Pastors, See the Boys in Your Congregation

Rev. Dr. Natasha Francis-Campbell

Pastor, look across your congregation this Sunday or Saturday.

See the men. See the women. See the families. Yet, I want to ask you to look again.

Do you see the boys?

Not simply the little boy beating the drum, carrying a chair, running through the churchyard, operating the computer or sitting impatiently beside his mother.

Do you really see him?

Do you know how he is doing in school?

 Do you know whether he can read at his grade level?

 Do you know whether Mathematics frightens him?

Do you know if he has begun to believe that he is "not bright"?

 Do you know who is influencing him?

Do you know what he watches, what he dreams about, what frustrates him or what he is carrying silently?

Pastors and congregations, we need to see our boys.

The Statistics Are Trying to Tell Us Something

This is not merely an emotional appeal.

Jamaica has been wrestling for years with the educational underperformance of boys, and the concern remains current. In October 2025, the Ministry of Education, Skills, Youth and Information again called for collaboration to address the underperformance of boys, specifically noting challenges in literacy and numeracy.

The international PISA 2022 assessment provides an even clearer picture. Among Jamaican 15-year-olds, girls outperformed boys in Mathematics by 13 score points and in reading by 35 points. Only 26 per cent of Jamaican students overall attained at least the minimum Level 2 proficiency in Mathematics.

Even after improvement in the 2025 CSEC examinations, only 44 per cent of Jamaican candidates passed Mathematics. That is progress from 39 per cent in 2024, but it still means that fewer than half achieved a passing grade and the disparity extends beyond examination results.

UNICEF Jamaica reports that approximately 50,000 adolescents of secondary-school age are out of school, and three out of every five are boys.

These are not just numbers.

Some of those boys belong to our churches.

Some are sitting in our Sunday schools.

Some are playing our drums.

Some are helping with the sound system.

Some are standing beside us during worship.

Some come faithfully because their mothers insist that they attend.

Some have already begun withdrawing emotionally even though their bodies are still sitting in the pew and some have stopped showing up.

Pastor, see the boys.

We Cannot Leave This Entirely to the School

Education is certainly the responsibility of our educational system, and parents carry the primary responsibility for nurturing their children. However, the Church has never been called merely to preach sermons while ignoring what is happening to people.

Jesus said:

"Suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid them not..."— Mark 10:14

Our children matter to Christ.

Their spiritual development matters, but so do the conditions affecting their ability to become healthy, responsible and productive adults.

Luke records of Jesus:

"And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man."— Luke 2:52

Notice the wholeness of that development: intellectual, physical, spiritual and social.

Therefore, when a boy in our congregation is continually failing Mathematics, cannot read properly, is chronically absent from school, is becoming increasingly aggressive, is withdrawing, has no positive male influence, or is losing interest in education, the Church should notice.

Prayer matters profoundly.

Sometimes the answer to our prayer is a congregation prepared to act.

What If Every Church Knew How Its Boys Were Doing?

Imagine if every pastor knew the educational condition of the boys in the congregation.

Not to embarrass them.

Not to announce their grades publicly.

Not to label them.

But to support them.

What if someone quietly asked:

"How are you doing in school?"

"Which subject gives you the most difficulty?"

"Can I help you?"

"What do you want to become?"

"Who is helping you with your homework?"

"Do you have the books and tools you need?"

Those questions could reveal a great deal.

There may be a boy sitting in church every week who has spent years hiding the fact that he cannot read fluently.

There may be another who has memorised procedures in Mathematics but has never developed number sense.

Another may have a learning difference that has never been identified.

Another may be intelligent but disengaged.

Another may be struggling emotionally because of what is happening at home.

Another may have concluded that education has nothing to offer him because the men he sees earning money around him did not appear to need it while

 another may simply need one responsible adult to look him in the eye and say:

"I see something in you. We are going to help you develop it."

Boys Need More Than Correction

One of the dangers we face is that boys can become highly visible when they misbehave but almost invisible when they need development.

We see the disruptive boy.

We see the noisy boy.

We see the boy who will not sit still.

We see the teenager whose trousers are not where we think they should be.

We see the young man who stops attending church.

Did we see the struggle before the behaviour?

Did we notice when he stopped trying?

Did we notice when his grades began falling?

Did we notice when he started saying, "Mi cyaan bother"?

Did we notice when embarrassment became defiance?

Did we notice when the boy who once raised his hand enthusiastically stopped participating?

Correction has its place, but discipline without discipleship will not build our boys.

They need boundaries, but they also need belonging.

They need accountability, but they also need affirmation.

They need instruction, but they also need opportunity.

They need prayer, but they also need adults willing to walk beside them.

Our Boys Are Also Experiencing Other Vulnerabilities

Educational performance does not exist in isolation.

