Rev Karl Johnson returns to pastorate after 20 years, demits office as JBU gen sec
KINGSTON, Jamaica— Reverend Merlyn Hyde Riley will become the first woman to hold the position of General Secretary of the Jamaica Baptist Union (JBU) when Reverend Karl Johnson retires on Thursday.
Johnson will demit office after serving more than 20 years in the role.
Johnson will assume pastoral responsibility for the historic Phillippo Baptist Church in Spanish Town, St Catherine. Phillippo is the church where he was baptised as a child, a statement from the JBU read.
“Looking back at the twenty years that I served in this office does feel somewhat surreal. I remember how unbelievably farfetched the idea appeared when I was first approached to consider serving in the office,” Johnson said.
Before becoming general secretary of the JBU in March 2001, Johnson pastored for 11 years.
He started his pastoral journey in 1990 at the Ulster Spring Circuit of Baptist Churches in Trelawny as a probationer pastor, after completing studies at the United Theological College of the West Indies.
He then joined the pastoral team at the Calvary Baptist Church in St James in 1995.
“It was a wonderful experience, walking alongside people and growing together in our spirituality, in our faith journey; understanding and discerning God’s will for both pastor and people in the different locales,” he said.
“For those of us who have this call upon our lives, there is nothing that can compare to exercising this vocation in the knowledge that it is God who has called you, and despite all the vagaries and vicissitudes, it is this assurance of call that takes precedence,” the Reverend said.
In 2020, Johnson was appointed the Order of Distinction in the rank of Commander for exceptional contribution to Religion and Community Development. He also became first-vice-president of the Baptist World Alliance (BWA) that same year.
The JBU described Johnson as a ”forward-thinking and very vocal clergyman”, who has, over the years, advocated for social causes and with his commentary on national matters often attracting local and international attention.
”In 2007, he received widespread commendation for his sermon at the National Leadership Prayer Breakfast, at which time, he highlighted several troubling issues plaguing the country. He was at the time, the president of the Jamaica Council of Churches,” the JBU said.
“I demit office with the novel coronavirus still raging. It causes a numbness and paralysis that makes the future appear particularly bleak. However, viewing the pandemic through the lens of divine providence shores up our confidence in the wisdom, grace, and love of Almighty God,” Johnson noted.