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Busacca, Louise Johanna Nienas (1881-1981)

Missionary To Italian Immigrants In Wisconsin

Louise Johanna Nienas was born in a sod house in Thompson, North Dakota and spent her early years on a North Dakota “free claim.” The family later moved to Wisconsin, where Louise received a degree in elementary education. Working as a public school teacher in Racine, Wisconsin, she volunteered as a teacher in the nearby Sunday school of the Italian Mission. She married the student pastor of the church, and together they helped this new congregation grow in numbers and in depth of faith. Commissioned by the Evangelical Church, the Busaccas were a part of their church’s response to the early twentieth-century influx of Italian immigrants in the highly industrialized cities of Milwaukee, Racine, and Kenosha, Wisconsin. Louise and her husband moved to Kenosha in 1922 to open a new mission for Italian immigrants. Even as she raised four boys, Louise Busacca taught, called in homes, and played the organ for services of worship. She was a pioneer missionary and, with her husband, worked for many years among immigrant families. In her autobiography, Louise Busacca wrote: “I loved the mission work and felt I was in the place God wanted me to be.”

Taken from They Went Out Not Knowing… An Encyclopedia of One Hundred Women in Mission (New York: Women’s Division of the General Board of Global Ministries, The United Methodist Church, 1986). Used with permission of United Methodist Women.

De Falcon, Elida Garcia (1879-1968)

Mission And Hymn Translator

Elida García de Falcón was orphaned at the age of ten in Guerrero, Tamaulipas, Mexico. She made her home with her only sister, Rosaura, who had married one of the first Mexican Methodist ministers, Pedro Grado. With them she itinerated and attended mission schools, including Holding Institute at Laredo, Texas. She attended what is now Southwest Texas State College, taught in Texas public schools, was a writer and poet, and contributed to many of the Spanish newspapers published in Texas. From 1943 to 1964 Mrs. Falcón translated the Program Book into Spanish for the Woman’s Division of Christian Service. Until illness intervened, she wrote out the translation, which was then typed by her daughter, Clotilde Falcón Náñez. Her daughter continued the work, and mother and daughter together spent twenty-six consecutive years translating. Mrs. Falcón also translated many of the hymns in the Himnario Metodista, the official hymnal of Hispanic Methodism in the United States. Her pastor wrote of her upon her death: “She is truly a saint. Many of the people of our city have gone to her home seeking a word of counsel, inspiration, and guidance. Her home has been the shelter for the sick and the needy.”

Johnson, Lizzie L. (1869-1909)

Raised Funds For Mission Through Her Disability

From her home, in Casey, Illinois, Lizzie Johnson raised over $120,000 for missions. A back injury at age thirteen steadily worsened until, at age twenty-seven, she was unable to raise her head from the pillow. She could move only her hands and forearms. Interested in mission work, she wanted to help. For six months Lizzie endured the pain of putting many stitches into a quilt to sell in order to raise money for missions. The quilt didn’t sell! Disappointed and physically exhausted, she did not start another money-making project until four years later when, with the help of her brother and sister, she made and sold bookmarks to every state in the union and sixteen foreign countries, netting $20,000. The profits aided workers overseas as well as in the United States. Bishop Francis Wesley Warne, missionary bishop to India, heard of Lizzie’s efforts, borrowed the quilt and circled the world three times telling the story of Lizzie and her love for others. Donations placed on the quilt totaled $100,000. After Lizzie’s death, her father and sister raised $5,000 more to help build a church in Cawnpore (now Kanpur), India, which continues to be supported by the Casey United Methodist Church.

Gray, Mai

A Methodist And An Activist

Mai Gray, the first African-American woman to be president of United Methodist Women, was deeply dedicated both to the Methodist tradition and to fighting segregation.

