Porus Baptist Church
During his lifetime, Samuel Josiah Washington attracted the epithets “the Baptist steam engine” and “the giant of the Baptist Union.” Such was the esteem in which people held this servant of God.
Washington was born on November 21, 1847, in Savanna-la-Mar, Westmoreland, the fifth of Jane and Jacob Washington’s six children, some of whom were enslaved persons. He attended the Savanna-la-Mar Primary School and then worked with his brother as a mason. Later, he gained admission to Calabar Normal School and trained as a teacher. He gained his reputation as an excellent teacher and school administrator when he served at the Baptist school in Stewart Town, Trelawny. He answered the call to the ministry and, in 1875, he was admitted to Calabar College for ministerial formation and training.
After serving in the Port Antonio circuit, Washington made the Porus circuit in Manchester the main sphere of his work. There, he employed his gifts in the service of the people to the glory of God. He carried out an extensive building programme in the circuit and was dearly loved in the communities in which the churches were set.
Washington is remembered for his participation in the inaugural assembly of the Baptist World Alliance (BWA) that took place in London, UK, in July 111-19, 1905. Other representatives from Jamaica who accompanied to this meeting included Augustus Kirkham of Sav la Mar and Frederick Edmonds of Ocho Rios. But it was Stephenson who gave the official response on behalf of Jamaica at the appointed time during the Congress. He was elected a vice BWA president and became the first in a line of Jamaica Baptists who held office in BWA. While at the BWA Congress, Washington invited the renowned Rev. R. H. Boyd of the National Baptist Publishing Board of Nashville, Tennessee, USA, to visit Jamaica. Boyd seized every opportunity to ensure that the Publishing Board would promote religious liberty by enabling Black churches to produce their own materials for worship and Christian education.
Washington was an author. On the 50th anniversary of emancipation, he joined with four other Jamaicans – Rev. R. Gordon, Mr. W. F. Bailey, Mr. J. H. Reid and Mr. R. Dingwall – to produce Jamaica’s Jubilee or Who We are and What We Hope to Be. The book was published in London by S. W. Partridge & Co., in 1888. Washington contributed the chapter entitled, “Some Hindrances to the Greater Prosperity of Jamaica during the last Fifty Years.” In the Preface to the book, R Dingwall said this:
In
thrusting this little volume upon the attention of the public, we do not think
any apology is needed. The occasion demands it. For fifty years have we enjoyed
the privileges and advantages of Freedom; and it is but reasonable that we
should by some effort of this kind endeavour to examine ourselves as to how we
have profited by them, as well as give the world an opportunity of forming a
correct opinion of us, the emancipated people of Jamaica and these British West
Indies in general. Once and again, others have had their say about us; surely
the world will not count us presumptuous, if, for once—on an occasion so highly
momentous, so deeply interesting—we venture to ask permission to speak for
ourselves!
After serving for 36 years in the Porus circuit, he died on November 5, 1915, at the age of 68. The cause of his death was certified to be cardiac failure. The funeral service took place at the Porus Baptist Church on November 11, 1915. In his funeral oration, Rev the Hon. E. B. Esson, a Congregationalist, praised Washington’s “ability as an orator, his sincerity and earnestness as a preacher and his tact and firmness in dealing with all matters pertaining to the administration of his church.”
At a Memorial Service for Washington, held at Porus on
August 4, 1920, the Baptist churches at Porus, Harmons, Zion Hill and
Mandeville remembered Washington as the “giant of the Baptist Union” and “the
Baptist steam engine.” A mural tablet in Washington’s honour was unveiled and
Rev. L M Beverley of Point Hill delivered the sermon based on Acts 13:36 “Now when David
had served God’s purpose in his own generation, he fell asleep.”
A servant of God, who had served as Chairman of the Jamaica Baptist Union, 1899-1900, and who was truly concerned for the welfare of the people in his charge had “fought the good fight, finished his course and kept the faith.
