We are excited to announce Samantha Mail as the new chair for the European Baptist Federation Youth & Children (EBFYC). She was elected at the EBF Youth and Children's workers conference in Tallinn, Estonia 16-19 January 2020. She is the first woman chair for EBFYC.

Samantha is from Germany, married to Bryce and they have three daughters. They’ve lived in the UK for 15 years and now in Potsdam, Germany.

We asked Samantha some more questions to get to know her better.

Where have you been serving in the past?

I am an ordained minister. I trained in the UK at Spurgeon’s College in London 2001-2006. Was ordained in the BUGB as the minister of Sandhurst Baptist Church in 2007. Worked as the minister of Sandhurst Baptist Church 2005-2011. Moved to Berlin, Germany at the end of 2011. 2012, I had our third daughter. January 2014, I started working as the national adviser for youth and young adults for the German Baptist Union. I have been there ever since.

I have been involved with the EBF since 2014 and was elected on to the ExCo in 2018 – for vision and strategy. In September 2019, I became the intermin’s chair and now the official chair for the EBF Y&C ExCo.

What's your passion?

I am passionate for the Kingdom of God here on earth. Seeing people released and moving into everything God has got for them: freedom, hope, never-ending love and life to the full – there is nothing more exciting! I am passionate about people. Building community, encouraging and supporting the Church is what gets me going. Discovering how we – as the body of Christ – can be a window to God for those around us.

I love thinking about and exploring ideas of how to be Church, how to make a difference, how to bring God’s kingdom values into the here and now. My heart is particularly for the younger generation. Journeying with them on this amazing God-adventure, investing in them, learning from and with them is such a privilege.

What's your vision, what would you like to see in EBFYC?

My vision is that we build community. Strong, lasting community. Together. Supporting, encouraging, challenging one another, cheering one another on. Jesus always at the heart of everything. In times like ours, where so many people with such loud voices focus on what keeps us apart from one another, I want to find a way that enables us to hold onto each other despite our differences – for the sake of kingdom of God.

For CONNECT – I would love the conference to be a place, where youth and children’s workers from across Europe, the Middle East and Central Asia can come together, be equipped, fired up, inspired and encouraged for their local context. I think, it’s great that we meet in January, at the beginning of the year – in a way it sets us up for all that is ahead in the coming months.

My hope is that during CONNECT we learn to look beyond our own context, learn from one another and explore what God might do through the friendships forged throughout these conference days.