At 7 years old, Jennifer Brown left her family and home in Jamaica to live with her aunt in England.
It was the 1960s, and some of the Caucasian students called Brown and their other classmates of color by racial epithets. Brown had had enough, one day, when a little girl with waist-length hair teased her again. Brown grabbed the girl’s hair and yanked her to the floor.
“I said, ‘Listen, I’m just like you.’ We had a fight. The teacher intervened and I explained my point and she counseled us.”
While she now regrets initiating the physical confrontation, she is glad for the result: The girl became one of her closest friends in England and they spent many days at each others’ homes after school.
Now, Brown is a fighter of a different kind. She directs that same strength of will, perseverance and compassion for the weak toward her life calling to evangelism, education and missions.
An associate pastor and a language teacher, Brown will draw on her experience in both professions to lead Nazarene Missions International (NMI) as the recently elected global president—the first person outside the United States to fill the position.
Rev. Jennifer Brown is the first person from
outside the United States to be elected as
global NMI president. Photo by Beth Luthye.
Historic election
In the June 26 historic election at the 2009 General Assembly and Conventions in Orlando, Florida, Rev. Jennifer Brown replaced Rev. Eunice Brubaker, of Topeka, Kansas. Brubaker had fulfilled the two four-year terms allowed her in the NMI Handbook and Constitution.
The role involves presiding over the NMI General Council, the executive committee and the General Convention, as well as promoting the purpose and programs of NMI (p.85).
Previously, Brown served as Caribbean representative to the Global NMI Council for four years. Her goal was to unite Caribbean churches around mission. This, in a region where districts are separated by oceans, language and culture, and economics complicate crossing these barriers.
“I found in my region we just did not know each other very well,” she said. “I felt it would be very good for the leaders to be able to connect, whether by e-mail or by phone, and to pray for each other.”
Her first step was to develop a newsletter called Caribbean Connect, which she circulated among the region’s 31 districts, and posted on the regional Web site, www.caribnaz.org.
She also helped organize a conference for NMI district presidents in the English-speaking field of the Caribbean, which included training sessions and an emphasis on prayer.
Prior to her regional role, Brown was NMI president of the Jamaica West District.
“She brought a new focus to NMI, a new image, a new enthusiasm,” said Rev. Joseph Brown (no relation), a pastor on the Jamaica East District who has known Brown for about 20 years.
Jennifer Brown grew up in Jamaica, where she pastors, teaches and
has led Nazarene Missions International (NMI).
One of her gifts, he said, is identifying people with potential, helping them develop their gifts and talents and involving them in ministry.
Brown’s election as global NMI president has inspired not only Nazarenes throughout the Caribbean, but non-Nazarenes, he added.
“Even non-Nazarenes are celebrating because they have watched her consistency and commitment and dedication.”
Donnamie Ali, NMI president of the Trinidad & Tobago District, and new regional representative to the Global NMI Council, said the same reaction is happening in Trinidad.
“I think the estimation of the Church of the Nazarene has gone up a notch, even from other people outside the denomination,” Ali said. After she shared the news with people in the United States and Trinidad, they said, “Oh wow, this happened in your denomination? This Nazarene denomination is really for everybody.”
Heart of an educator
As newsletters and training conferences indicate, Brown has a passion for education. Through her church, Burnt Savannah Church of the Nazarene, she started an evening school for people who have dropped out of school or need a second chance to graduate. She teaches English and Spanish to the roughly 50 students each year.
Language teaching is an ironic choice, considering that it was language she struggled with when she returned to Jamaica from England: She was the only 14-year-old in her school with a cockney accent. That earned her more teasing from the other students.
“I wasn’t like one of them. I was very pressured. I tried my best to speak like they would speak,” she said. “That took me a while to adjust, but I worked on it because I really wanted to be a normal child.”
As a language teacher, she draws satisfaction when students who struggled with English or Spanish begin to do well in the subject.
One young mother of three attending Burnt Savannah Church of the Nazarene had dropped out of school. Brown kept urging her to enroll in the evening school.
“I think she was really suffering from low self-esteem,” Brown said.
The woman enrolled and studied hard. When her exam results came back, she had earned a “distinction.”
“I remember the day when we got the results. I got the slips and I called her aside and when I gave it to her, she fainted.”
With newfound confidence, the woman enrolled in a teacher’s college where she graduated two months ago. She plans to be a teacher, too.
Many of Brown’s students not only master Spanish under her teaching, but have gone on to work in careers that require Spanish proficiency, such as foreign affairs or the hotel industry, she said.
“They have gone farther than I am. I’m still just a teacher.”
Not ‘just a teacher’
Jennifer is an assistant pastor alongside her husband, Rev. Lionel Brown, who is also the Jamaica West District superintendent. She felt the call to full-time ministry early in life, although she didn’t realize it until later.
As a teenager, she participated in a Youth for Christ chapter. Her favorite activities were the Discover Jesus Mission trips, in which the youths (mainly from college and university) simply visited different areas across Jamaica on a weekend, distributing tracts and sharing testimonies with anyone who would listen.
“I didn’t know it when I was participating in those Discover Jesus Mission trips, I felt even then, in my late teens, God was calling me in that direction. I so much wanted to be a teacher; that was my first passion. Over the years, the Lord spoke to me. Maybe I needed to really prepare myself in that way for ministry.”
Her seven siblings, parents, three children and husband all supported her decision to pursue ministerial studies and ordination.
She is chairman for evangelism and church growth for Burnt Savannah Church of the Nazarene, which the couple started in 1986 with 40 members in a tent, and now averages about 400 people for Sunday morning worship. She has also challenged the church to get more involved in compassionate ministries.
Vision for the future
At the 2009 General Assembly and Conventions, Brown was shocked when she learned her name was on the ballot for the Global NMI President election.
“How did my name get there? I’m from Jamaica,” she thought. “I said, ‘I need to go talk to my husband. I need to pray.’”
The couple prayed all day, and Rev. Lionel encouraged her to allow her name to be considered. When she was named the new president, it was an emotional moment.
“I was overwhelmed! I was like, ‘Oh Lord, like Moses, I’m not able, but Lord, if you’re calling, then you’re going to enable.’”
It’s been about a month since the election and she is dreaming and planning for the future with NMI.
“My vision is to see all the local churches, wherever they are in the world, just being active participants in missions. My vision is to see every member of the church being a member of NMI,” she said. “The discipleship has been a weak area in our churches. I want to see more productive discipling going on – getting our young people involved in mentoring and each one winning one.”
As she begins scheduling speaking engagements at NMI gatherings, she hopes to motivate greater emphasis on the NMI objectives of praying, discipling, giving and educating. She wants to inspire more generous giving to the World Evangelism Fund (WEF) across all the regions.
“We depend, I believe, too heavily on North America. We are very thankful, but I think as people we need to see what we can do. I know what our church is doing worldwide and we cannot do it without the funds. Each person, no matter how poor we are, we need to see persons say, ‘Yes, I can give, even if it’s 10 cents.’ We can really make a difference when we’re all coming together.”