Born in Jackson, Tennessee, in 1922, Gray worked with her husband, a Methodist pastor, to build a coalition of leadership in the Central Jurisdiction, the racially segregated administrative division that existed from 1939 until The United Methodist Church was formed in 1968. Shortly after the Church was formed, in 1976, she became president of the Women’s Division, and served until 1980. One of her crowning accomplishments was the creation of the organization’s Charter for Racial Justice, which emphasized eliminating institutional racism in the church and the world. It was adopted by United Methodist Women in 1978 and by the denomination as a whole in 1980.

As a teacher, Gray valued education. She graduated from Lane College, Gammon Theological Seminary, and the University of Missouri, Kansas City. She spent 40 years as a public-school teacher and recalled the Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court decision, which banned segregation in schools, as a “wonderful moment.” She encouraged all of her children to attend college, and they each eventually obtained advanced degrees.

Gray was wholly committed to the Methodist denomination–from the segregated period of the Central Jurisdiction to the creation of The United Methodist Church and, with it, United Methodist Women. In addition to her work as president of the Women’s Division, she was involved in the World Methodist Council, served as a delegate to General Conference in both 1980 and 1984, and was a member of the Board of Directors of St. Paul School of Theology, a United Methodist seminary. Gray died in 2010, shortly after attending the United Methodist Women Assembly in St. Louis.

Popov, Simeon

Encourager Of Methodists In Communist Bulgaria

Mrs. Popov, widow of Simeon Popov, with translator and others; photo by Marcia Berry.

The following story is submitted by Rev. Keith Berry. Rev. Berry visited Bulgaria with his late wife Marcia in 1992 while a member of the World Methodist Council.

After a long and complex history, the modern nation of Bulgaria was established in 1870. The government declared that Eastern Orthodox Christianity should be their national religion. A small number of Muslims, Catholics, Jews and Protestants were allowed to live alongside the majority population, but their denominations were classified as sects.

In 1946 the Bulgarian Communist Party came into power. This tall building was their seat of government. The Communists confined the Orthodox Patriarch to a monastery, placed the Bulgarian Orthodox Church under state control, closed most church buildings and began imprisoning the clergy from most denominations.

Among the first pastors arrested by the Communists was a Methodist leader named Simeon Popov. In 1949, Mr. Popov was arrested for being anti-communist. He was sentenced to 6½ years of hard labor in a prison work camp.

When released, he began handwriting letters of encouragement to people who had lost their pastors. Each letter was filled with words of scripture and prayer to be read in the privacy of a home. During the 1960’s he wrote five times a year to people at 1,300 different addresses. In order to avoid being caught by the authorities, he and his friends mailed no more than one letter at a time in any one mail box. They walked countless miles at night to post these letters in distant places.

Then a friend gave Mr. Popov a copy machine. This was noticed by some Communist authorities, and they made him stop writing. He was sent to another location and forced to work packaging walnuts. But even in that job, Simeon Popov secretly included Christian literature in certain walnut bags, and labeled each one with the code word “Food!”

In 1990, the frail pastor died from an illness which he had contracted while in prison.

Kim, Sundo

Pastor Of Largest Methodist Church In Korea

Pastor Sundo Kim and wife with Keith and Marcia Berry; picture by Pastor Kim’s secretary.

The following story is submitted by Rev. Keith Berry. Rev. Berry visited Korea with his late wife Marcia in 1991 while a member of the World Methodist Council.

Sundo Kim had been born in 1930 and was reared in a Christian home in a Christian city in the northern part of Korea. As a young man, he had entered medical school. But when the Communists took over, he was forced to become a medic in the North Korean army. He prayed for divine guidance; then miraculously escaped from his unit and joined the South Korean army. In gratitude to God, he changed his vocational goal and began to study for the ministry.

Sundo Kim became a chaplain in the South Korean Air Force. He wanted to work with young men who had passion and energy. He trained alongside them and gained their trust. He focused on the basic values which revitalize life: positive attitude, obedience, creativity, sincerity, and practice of love.

