JAMAICA 1957: THE YEAR OF MIRACLES
I am in my ninety-ninth year, with my faculties unimpaired and my spirit soaring with joy every day. I was baptised on November 25 1957 and, yes, there were forty-two other baptisms besides mine in the two Jamaican ecclesias of Kingston and Old Hope (now Broughton) in that one year, 1957. I would like to share with you all a few serious and salutary lessons before I fall asleep until my wonderful Lord comes and bestows on me a new and glorious body.
Now, 54 years later, it can be said of those forty-three of us: four of us are still alive and are active members in Jamaica; three are alive and are active members in the U.S.A.; four migrated to the U.K. and died in the Faith there; and thirty-two fell asleep in the Lord after years of faithful service to our Jamaican ecclesias. And none ever abandoned the faith.
By what means did God call us? One saw a poster on a bus. The husband of another picked up a leaflet from the gutter and gave it to his wife. Two witnessed a previous baptism and became curious. One was an itinerant Bible salesman who decided it was time he knew more about the product he was selling. Ten attended a Bible class or seminar. And twenty-eight of us saw the dramatically changed life of a friend or relative and were inspired to follow them in the Way and `buy' the pearl of great price.
Astonishingly, no less than sixteen of us learned of the Faith while in hospital: fourteen patients and two nurses, of whom I was one. We forty- three were from all walks of life, all faiths or none. One was the brother of the ruler of the Sephardic Jewish synagogue in Kingston, and was the first from his family in at least seventeen generations to be baptised as a Christian. Another, the owner of a bakery, was a convert from Buddhism, the first in his Chinese- Jamaican family ever. There were students, farmers, fisherfolk, dressmakers, salesmen, a former church pastor, nurses, a half-blinded cane cutter, a bus conductress, a plantation overseer, a few who were unemployed, and one beggar. We became one in Christ.
What we went on to be after our baptism was much more important than where we came from. Of the forty-three of us, twenty-two were brothers and twenty-one were sisters. Four later served as `recording brethren' of various ecclesias; one is still serving as such in New York! One from Old Hope became treasurer of the Bible Mission Jamaica in the year following his baptism and for eighteen years thereafter, to be succeeded by one from Kingston for the next twenty-three years. Nine of the twenty- two matured into competent exhorting and `lecturing' brethren. Fifteen of us were used by the Lord directly and personally to bring others to the Faith: twenty-five in the case of one brother who was deaf, twenty-plus by one sister, and ten by another sister. They just let the Lord work through them! One young sister converted two on her deathbed at the age of twenty-three and both parents at her funeral. They became pillars of the Kingson ecclesia: her father, the ecclesial treasurer, died after being robbed at the meeting hall of the ecclesial collection, while her mother fell asleep in Christ after decades of service as table sister. Many, perhaps a few hundred, of your Gospel News readers will be able to put names to all those whom I have mentioned.
All forty-three of us can show what the true Christian faith can do for people. We were transformed by the power of the gospel. Light came into our lives, banishing the darkness and the ignorance. It gave us astonishing courage and a radiant confidence that the Almighty God, the God of Israel, Maker of the heaven and the earth, is greater than anything or anybody else in the world, however powerful they may seem to be. Many of us have lived under the temporal rule of capitalist `democrats,' ruthless outlaw warlords, and communist zealots. But we have been delivered from the bondage of spine-chilling fear fear of death and of the dead, fear of darkness and all its supposed powers, fear of gunmen and terrorists. We were and are truly free. It doesn't matter what man can do unto us (Psalm 27:1-8). Our hearts are "fixed" or "steadfast" (Psalm 57:7). That is why I am so joyful at nearly ninety-nine.
So what is the secret of the miracle year of 1957?
To a devoted follower of Christ, there is only one answer: "The Lord has done this, and it is marvellous in our eyes" (Psalm 118:23; Mark 12:11). Nevertheless, behind and below that blessing, there is much to learn. When the Apostle Paul planned his Bible campaign in Corinth, his strategy was clear and deliberate: "I did not come with eloquence or superior wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God. For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified" -(1 Corinthians 2:1-2)
It was the same in Kingston in 1957. We were making disciples of the Lord Jesus, not devotees of a sect. We had virtually no Christadelphian literature we could not afford any and we all went out with Bible alone in hand. We claimed that our `Christadelphian' brotherhood was based on the Bible, and the seed of the Word was almost all we had to prove it. We shunned `courses' and multiple choice quizzes and any kind of indoctrination. And it worked. Just one booklet was a big help in our witness, Preaching the Truth by William Brown. It was marvellous because it presented opposing views without ridicule and let you decide. It did not bully you into believing like so many `know-all' sects did.
Then, the Kingston and Old Hope ecclesias did not leave those forty-three of us spiritually naked from our baptismal bath. Within six months, all forty-three of us, even the illiterate ones, could handle our Bibles like apostles. And we did! As an educated lady myself, I was amazed that some of my unschooled Christadelphian patients could demolish errors of college trained clergymen.
Then, crucially, there was unity. In those days, most Christadelphians who visited us in the Caribbean, including the emissaries of the Bible Mission, did not waste their time, energy and money on eliminating perceived rivals or stirring the witches' cauldron of one hundred year old controversies and divisions (1 Corinthians 3-7). Everyone seemed to know what was important. After all, who will deliberately drink a poisoned chalice?
Best of all, there was abundant love. That is really what kept all forty-three of us on course, enduring to the end. I know that those who have survived like me will testify that our Jamaican brotherhood's greatest advertisement was our agape, our fervent love for God, for the brethren, and for our neighbour (as Jesus defined it!)
In 2010 Kingston and Broughton were listed as Bible Mission supported ecclesias of the Christadelphian brotherhood. But there were no baptisms at all. None. The same hunger for truth is out there, and all around. That is not the problem at all. Instead we must ask with the Apostle Paul: "Even in the case of lifeless things that make sounds, such as the flute or harp, how will anyone know what tune is being played unless there is a distinction in the notes? Again, if the trumpet does not sound a clear call, who will get ready for battle? So it is with you" (1 Corinthians 14:7-8).
Finally, when I was "born again," I joined others of like faith in (at most) seventeen other countries and colonies worldwide. Now I thank God in amazement to see lightstands listed for one hundred and thirty-six countries across the globe in The Gospel News, The Bible Missionary magazine and the 2011 Directory. My earnest message to you all must be: We are only ambassadors (2 Corinthians 5:20); give all the glory to God alone!
Kinshasa Ecclesia, Congo - Send greetings to all in Christ, our ecclesial photos show us being exhorted and breaking bread followed by an Ecclesial meal prepared by our Sisters. We long to be together with you all in the Kingdom. Bro Kim's
before she fell asleep in Christ.
