Rev Karl Johnson to become pastor at Phillippo Baptist Church

Reverend Karl Johnson is to demit office as general secretary of the Jamaica Baptist Union (JBU) on September 30, after more than 20 years at the helm of the organisation.

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.

“Looking back at the 20 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,” he said.

Johnson was a pastor for 11 years prior to heading to the JBU as the general secretary in March 2001.

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.”

Johnson was appointed to the Order of Distinction in the Rank of Commander in 2020 for exceptional contribution to religion and community development.

He also became the first vice-president of the Baptist World Alliance last year.

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