Sebert McKoy: “Glad Obedience and Strenuous Endeavour”

 

Sebert McKoy

Born in Riversdale, St. Catherine, December 9, 1932, Sebert Samuel McKoy was the last of twelve children born to George Lewis McKoy, a tailor, and Mable Graham, a dressmaker. He attended the Baptist-related Mt. Hermon Elementary School in Hampshire, where he received his early education. He grew up in the fellowship of the Mount Hermon Baptist Church and was baptized when in his late teens, after having been refused earlier because he was deemed too young to be baptized. At eighteen years of age, he was the serving Secretary of the Mt Hermon Baptist Church.

He successfully completed the Jamaica Local Examinations and served briefly as a Probationer Teacher after which, sensing a call to the ministry, he spent one year as a student at the Jamaica Bible College in Mandeville. To further prepare for the ministry, he commenced preparation at the Calabar Theological College on August 31, 1955. He successfully completed the four-year Calabar programme and graduated after gaining the Diploma in Theology as an external student at the University of London.

In 1959, McKoy was ordained to the ministry in the Mt. Hermon Baptist Church where he had received Christian nurture at the start of his pilgrimage with Christ.

McKoy  answered  the call to serve the pastorate  of the  Fullersfield circuit of Baptist  churches where he laboured with unwavering commitment for 45 years, retiring on July 26, 2004. During his pastorate, McKoy oversaw a large church expansion programme, including the establishment and dedication of four new churches, namely, Grange Hill, 1961; Blenheim, 1975; Little London, 1978 and Red Hills, 1979. At one stage, he pastored a circuit of nine churches. After that number was reduced to five, following a circuit realignment, he established the Robins River Mission.

 

Young McKoy

Over the many years of his service as a pastor, his commitment to Christian service and his passion for evangelism, church planting and church revitalization were well known. His investment in young people was legendary. Not only did he inspire many young people to serve the Lord faithfully through his work in his circuit and his leadership in JBU camp ministries, but he provided a noble example of sincere Christian discipleship and selfless service.

While serving in Hanover, he often invited ministers in training to preach in his circuit. On these occasions, he introduced them to the joy of serving in the pastoral ministry. Because of the care he took  in planning for  these occasions,  many aspiring ministers gained insight into how to prepare preaching plans, planning a church year programme, organizing the church for corporate worship and conducting visitation to members.

Unsurprisingly, in their tribute to their pastor when he retired from the ministry, the Fullersfield Circuit declared:

 

You gave clear, sensitive, caring, careful, consistent and exemplary leadership in the pattern and spirit of Christ’s own leadership. You accentuated teamwork in all the churches … It is phenomenal the way you mastered the art of delegating responsibilities and were able to choose the right person to accomplish the duty assigned to him. You organized your time so efficiently that you were able to attend, as well as participate in, the many functions that were held in the churches…. You produced [in each church] an annual programme filled with meaningful church activities and functions which could be followed even in your absence… You have served your congregations with dignity and distinction. By your example and by the spoken word, you have inspired us to strive with all our heart to remain committed to the Christian faith by the enabling power of the Holy Spirit.

McKoy was deeply committed to Jamaica Baptist Union (JBU), to which he unhesitating made his gifts available. He served in many leadership positions including as Chairman, Department of Evangelism; Chairman, JBU Camps and Conference Committee; Chairman, JBU Stewardship Committee; Vice Chairman, Department of Christian Education; Secretary of the Calabar General Committee; and as JBU Vice President over three one-year terms. He was a member of the JBU Executive Committee for many years and he was Secretary of the JBU Steering Committee. He is remembered as one of the principal architects of the celebrated JBU programme “Through the Seventies with Christ at the Centre.” He was chair of the Steering Committee when it developed the 10-year programme, which included a plan to set the entire Baptist family on fire for God’s mission in their communities. The plan also involved the establishment or strengthening of Baptist witness in the four-M’s – May Pen and Mount Salem, Moneague and Mandeville. Churches should be planted in May Pen and Mount Salem, and churches should be revitalized in Moneague and Mandeville. McKoy also committed many years of service on the JBU Ministerial Training and Ministerial Accreditation Committees.

 McKoy’s  heart throbbed with the passion for God’s  mission through the church. In 1976, when the need was both  great and urgent, he took a leave of absence from his circuit to  answer the call to serve as a short-term missioner to Grenada on behalf of the Jamaica Baptist Missionary Society (JBMS). This was  part of the process that  led to the establishment of the first  Baptist Church in that country.

Recognized as one of the highly respected JBU leaders in western Jamaica, Mc Koy, with Sam Reid and later, George Simpson, led many of the JBU deputations to western Jamaica. He also played an  active role in the  leadership of the  Westmoreland/Hanover Baptist Association and encouraged and facilitated a strong solidarity by Baptists in the two parishes.

Despite his extensive involvement in the life of his circuit and the wider JBU, McKoy found time for community service in Hanover and Westmoreland. He was Chairman of the Early Childhood Education Board of  Westmoreland,  Chairman of the  Board  for  several Primary and All-Age Schools in both Hanover and Westmoreland. In 1999, he received the Governor General’s Award for distinguished service in the parish of Westmoreland.

It  was  while  he was  a ministerial student that McKoy met his future wife, Edna Lawrence, at the JBU Young People’s Spiritual Rearmament Conference in Nutshell, Duncans. She was a Moravian teenager and was attending the conference at the invitation of her close friend, Grace Gardener.

On August 7, 1963, McKoy and Lawrence were united in marriage – a pastor and an educator pledged to each other. Mrs. McKoy’s passionate commitment to the service of God and the support of her husband’s ministry are celebrated by those who knew the couple. Their union produced two daughters, Faith Alison and Celia May, whose Christian commitment and active involvement in the life of the church are a fitting tribute to their parents’ example and guidance.

On Sunday,  February 9, 2003, while  preaching at Townhead Baptist Church, McKoy  suffered a stroke and had to be helped from the pulpit. He insisted on completing the sermon and sat  down to superintend Holy Communion.  He never overcame the effects of that experience and, in 2004, he retired from the  pastoral ministry and  moved to Discovery Bay  where he and  his wife made their new home. In later years, he resided at the Brookdale and Morningside Nursing Homes.

At the age of 84, McKoy passed away on June 11, 2017, leaving wife Edna, their two daughters, and many other relatives and friends. His funeral service took place at Boulevard Baptist Church in Kingston on June 29, 2017.

In a citation  presented at its 155^th Assembly,  JBU described McKoy as a  “beloved brother and friend, devoted and respected servant of Christ,” and characterized his ministry as one of “glad obedience and strenuous endeavour” in the service of his Lord.