Samuel Codner

When God wants to start a new initiative in mission, he starts with a man or a woman: a person who will obey and follow him. One to whom he can give vision and faith, and energy that drives action. Such people are 'innovators', who advance the cause of God in their generation.

Samuel Codner was one of these. Born in 1776 to a family of English fish merchants, he went out to the colony of Newfoundland (Canada) at the age of twelve to grow up in the family business at Petty Harbour. From an early age he showed concern for the spiritual state of the people there, teaching Sunday school and reading prayers to adults.

In the 1820's, Newfoundland's settler population was 36 000. In the early nineteenth century the harvests were plentiful, but in 1815 when a large number of Irish immigrants arrived the harvest failed and extreme hardship ensued with grave social, economic and educational problems. There was spiritual destitution.

God moved Samuel Codner through two experiences. The first in 1820, when his ship was hit by an Atlantic storm and almost sank; he promised that if his life be spared, he would serve God. The second in 1821, when he heard the prime minister declare that 'Britons had a special duty to perform arising out of their extensive colonies' and he challenged his listeners to 'exert themselves to remedy the evil'.

The prime minister saw a need, and Samuel Codner saw a vision so he commenced his efforts to found a school society for Newfoundland. He called a meeting at the London Coffee House on 30 June 1823 and the motion to found 'The Newfoundland Schools Society' was passed unanimously. These schools taught basic skills to anyone, regardless of nationality or denomination. Out of this work, ICS was founded.

Samuel Codner is buried in St. Petrox's Church, Dartmouth.

Brian Underwood
Source: Going Places, June 1998, p.4,5