Devon Dick

This evening, the Jamaica Baptist Union (JBU) hosts a worship service at Calabar to mark the 50th anniversary of the ordination of the Reverend Dr Horace Russell to the Christian ministry.

This significant milestone will be held in the context of a very important week because starting tomorrow, the JBU will be hosting its 159th assembly.

It is also symbolic that it is being held at the historic Calabar, a place where Russell went to high school, theological college and a place where he was ordained and became chaplain. It was a place where he baptised boys, including Derrick Kellier, MP.

My first contact with Dr Russell was in 1982/83 when I was assigned to work with him at East Queen Street Baptist Circuit with responsibility for Denham Town Baptist Church. I was to gain practical pastoral experience from a master before being sent out as a student pastor.

Primary role

I remember being in on a counselling session at Denham Town with a woman whose child had died in an accident while she was overseas trying to make a living. He saw his primary role then to help the lady deal with the guilt being experienced because she felt responsible for her child's death. He was an excellent counsellor.

I recall another time when I arrived at East Queen Street Baptist Church one Sunday morning dressed in pants and a long-sleeved shirt - no jacket or tie - and he said if only I was properly dressed he could have used me to read a Scripture lesson. He was a man of decorum. I also remember that the sermon was about love and though he was a Greek scholar, he never mentioned the different Greek words for love though he demonstrated familiarity with the concepts. He did not take his study into the pulpit.

After the service, he took me to his home for dinner with his family. He said that if he died then he would be taking vital knowledge to the grave, hence his penchant for publishing. Horace Russell is the most published Jamaican Baptist. In 2000, Russell published a masterpiece The Missionary Outreach of the West Indian Church: Jamaican Baptist Missions to West Africa in the Nineteenth Century, Foundations and Anticipations: The Baptist Story in Jamaica 1783-1892 (1993) and The Baptist Witness: A Concise Baptist History (1983). He has many more publications and perhaps he is the only Jamaican Baptist pastor who has published a book of sermons.

Russell got his PhD from the prestigious Oxford University, UK, and later became the first person of African origin to be president of the United Theological College of the West Indies (UTCWI). He, the leading church historian, must be credited with introducing West Indian church history into the curriculum of UTCWI.

Russell had a prophetic role in the society. His columns in The Gleaner from Philadelphia were informative and insightful. He can also tell you many stories about political violence and gang violence. Russell served as chairman of the Jamaica National Heritage Trust and as a member of the Public Service Commission. He was also a pioneer in religious broadcasting at ZQI, RJR and JBC.

Served world bodies

Russell also served the world bodies whether as a member of the World Council of Churches or Baptist World Alliance. He serves, at present, as the senior pastor of the Saints Memorial Baptist Church, PA.

Horace is married to Beryl who has published a book on the history of the Jamaica Baptist Women's Federation. She was the first woman to be vice-principal of Calabar. In sixth form at that institution, I found her to be an excellent teacher of English literature.

Horace Russell is a great Jamaican and deserves to be honoured as such.