In 1971, Chaplain Kim completed his military service and became Pastor Kim, serving the Kwang Lim Church in Seoul, a congregation of 175 members. His mission was to equip these people for prayer and service. Soon the congregation reached 1,000 members and outgrew its facility. After a season of fasting and prayer, the congregation felt led to relocate. They chose a pear orchard, pitched a tent on the land, and began daily prayer walks around the property. Eventually, the owner agreed to sell.

Exterior of Kwang Lim Church building; photo by Marcia Berry.

In 1978 they broke ground for a new building on the new site. The purpose of construction was not for the present congregation of 1,600, but for the large numbers of new people expected to move into this growing suburban neighborhood. Pastor Kim expected every member to become an ambassador for Christ, so he equipped all of them with Bible knowledge and evangelistic skills. When construction was finished in 1979, the church had 3,000 members.

Pastor Kim said, “The more frequently the people went out to evangelize, the deeper became their confidence in the faith, and the more vibrant became their love of the church.” The congregation grew rapidly. In 1991, he told Marcia and me that the membership had reached 57,000. The congregation was divided into 22 districts. Each district had its own associate pastor and several evangelists. There were 5,000 small groups which met each week in homes. Six thousand people were enrolled in rigorous Bible study. There were 700 mission societies.

To become a member of Kwang Lim Church, a person had to be faithful in worship, tithing, small group life and mission service. Leaders were chosen from those who demonstrated faithfulness in these disciplines. Once chosen, these leaders were trained or retrained for 12 weeks, then assigned and supported. Every member was given a mission assignment and held accountable. Pastor Kim’s personal discipline was to spend Saturdays in meditation at the retreat center on Prayer Mountain.

Kwang Lim Church congregation; photo by Marcia Berry.

The facilities of Kwang Lim Church extended beyond the sanctuary and Prayer Mountain to an education building with library, a nursing home with hospice care, a seminar house and a mission center. Satellite congregations were established in three other parts of the city. When Pastor Kim stood in his pulpit at the main location, he faced not only the camera which enabled people in outlying locations to see him preach; he also watched a monitor, so he could see the faces of the people in the other places as they listened to him preach.

During those years, Kwang Lim planted sister churches in New Zealand, Russia, China, Turkey, Estonia, Zimbabwe and Canada. Pastor Kim believed that the barrier between South Korea and North Korea soon would fall. So, Kwang Lim Church built a theological seminary in Manchuria, just outside the border of North Korea, to be ready for sharing the gospel with their spiritually starved neighbors at a moment’s notice.

In just 20 years, from 1971 to 1991, the membership of Kwang Lim Church, including its satellites, had increased from 175 to 57,000. By the year 2014, the membership had increased to 94,000. It is now the largest Methodist Church in the world.

Kathurima, Erastus

Evangelist And Pastor In Kenya

Keith Berry and Erastus Kathurima at equator sign; photo by Marcia Berry.

The following story is submitted by Rev. Keith Berry. Rev. Berry visited Kenya with his late wife Marcia in 1986 while a member of the World Methodist Council.

Erastus Kathurima graduated from a mission school in 1955 and became a shop assistant. His nation became independent in 1963, and his church, The Methodist Church in Kenya, became autonomous in 1967. Two years later a bishop asked him to become an evangelist. Eventually he became an ordained minister.

When we visited him in 1987, his home was just north of the equator, and he was serving 12 churches totaling 5,995 members just south of the equator. The pastor’s smallest congregation had 159 members. Normally, he hitch-hiked to his churches, because he couldn’t afford to buy fuel for his old car.

Because this pastor was serving 12—soon to be 13—churches, he could be in each congregation only four times a year. So, his biggest job was finding and training men and women to give leadership in each of these churches on the 48 Sundays of the year when he was not there.

Pastor Kathurima told us that every East African church goes through three stages. First, it looks like this.

Benches under tree; photo by Marcia Berry.

