Dr. Jacqueline Williams-Paul has been an educator for more than 30 years in the field of commerce and management. And as a global pandemic and international turmoil dominate the headlines, she reflects that despair often hits young adults the hardest.

“Since I am a teacher at heart, my focus remains on the student community, who find the future so uncertain and bleak.”

As an academic dean in Telangana, India, Jacqueline uses her passion for education and her platform in the community to illustrate the Gospel not just in the classroom, but in the greater community as well.

“When given an opportunity, I always speak about God’s love and how He can save us from our darkest thoughts and give us hope.”

Throughout her career, Jacqueline has climbed through the ranks of academia, serving in the roles of department head, professor, principal, and lecturer at three different colleges before coming to her current position as dean of commerce & BBA at the Loyola Academy. When she attended the Haggai Leader Experience (HLE), Jacqueline’s eyes were opened to the ways she could integrate her vocation as an educator with her love for Christ.

After the HLE, Jacqueline realized her calling: to embody “salt and light in the classroom.”

Although she cannot share about Christianity directly in her classroom, she always begins her classes with Gospel-infused character lessons. Jacqueline’s role in the college enables her to minister to the needs of the campus; her undergraduate students and colleagues alike seek her wisdom and entreat her to pray when they are facing difficulties. While serving as principal at Stanley Women’s College, she provided vital counseling to a student who had attempted suicide. These days, Jacqueline can gladly report, her former student “is a happily married mother with two lovely kids.”

“I [cannot] mention names as they will be ostracized. [But] there are many students who secretly believed as I shared the Word of God in the chapel services. I have prayed with them, too.”

Whether she is serving children through Vacation Bible School or reaching the rural population with informational Gospel films, Jacqueline works to draw neighbors and students of other faiths to the Lord through her missional lifestyle.

Most recently, Jacqueline and her husband, Paul, are serving as leaders of the Carecell Ministry at the Assemblies of God Church, Hyderabad. Since the COVID-19 pandemic struck, they have adapted their usual ministry to adhere to safety protocols and safeguard everyone’s health. Instead of meeting physically, they host their monthly prayer meetings in a virtual setting.

“The lockdown has set back our prayer activities physically but not spiritually.”

Although the need for social distancing complicates outreach, Jacqueline continuously finds ways to share the Gospel. She and her family bring food and other essential items to those in her neighborhood affected by the pandemic. The pastoral team along with the Carecell leaders also created a 24/7 prayer schedule to uplift the needs of the people. When one of Jacqueline’s colleagues was affected and died by COVID-19, they were able to raise money to support his family.

Despite the hardships that have come since the pandemic began, Jacqueline remains firm in conviction and resilient in spirit.

“I firmly believe that our God, who was our help in ages past, is also our hope for years to come; we will also sail through 2021, reaching out to people from the larger community.”