The St Andrew Church of Christ is shaping the lives of young people through a structured mentorship programme that blends spiritual guidance with personal and career development.

The initiative, which falls under the church’s Education and Upliftment Programme, officially began in 2024, but many members had already been mentoring informally for years.

David Tennant, one of the programme’s leaders, said the church saw the need for guidance beyond the pulpit.

“We have a vibrant group of young people in our congregation from all different walks of life and we realise that there is need for guidance, there is need for leadership in lives more than what can be delivered from a pulpit or a classroom setting. We want to be more closely involved in their lives,” explained Tennant.

Mentors are chosen based on years of church membership, spiritual character, career experience, and willingness to serve.

Training for mentors was led by husband-and-wife counsellors Paul and Racquel Blake over a three-week period, with sessions lasting two hours each.

The programme pairs mentees, ages 12 to 22, with mentors – either naturally, continuing existing relationships, or by matching their interests with mentors experienced in those fields.

Robert Palacio-Rayes (Photo: Napthali Junior)

Robert Palacio-Rayes, another programme head, explained that mentees must be attending church and willing to participate, with parental consent required for those under 18.

For Tennant, mentorship is a response to Jamaica’s broader social challenges, the breakdown of the family. For him, this programme acts as one of the ways to renew the concept of the village raising the child. He said confidentiality is key in their mentorship programme, noting cases where participants may be of harm to themselves or to others as exceptions.

Althea Smith, a member of the church for over 30 years and mother of three, said she readily accepted the role to be a mentor.

“I find that these children really need love, that’s the most important thing for them to develop and to give them confidence, so the younger children at the church I’m trying to do the same thing with them. I have taken them on as my children,” she said.

Smith focuses heavily on literacy, concerned that many children leave school unable to read. She says many are distracted and in need of one-on-one interaction and care.

Althea Smith (Photo: Napthali Junior)

“Children are leaving high school and they are not able to read and that stuck out for me and that is why the children at church I find that at the age they are at, their literacy rate is way below (where it should be) so that is where I have been focusing,” she said.

Smith says a success story for her came in the form of her grandson who she taught to read during the pandemic, a result she wished to replicate among the children in the church.

Her approach when it comes to mentorship is “listening to them (the children) and treating them as persons, don’t talk down to them, give them time to talk and express themselves and listen to them.”

Tammi Brown, Smith’s daughter, interjected that the environment plays a key role in shaping children.

“If we give every child in Jamaica that similar exposure and that similar attention. If we can get that transformation here at St Andrew you can see that transformation right throughout the society. It’s just not writing these children off, it’s saying if I can give each one of them an improved circumstance what could that end result look like. We see it every Sunday here,” shared Brown.

Brown added that she is also grateful how receptive parents have been.

“There are often times that parents may not know that better is out there and they may lock the doors and think that maybe we are trying to indoctrinate them or something like that. But you have some parents that understand that I have limitations and I can allow my child to do better or access better. So we give thanks to those parents who have opened their minds and entrusted the children to us.”

Smith and Brown shared that having seen the success and the transformation in their children’s lives some of the parents have started to attend church themselves.

Soroya Blake (Photo: Naphtali Junior)

Project manager and mentor Soroya Blake said her own difficult childhood inspired her to support others. Blake says her approach to mentorship is more so informal but maintains some boundaries.

“I’m your friend but not just your friend because you know you need to have a certain boundaries in regards to that but it is all about communication and building relationships and just being there for somebody because you know they (young people) go through a lot and in their young age they may think it is the end of the world for certain things but you know if you have somebody there that went through what you went through not that long ago,” Blake jokingly added.

“And you tell them about your history where you are coming from to make them know they are not alone in this, because sometimes when they see people they assume they can’t (relate) and because of where they come from they can’t do certain things or they can’t be certain people but you kind of show them yeah you can,” shared Blake.

Her mentee recently graduated high school and is now studying cosmetology at Excelsior Community College.

Blake says, despite her busy schedule, she believes you find the time for what you care about and for her she will do it at whatever cost because she has seen the transformative effect it has in the life of youths who often don’t get told that they matter.

Eleven-year-old Shaneilia Wedderburn, mentored by Smith, dreams of becoming a soldier and spreading the gospel.

“She (Smith) helps me to become a better Christian by reading the bible,” Wedderburn said, adding that her favourite story is Cain and Abel.

With the Primary Exit Profile Exam (PEP) around the corner the youngster plans to take this journey on with her mentor.

Shaneilia Wedderburn, mentored by Smith, dreams of becoming a soldier and spreading the gospel.

For mentee Khali Mitchell, the programme provided something he lost early in life, a father. His father died when he was two years old, but through the church he found a father figure in Alphonso Grinnel and would later find a father in his son Seth Grinnell.

Mitchell shared that he had met the older Grinnel at a church-related event at his primary school. He recounted that Grinnell would invite him to church and would tell his grandmother to encourage him to come to church for almost a year.

“I’ll never forget, October 2016 I started attending the St Andrew Church of Christ and they have definitely changed my life for the better. They have given me a different perspective of how life can and should be lived. They have been there for me at nearly all the major milestones in my life.”

For mentee Khali Mitchell, the programme provided something he lost early in life, a father.

He shared that Seth Grinnell saw him one Sunday after church and congratulated him on passing for Mona High School. The younger Grinnell told him that if he needed anything he could come to him. Mitchell said at first he accepted the offer for lunch money and would then be on his way but, over time, he says, this changed.

“ As time progressed he got more involved in my life until I said you know what I’ll accept him as my father, as a matter of fact before then I would cry every father’s day because my father died when I was two, I have no idea who he is, I have no ties to that side of my family, as a matter of fact I am last of eight children for my biological father and I don’t know any of my siblings on that side so it was really tough on me but over time I really got over it.”

Mitchell said the support shown to him by Grinnell has been transformative.

Speaking on father figures, Mitchell shares that they are largely absent, noting that many young men are being raised by single mothers.

“I was raised primarily by my grandmother, you’d mistake her for a father if you meet her,” he laughingly said, adding “she is very stern on me but at the end of the day she is still a woman. A father is totally different and it is very crucial for society to progress.”

Since gaining one himself, Mitchel shares that he has seen its impact over the years, noting that he has become more thoughtful about his decisions.

“Now when I am going to make certain crucial decisions in my life. I will speak to my dad or speak to one of my many mentors here about it and get their input because a second opinion never hurts,” Mitchell said.

Now president of the church’s youth group and a business administration student at The University of the Technology, Mitchell hopes to mentor others one day. He warns that mentorship is a serious responsibility.

“It’s not just anybody that can get up and take up mentorship… that person should be morally inclined,” he said.