Founding Member, Concerned Christian Community; Former National Assistant Superintendent, United Pentecostal Church of Liberia; Pastor, Pentecostal Assemblies Mission (PAM), Bardnersville, Montserrado County
MONROVIA, LIBERIA (ANS) -- An outstanding Liberian cleric and a founding member of Concerned Christian Community (CCC) died on Monday, April 26, 2010 at 10:45AM at the SDA-Cooper Clinic in Monrovia, Liberia after brief illness.  | A recent picture of Reverend Isaac
B. S. Jah |
The late Rev. Isaac B.S. Jah, 75 was born on August 8, 1934 unto the union of Mr. Boakai Gogwo Jah and Mrs. Gujuah Gbengbe Gbelly Jah in the town of Bugbay, about three hours walk from Tubmanburg, Bomi County. He was the third of seven children of his parents. Reverend Jah, who was also former Assistant and Acting National Superintendent of the United Pentecostal Church of Liberia (UPCL), was a teacher, a Bible scholar, a radio speaker, a church leader, etc. He was trained as an elementary school teacher, a translator, a theologian, etc. Concerned Christian Community (CCC), which has done programs worth more than fifteen million United States dollars, is one of Liberia's premier Christian Non-Governmental Organizations that has worked for about twenty years in the areas of relief, rehabilitation and development in Liberia and Ghana.
During the civil war, CCC distributed more than thirty thousand tones of assorted relief items to more than three hundred thousand beneficiaries to more than eight of the fifteen counties of Liberia; counseled and medically treated more than ten thousand victims of rape, amongst others. CCC's beneficiaries have included internally displaced persons, refugees, elderly, children at risk, etc.
 | Reverend Isaac B. S. Jah in a Liberian church |
Cheerful and full of humor, the late pastor started his early education at the Fenomenter Education School (FES) in the village of Bola - behind the erstwhile American-operated Liberia Mining Company (LMC) mine in Bomi Hills, about 45 miles west of the Liberian capital, Monrovia. He walked one and half hours daily from his village of Bugbay where he resided to go to school to Bola. In 1956 when American Missionary, Jack T. Langham of the United Pentecostal Church of Liberia visited the village of Bugbay through the invitation of a village evangelist, Edward Boima and saw young Isaac and took interest in him due to the humility and activeness he saw in him. Missionary Langham took him and brought him to their mission station in the mining town of Bomi Hills where he continued his ABC instruction. Due to his age, young Isaac was mocked as "ABC Gboyoo", meaning ABC grandpa. Because the Lord's hand was on his life, he got double promotions and graduated in 1960 from the Sixth Grade. The late cleric completed his elementary and junior high school education at the United Pentecostal Mission School and C. H. Dewey High School in Bomi Hills in 1960 and 1963 respectively. After obtaining a high school diploma by correspondence from the Chicago Illinois High School in 1966, he graduated with a Bachelor of Theology from the UPC-administered Maranatha Bible College in 1973. In 1974, he completed Linguistic studies at the University of Liberia and subsequently obtained a Grade "C" Teaching Certificate from the erstwhile Bomi Teachers' Extension Training Program. In 1977, he benefitted from a students' exchange program that took him to Ghana. During the civil war, Rev. Jah, who was active in meeting the human needs of the vulnerable population, also obtained a distance education Master's degree in Theology from the Cypress Bible College in Tyler, Texas, USA, amongst others. His ministry spanned over a period of fifty-four years beginning with his first appointment as Youth President in the late 1950s. Between 1967 and 2000, he pastor the United Pentecostal Church in Harmon Hill, Bomi Hills; Director of Zordee UPC Missions - 1962-1965; Teacher and Vice Principal of United Pentecostal Mission School in Bomi Hills - 1965-1981; ELWA (Eternal Love Winning Africa) Gola Radio Speaker and Translator - 1965-1985; Theological Education by Extension (TEE) Teacher - 1978-1982; Presbyter - 1975-1979; National Assistant Superintendent - UPCL - 1977-1980; Teacher and later Dean, Maranatha Bible College- 1973-2000; General Secretary - UPCL - 1980-1988; Speaker at UPCL World Conference held in The Philippines in 1985; Founding Member, Concerned Christian Community (CCC), Missions Director and Pastor of Pentecostal Assemblies Missions - 1995 - 2010 As a former student of this great man, I can say that Reverend Jah was a dependable advisor, reliable and committed servant of God. He taught in the elementary and junior high school system and Bible school for more than 40 years in Liberia. His death is a lost and he will be missed, pastor concluded. Funeral arrangements of the veteran cleric Rev. Issac B.S. Jah will be announced later.
Reverend Kortu K. Brown, a former student of the late Reverend Issac B. Jah, is Chairman of the CONCERNED CHRISTIAN COMMUNITY (CCC). He also General Overseer of the Apostolic Pentecostal Church, pastor of the 500-member "New Water in the Desert Assembly"; Executive Committee Member, Liberian Council of Churches; Chairman, Liberian Analyst Corporation, publisher of the daily Analyst Newspaper; Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Bomi Community College (BCC); Vice Chairman, Board of Directors, Opportunities Industrialization Center (OIC) of Liberia; Chairman, Board of Directors, Church Aid Incorporated; amongst others.
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