The 2023 Jamaica Violence Against Children and Youth Survey found widespread exposure to violence among Jamaican children and young people. More recent UNICEF reporting from the data indicates that nearly two-thirds of boys surveyed had experienced physical violence.

We must therefore be careful about interpreting every behavioural difficulty as rebellion.

Sometimes anger is carrying pain.

Sometimes aggression has been learned.

Sometimes disengagement is protection.

Sometimes silence is hiding trauma.

The Church must become a place where boys can encounter godly masculinity that is neither violent nor passive; where strength includes self-control, responsibility, compassion, discipline, honesty, work, worship and service.

Pastor, Mobilise What Is Already in the House

The beautiful thing is that many congregations already possess resources that could transform the lives of boys.

There may be a Mathematics teacher in the congregation.

A retired principal.

An engineer.

A carpenter.

A farmer.

A mechanic.

A computer technician.

An accountant.

A musician.

A tradesman.

A university student.

A businessman.

A responsible father.

A grandfather with decades of wisdom.

A young man who has overcome the very struggle another boy is experiencing now.

What if we connected them?

A church does not necessarily need a large budget to begin. It needs intentionality.

A congregation could establish a small after-school homework programme. It could provide Mathematics and literacy support one afternoon each week. It could identify boys who need intervention and connect their families with appropriate professional services. It could create supervised reading clubs, STEM activities, skills workshops and career-exposure opportunities.

Men within the congregation could be carefully selected, screened and trained to mentor boys appropriately and safely.

Professionals could speak with boys about pathways into engineering, construction, agriculture, technology, entrepreneurship, music, education, medicine, ministry and the skilled trades.

The Church can teach boys that learning has purpose.

Know Them by Name

Pastor, I am suggesting something very practical.

Make a list of the boys connected to your congregation.

Know their names.

Know their ages.

Know their schools.

Know their strengths.

Know where they are struggling.

Know which ones are preparing for PEP, CSEC or other important examinations.

Know which ones have learning differences.

Know which families need additional support.

Know which boys are frequently absent from church and, where appropriate, find out why.

This should be done responsibly and confidentially, with proper safeguarding and parental involvement.

Then ask: What can this congregation reasonably do?

Perhaps you cannot reach every boy in Jamaica, but you can begin with the boys God has already placed within your reach.

Do Not Wait Until We Lose Them

We cannot wait until a boy becomes a statistic before deciding that he matters.

We cannot wait until he drops out of school.

We cannot wait until he enters the justice system.

We cannot wait until he becomes involved in violence.

We cannot wait until he is eighteen and then ask why he has no direction.

We cannot wait until adulthood to begin teaching responsibility, discipline, character and purpose.

We should not wait until we are standing over their graves, mourning lives we might have helped to redirect. God forbid!

Formation begins much earlier.

Samuel was a boy when God called his name.

David was still the overlooked son in the field when God saw a king.

Josiah was eight years old when he became king.

Timothy's development began long before he became Paul's ministry companion.

Scripture repeatedly reminds us that God sees potential while it is still developing.

The Church must learn to do the same.

This Is Not Boys Versus Girls

Calling attention to boys must never mean neglecting our girls.

Our girls have vulnerabilities that require equally deliberate attention, protection and investment.

This is not a competition between the sexes.

It is responsible ministry.

When evidence tells us that a particular group of children is experiencing significant difficulty, wisdom requires us to pay attention and respond appropriately.

Right now, Jamaica's boys are telling us something through educational outcomes, disengagement and other social indicators.

We must listen.

Pastor, See the Boy

So this Sunday or Saturday, look again.

That little boy beside his grandmother may be struggling with reading.

The teenager at the sound desk may be failing Mathematics.

The drummer may possess extraordinary mathematical and musical intelligence that nobody has helped him connect.

The restless child may need assessment rather than another rebuke.

The quiet boy at the back may desperately need a trustworthy man to speak into his life.

The boy who appears uninterested may simply have stopped believing that he can succeed.

Somewhere among them may be a future teacher, pastor, engineer, entrepreneur, tradesman, scientist, musician, husband, father, community leader or nation-builder. However, development cannot be left to chance.

Pastors, see the boys in your congregation.

See them before the streets recruit them.

See them before failure defines them.

See them before discouragement silences them.

See them while they are still forming.

Pray for them.

Teach them.

Listen to them.

Mentor them.

Challenge them.

Protect them.

Help educate them.

Give them opportunities to serve.

Help them discover their gifts.

Remind them repeatedly that their lives have purpose.

Our boys do not need the Church merely to be concerned about them.

They need the Church to become intentionally involved with them.

The boys are already among us.

The question is: Do we see them?

One kind favour, please. Share this article with the pastors you know. Thanks.

If this article has challenged your congregation to do more than notice the problem, complete the form below and tell us how you are willing to respond.

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