital city of Kingston, Jamaica to be employed by a wealthy family. With the family, he attended a Methodist church, one Sunday per month. He said that he endured the service because he could not understand it. And he had very little fear of death and hell until God led him to read a Gospel tract, given to him by a little girl, with Psalm 9:17 printed on it. He had never read anything from the Bible before in all his almost 19 years of existence. He said that the words from that verse “the wicked shall be turned into hell” bothered him for about a month. Later, one Saturday morning while listening to his 10-transistor pocket radio, a Christian preacher from the United States came on the air. At the end of his sermon, the preacher said, “All things are possible, only believe!”

The preacher was really talking about physical healing, but Lloyd received spiritual healing and began to experience a hunger for church and the Bible. He committed his life to Christ and soon found a vibrant church, completed new converts’ classes, was baptized, and became a member.

At his place of employment, one of his colleagues encouraged him to get training from the Fairview Baptist Bible College in Jamaica. From 1972-1975, he was a student pastor. Toward the end of 1975, he was appointed a missionary—the first foreign missionary—with the Jamaica Independent Baptist Foreign Missionary Council. After deputation in Jamaica, he migrated to Guyana, South America. While in Guyana, he started planting a church in the capital city of Georgetown, Guyana. It was during this time, in 1977, he met and married his forever wife, Shelly Thorpe, who joined him in the ministry. After marriage, they relocated 150 miles deep into Hindu and Muslim villages. There, he pastored two churches, started two preaching points, operated summer Bible camps, and did street evangelism. He remained in wonderful fellowship with many of the believers from his church-planting ministry in Guyana.

In 1980, Lloyd and Shelly arrived in the United States and two weeks later began attending and became members of Bible Baptist Church of Washington, D.C. pastored by the late Rev. Dr. James D. Parker. Then, in 1981, in affiliation with the Conservative Baptist Home Mission Society, they started planting an urban church from “scratch” (just he and Shelly) with the faithful prayer and financial support of many churches and individuals. This church, New Haven Baptist Church, is now located in the Laurel, MD area.

In 1987, Lloyd co-founded the International Fellowship of Churches (IFC). Over the next 39 years, IFC provided a weekend conference of preaching, teaching, workshops, music, and fellowship for the small fellowship of churches which consisted predominantly of pastors who had graduated from Fairview Baptist Bible College in Jamaica. He was the founding president from 1987 until he resigned in 2023.

To all who knew him, Lloyd was a generous and caring man with a wonderful sense of humor. Lloyd loved being a pastor. Lloyd loved people. To his congregation, he was a profound preacher, teacher, and minister of the Word of God. His sole purpose was to do God’s will. In fact, while dating his wife he told her, it would always be “the Lord first, and then Lloyd!” and he never wavered from that commitment. He spent 42 years faithfully shepherding the flock at New Haven Baptist Church where he consistently laid the spiritual, physical, and emotional foundation upon which the family at New Haven Baptist Church now stands. He laughed with us in times of joy, mourned with us in sorrowful times, and unwaveringly preached, taught, and guided us to Jesus.

He played the drums the last Sunday before he passed in spite of the pain he was experiencing. Every church ministry, every life in, and even beyond, our church community is a testament to the beautiful legacy our pastor, Lloyd Samuel Thorpe, now leaves behind.

Lloyd loved learning. He loved to read. He was a consummate preacher, teacher, and learner. At the time of his death, having completed with flying colors all the requisite courses, he was working on his dissertation to acquire a Ph.D. in Ministry.

To his family, he was a very caring, protective, husband and father. He and Shelly met 50 years ago in Guyana, South America. In September of this year (2026), they would have been married for 49 years. 

In June 1988, they added to their lives, by adoption (when she was one-day old), their beloved daughter, Shelliaan, who, like her parents, faithfully served and embraced the work of the ministry—they were inseparable to the end. Lloyd leaves to cherish his memory, his wife Shelly, his daughter, Shelliaan, two of his four brothers, Wilfred Thorpe, Ewan Thorpe (Sonia), one surviving sister, Girlie (Hazel Wollery), Joyce Bowen and Faye Wollery, to name two of his many nieces, nephews, his brother-in-law, Kenneth Christopher Simon (Maxine), and the Simon, Barton, Noble, and Ault families, and several godchildren.

Lloyd will be remembered for his warm, generous heart, his sense of humor, and his faithful and consistent testimony and ministry that spanned 60 years. Though he is gone from this earthly life, his spirit remains intertwined in the lives with whom he crossed paths. His teaching, his preaching, his ministry, and his memory will continue to shine brightly, continually reminding us that a life lived with purpose and faith leaves a legacy that will never fade. He will be forever loved! He will be forever missed! We know that our greatest tribute we can pay to our beloved pastor is to protect the unity of our church and live out the faith and love he so very passionately preached and taught consistently for the past 42 years.

The services for Lloyd Samuel Thorpe will be live-streamed; to access the webcast, please click HERE.