Apostle Fidel Donaldson is on an urgent mission to restore the headship of families, increase the number of men in the church and prepare them for righteous roles in nation building.
Apostle Donaldson, who spent a few years behind bar in the United Kingdom, said that experience was a powerful wake up call to the serious implications for families and nations when men are not in their God assigned role in their home, in the church and other areas of society where women have been left to hold the reigns.
Apostle Donaldson, a convicted drug smuggler, was saved during his incarceration, and is now walking in an apostolic call to minister primarily to men.
His life as an absentee father and husband while imprisoned was a rude awakening. The experience opened his eyes to the serious implications of absenteeism.
Several pastors, educators, sociologists and policy makers have over many years lamented the major impact of absent fathers on children and families.
The shortage of males at universities, churches, in the household and even at the managerial level in businesses has been the subject of several studies.
Trusted research findings showing the levels of fatherless in Jamaica are sparse, however statistics from the Planning Institute of Jamaica and the Statistical Institute of Jamaica in 2014, indicated that more than a third of the nation’s children have no father figure and over 90 per cent of households have the parenting role being performed by the birth mother or a grandmother.
Within the education sector, the shortage of males have been most acute at the university level, where it has been shown that only 20 per cent of those who matriculate are males. The low representation of men at institutions of higher learning is reflected in the workplace where according to the International Labour Organisation 2018 studies, approximately two in five managers are males.
Donaldson said he started ministering to men when he was in prison. In 2018, he came to Jamaica, where he shared his life story with men in attendance at a tent crusade in Manchester. The men gravitated to him and he was able to have an impact on their lives. That experience was the catalyst for his latest book, “Men void of light: Father, where are you?”
The former convict visited Jamaica on July 13 with a team of 12 persons from the US to distribute the book along with supplies of toiletries, food and clothing to primarily men. The mission trip has been dubbed ‘Fishing For the Souls of Men’ and was done in partnership with the Assemblies of God in Jamaica with the support of Bishop Dr. David Ewen and Bishop Michael Grant.
“The thesis of the book is getting men to know that if they are not contributing to the light, then they are being part of the darkness and that they are created to fulfil a certain position. For decades, women have had to stand in the position as both mother and father in many instances,” he said.
Donaldson said that like women, men were made in the image of God to be a divine light in their community and every strata of society. Although his team stayed for two weeks, he has remained in Jamaica to continue the mission of reaching the souls of men. He has also been visiting the widows and fatherless, as the bible encourages with groceries and other items.
“A lot of what we consider church today, is insulated in the four walls and not really manifesting the teachings of Jesus Christ,” lamented the pastor, who says he has over the years partnered with churches that share his vision.
Items packaged for distribution to men and children.
Bishop Ewen from the Assemblies of God in Jamaica, who partnered with Apostle Donaldson to host a crusade in Savanna-la-Mar and then Hatfield and Porus in Manchester between July 16 to 18, said the event was able to achieve its mandate of reaching men.
“Men outnumbered the lady’s under the tent, and that was really an awesome thing for people. Men were responding to the call, they were encouraged, they were refreshed and some of them indicated that they wanted to commit or recommit their lives to the Lord from different areas,” noted the pastor who said men came from as far as St Thomas.
He said the church was like a store as many persons came to also collect clothes and groceries at the same venue where they received the Word.
“It was really, really impactful and we could see it expanding night after night,” said Bishop Ewen who has been pastoring for over 35 years.
Seeing the men involved was a refreshing sight for the senior pastor who finds that women generally outnumber men in churches.
“When you go across churches, the ratio varies, but really, there is a lack of men in our churches. Maybe the best you can see is a ratio of 3:1 and that would be good. The need to reach our men is very very important and we know that reflects not only in the church, but in the homes and in the community,” he told the Freedom Come Rain newspaper.