"EIGHTY PER CENT of membership of churches today became converted before age 15. If we are going to impact this nation, we have to impact people 15 and under. Because above 15 it becomes far more difficult."
So says the Rev. Dr. Stevenson Samuels, the newly appointed general secretary of the para-church organisation Students' Christian Fellowship and Scripture Union (SCF-SU). He is a man with a strong passion to carry the Christian Gospel to the nation's youths. He argues that schools and neighbourhoods are nowhere as promising for evangelism as are the nation's schools.
"I think that our investment must be in youths and the only place in this country where there is a high concentration of youths on a daily basis are our schools... If we are going to reach them (students) strategically, it has to be in the schools.
Accordingly, Steve has answered the call to be the driving force to carry the SCF-SU to greater heights. "I have decided to invest my time in reaching youths in schools. That is the best investment that anybody can make for the Kingdom of God."
Steve is nationally known and renowned as one of the founding members of the popular gospel band, Birthright. A dynamo of a performer, he often sang lead vocals on the concert stage for this 20-year-old group which has produced three albums and has won several local music awards.
The 11th of 11 children born to Albert and Leonie Samuels, Steve acknowledged that his whole life has been a providential preparation for his present job. A 'PK' i.e. a pastor's kid, Steve acknowledged that watching his father and mother do ministry inculcated in him an appetite for Christian service. His father, an ordained minister, pastored the Temple Hall New Testament Church. Both his parents have now been called to service above.
At Meadowbrook High School he was a vice president of the Inter-Schools Christian Fellowship there, and at the College of Arts, Science and Technology (CAST) - now the University of Technology - where he really blossomed as a leader, he became president of that institution's chapter of the University and Colleges Christian Fellowship (UCCF).
He brings to his new post, meaningful management experience having been production supervisor at Moore's Business Forms and production manager at Carnaud Metal Box. To complement the knowledge he gained as an engineer, he did a Bachelor's degree in Economics and Management at the University of the West Indies.
Heavily engaged in church activities for all his life, Steve increasingly sensed the call of God, and he accordingly made preparations for full-time Christian ministry. He did a Master's degree in Caribbean Ministry with a major in Counselling Psychology at the Caribbean Graduate School of Theology, then he went on to do a Doctor of Ministry which is offered by the Columbia Theological Seminary through the United Theological College of the West Indies.
While at CAST, Steve met and later married Larene, who today is a director at the Bank of Jamaica. That union has produced two daughters, ages 10 and six.
In 1998, he became Assistant Pastor at the Waltham Park New Testament Church of God, a position he still holds in addition to being general secretary of the SCF-SU.
There have sometimes been an uneasy marriage between para-church organisations and churches. Some feel that the era of the para-church is over as churches are doing a lot of the work formerly monopolised by para-churches. Furthermore, some pastors, rightly so, are concerned when their young people give support to para-churches to the neglect of the ministries of the local church. But Steve argues that there is continued scope for para-church groups to function within the Kingdom.
"Right now there is an official understanding between the SCF-SU and my denomination - that I am between the two. The statement that we want to make is this 'The para-church can work hand-in-hand with the local churches'," says Steve.
The para-church, he believes, "often pioneers ministries, and then the churches catch up later and develop such ministries. How many churches can have or do have a fellowship in a high school? So there is a unique function that the ISCF movement is playing that the churches are not playing."
Furthermore, with denominational rivalry being what it sometimes is, Steve contends the inter-denominational character of a para-church will usually allow it to transcend 'narrow denominationalism.'
He prizes the non-denominational character of SCF-SU which though evangelical in name is increasingly evidencing greater participation from such traditions as the Pentecostals, Adventists, and Apostolics.
The SCF-SU is easily the largest students-led operation in Jamaica. It is in 200 high schools and 26 post-secondary institutions. But it is an organisation at a critical juncture. The SCF-SU, Steve explains, is "highly understaffed." There is a chronic need for persons to work full-time as field workers with our nation's schools. At present the organisation has three full-time workers servicing 200 high schools, this he notes "is highly ridiculous."
Ideally, he said, it should be at least one field worker per institution. To further compound the situation, SCF-SU is without the resources at this time, says Steve, to properly pay another field worker, and hence such a person would need to raise his/her own support.
He is undaunted, however, and he has big dreams, well at least five:
1) To create partnerships: with churches, para-churches past-SCF-SUers, donor agencies, and volunteers.
2) The lifting of performance standards within SCF-SU staff.
3) Create a certified leadership training programme which would incorporate material from the Prime Minister's national values and attitudes campaign.
4) Train students in evangelistic techniques to present the Gospel to their peers.
5) Increase literature distribution, especially the SCF-SU produced Daily Word - thereby increasing the reading of the Bible in schools.
As a youth leader, he represents the interest of that demographic group in various national fora, including the National Values and Attitudes Campaign, where the SCF-SU is seeking to be a facilitator within schools.
Steve, has been in the general secretary's chair since September. However, on February 16 at the Waltham Park New Testament Church of God, at 10:15 am, he will be officially commissioned to service with the SCF-SU.
He knows that people's expectations of him are sky high. "People have said they are not seeing the movement - and I won't deny that. But the movement is still in schools. I think that the movement needs a little more media exposure, we need to be in the public's eye - we need a little more face."
The Rev. Dr. Stevenson Samuels is that face. His vivacious personality will prove to be no small asset as he does his work among youth. No doubt those who appointed him general secretary are banking that he can bring some of his energetic Birthright persona to his new job. He is not likely to disappoint.
Mark Dawes is a Senior Staff Reporter. Send feedback to dawesmark@hotmail.com.
