Bringing more young people into the African Methodist Episcopalian Church will be the focus of two newly-ordained Bermudian ministers completing their studies in Atlanta, Georgia.

The men, Jamaine Tucker and Terry Hassell, spoke to The Royal Gazette this week about their plans for their ministry and church.

"We're both intending to come back,'' Rev. Tucker said in a back office at St. Paul's in Hamilton.

The 26-year-old son of Voorhees and Ismay Tucker intended to follow his father in the funeral home business, and after completing mortician school received a calling for the ministry.

Rev. Hassell, 33, is the son of Dennis Hassell and the late Paula Hassell. He has been married to Andrea Gilbert for 13 years and they have three children, aged ten, five, and three. Rev. Tucker is not married.

Rev. Hassell attends Turner Theological Seminary at the Inter-denominational Theological Centre in Atlanta, while Rev. Tucker is completing his undergraduate degree at Georgia State University.

Rev. Tucker was ordained at the 6th AME Episcopal District in Atlanta, Georgia in May and is now Teen Minister at Turner Chapel AME in Marietta.

Rev. Hassell was made a minister at the Bermuda AME Annual Conference in March and is currently Youth Pastor at St. Paul AME in Lithonia.

Both men are friends and are home for the summer and have returned to their previous jobs as Policemen.

"Bermuda is excellent ground for developing in the ministry, particularly in the pastoral ministry,'' Rev. Hassell said. "We were raised in the AME Church in Bermuda.'' Rev. Hassell added: "Its ministers all have been good to us with all of their advice, guidance, and encouragement.'' Attracting young people will be their special focus as both see it as vital to the growth of the church.

Even their undergraduate studies were geared toward being better ministers -- Rev. Tucker is a business administration and international business major while Rev. Hassell studied psychology, concentrating in adolescent and childhood development.

Rev. Tucker said often ministers were unequipped for dealing with financial matters, including handling tithes and other gifts, and he said accounting and investment skills will be needed in the 21st Century.'' Rev. Hassell said he intends to counsel youth not only on spiritual matters but also in other parts of their lives as well.

Both serve as youth or teen ministers in Atlanta area AME churches with vibrant and growing numbers of young adults participating in church activities.

"Yes, it appears that the church is dying and young people are no longer attracted to the church,'' Rev. Hassell said. "But there is hope. To be more holistic the church must deal with other parts of their lives, not just the spiritual.'' Rev. Hassell said for the local AME church, teaching self-esteem and black Bermudians' cultural heritage was also a plank in its development.

"Howard Thurman wrote that in order for an individual to live harmoniously in a diverse culture that person must have a strong connection to their own culture,'' he explained.

"Once they understand who they are, they can be open and live harmoniously with other cultures.'' Rev. Tucker said the church was in a "crisis situation'' and needed to transcend "traditionalism'' to bring more young people into the functions of the church.

"I believe the church must open its mind, its heart, and its soul to new methods of reaching young people,'' he said. "God is moving in new ways and in many cases we have become stuck.'' He listed two non-AME ministers and one AME minister whom he has modelled his sensibilities on, Rev. Vernon Lambe of the First Church of God, Terrance Stovell of Better Covenant, and Milton Burgess of St. Luke's AME.

"Young people who have been raised in the church seem to be leaving the church more than ever before,'' Rev. Tucker said. "But the church does not want to change.'' He explained one of the best ways to encourage church-going was through contemporary music, calling it a "drawing piece'' particularly for the "un-churched'' or people who have not normally attended church services.

"It's our primary responsibility to introduce and lead people to our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ,'' Rev. Hassell added.

"Sometimes in order to do this the Church of today may have to look at our approach to ministry and how it is presented to people.''