A few benches under a tree is all it takes to start a new congregation..

Wooden structure; photo by Marcia Berry.

The second stage is a structure made of “local materials.” These are saplings cut from the forest, and they need to be replaced frequently.

The third stage is a building made of “permanent materials.” These are concrete blocks that have to be purchased with money.

Pop, Lillian Warrick (1914-??)

Mission Leader Within Segregated Methodism

Born in North Carolina, Lillian Warrick Pope grew up in Philadelphia, where she was a social worker in the Zoar Methodist Church. A graduate of the Bible Institute of Pennsylvania and Temple University School of Theology in Philadelphia, she was ordained a local deacon in 1939 by Bishop Ernest G. Richardson. This was unprecedented in her conference. Lillian Warrick was employed by the Woman’s Division of Christian Service from 1940 to 1943 as the first black Field Secretary, and worked with the newly-organized segregated Central Jurisdiction. Her contribution to missions is distinctive and unique. With faith, courage, and dedication, she proclaimed the message of missions at a time of organizational transition in Methodism in a newly organized but still segregated church. She planned workshops for pastors as well as for women, taught in Schools of Christian Mission at Gulfside Assembly and elsewhere, wrote worship and program booklets for the Woman’s Division, and was one of the authors of the study text, An Introduction to Five Spiritual Classics. She was dean of the Delaware Conference School of Christian Mission.

Gray, Vivienne Newton (1917 – ??)

Educational Missionary In Liberia And Beyond

Vivienne Newton Gray has been a public school teacher, religious social worker, Field Secretary with the Woman’s Division (1945-48), educational missionary in Liberia, West Africa (1948-74), and director of admissions and director of alumni affairs, Wiley College, Marshall, Texas. Working as a religious social worker with migrant families, Vivienne opened and staffed child-care centers, and formed reading, religious, and food preservation programs in Florida and New Jersey. As Field Secretary, she traveled throughout the Central, North Central, and Northeastern Jurisdictions holding seminars and leadership workshops, and teaching in Schools of Christian Mission. She was the first black woman to stay overnight at Mt. Sequoyah (a Methodist conference center) near Fayetteville, Arkansas where she served as assistant teacher in the South Central Jurisdiction’s School of Missions. In Liberia, she established a school in Gbarnga. The high school section in named in her honor. In the Liberian interior, Vivienne was a consultant for the Woman’s Society and taught child care, home management, and adult literacy classes. She and her husband were “parents” to a host of Liberian children who later became leaders in government and church. Vivienne was named Liberia Teacher of the Year in 1968, and decorated by the Liberian government in 1974 for educational contributions to the people of Liberia.

Please view more at United Women in Faith (formerly known as United Methodist Women). United Women in Faith is the official organization for women within The United Methodist Church.

Green, Nettie Alice (1915 – ??)

Leader In Mission, Integration

Growing up in a Methodist parsonage laid the groundwork for Nettie Alice Green’s keen interest in mission. She was a charter member of the Woman’s Society of Christian Service in the Scott Methodist Church of Detroit, held offices in the Lexington Conference, and was Secretary of Student Work (1960-1964) and of Campus Ministry (1964-68) of the Central Jurisdiction. She was active in the Lincoln Leadership School, an interracial School of Missions, co-sponsored by the Kentucky, Louisville and Lexington Conferences and a project of the Woman’s Division. This school broke down barriers and paved the way for a smooth transition when a merger of black and white jurisdictions was implemented beginning in 1968. Elected president of the Southeastern Jurisdiction Women’s Society of Christian Service in 1972, Nettie Alice was the first black jurisdiction president after the 1968 merger of The Methodist Church and the Evangelical United Brethren Church. During her term, all separate black and white conferences in the jurisdiction were merged, and a new era of interracial leadership was begun. A member of the Women’s Division during this time, she visited mission work in India, Nepal and the Philippines.