Pastor and congregation of a village church in Angola
AFRICA
David G. Roebuck
THE NAME “Africa” originally referred to land immediately south of the Mediterranean, but has long been used to describe the world’s second largest continent, which lies between the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. Its billion people live in diverse cultures, speak more than a thousand languages, and practice numerous religions. Lamentably, many Africans remain poor with the continuing effects of colonial exploitation, political corruption, tribal and religious warfare, and widespread HIV/AIDS severely depressing their quality and length of life.
Despite the challenges, Africa is a great harvest field. Scholars documenting the growth of Christianity have noted that one-fourth of the world’s Christians now reside in Africa. Reports suggest that the “center of gravity” for Christianity has shifted from Europe to the region surrounding Timbuktu in Mali. Among Christians in Africa, the Church of God has 800,000 members worshiping in 6,500 churches and mission stations in 40 countries.
Despite the challenges, Africa is a great harvest field. Scholars documenting the growth of Christianity have noted that one-fourth of the world’s Christians now reside in Africa. Reports suggest that the “center of gravity” for Christianity has shifted from Europe to the region surrounding Timbuktu in Mali. Among Christians in Africa, the Church of God has 800,000 members worshiping in 6,500 churches and mission stations in 40 countries.
Lillian Trasher: Mother of the Nile
Church of God ministry on the African continent began with Lillian Trasher, who established an orphanage in Assiout, Egypt, in 1911. Trasher was one of many Pentecostal missionaries called to take the gospel to the ends of the earth before there were Pentecostal missions boards to raise financial support and send them. She was baptized with the Holy Spirit and came into the Church of God through a 1909 revival in Dahlonega, Georgia. She did evangelistic work and served at the Elhanan Training Institute and Orphanage that Mattie Perry operated, in Marion, North Carolina. By 1914, Trasher was a credentialed evangelist in the Church of God.
Although Trasher had experience working in an orphanage, she did not originally travel to Egypt to care for children. While working with a missionary couple there, she found herself responsible for an infant whose mother had died. With no one else to care for the child, she determined to do it herself and believe God for provision. Over time, she gained the respect of the Egyptian people and political leaders, so that she was able to survive political and social changes when many other missionaries did not. Now known as the Lillian Trasher Orphanage, by the end of her life, the ministry had cared for and educated more than 1,200 children.
In February 1918, the Church of God Evangel reported that Trasher’s monthly expenses were $260 to care for 80 children. Readers of the Evangel regularly sent financial support and letters of encouragement, and her expressions of gratitude frequently appeared in the publication. With a growing orphanage, however, it was necessary to seek support from many sources. Like other early Pentecostal missionaries who went on their own, she reported to and received funding from the readers of numerous periodicals including, The Bridegroom’s Messenger, The Latter Rain Evangel, The Weekly Evangel, and Word and Witness. With most of her support coming from outside the Church of God, Trasher became an Assemblies of God missionary in November 1919.
J.H. Ingram’s 1936 world tour included Egypt, and while there, he met with Boutros Labib. On a subsequent visit in 1946, Ingram welcomed Labib into the Church of God along with the 23 missions and churches Labib supervised. Missionary D.B. Hatfield arrived in 1947 to assist with the ministry. Church of God ministers in Egypt today remain anonymous due to continuing persecution of Christians there.
Church of God ministry on the African continent began with Lillian Trasher, who established an orphanage in Assiout, Egypt, in 1911. Trasher was one of many Pentecostal missionaries called to take the gospel to the ends of the earth before there were Pentecostal missions boards to raise financial support and send them. She was baptized with the Holy Spirit and came into the Church of God through a 1909 revival in Dahlonega, Georgia. She did evangelistic work and served at the Elhanan Training Institute and Orphanage that Mattie Perry operated, in Marion, North Carolina. By 1914, Trasher was a credentialed evangelist in the Church of God.
Although Trasher had experience working in an orphanage, she did not originally travel to Egypt to care for children. While working with a missionary couple there, she found herself responsible for an infant whose mother had died. With no one else to care for the child, she determined to do it herself and believe God for provision. Over time, she gained the respect of the Egyptian people and political leaders, so that she was able to survive political and social changes when many other missionaries did not. Now known as the Lillian Trasher Orphanage, by the end of her life, the ministry had cared for and educated more than 1,200 children.
In February 1918, the Church of God Evangel reported that Trasher’s monthly expenses were $260 to care for 80 children. Readers of the Evangel regularly sent financial support and letters of encouragement, and her expressions of gratitude frequently appeared in the publication. With a growing orphanage, however, it was necessary to seek support from many sources. Like other early Pentecostal missionaries who went on their own, she reported to and received funding from the readers of numerous periodicals including, The Bridegroom’s Messenger, The Latter Rain Evangel, The Weekly Evangel, and Word and Witness. With most of her support coming from outside the Church of God, Trasher became an Assemblies of God missionary in November 1919.
J.H. Ingram’s 1936 world tour included Egypt, and while there, he met with Boutros Labib. On a subsequent visit in 1946, Ingram welcomed Labib into the Church of God along with the 23 missions and churches Labib supervised. Missionary D.B. Hatfield arrived in 1947 to assist with the ministry. Church of God ministers in Egypt today remain anonymous due to continuing persecution of Christians there.
 Edmond and Pearl Stark
Devoting Lives to the Gospel
The first board-appointed Church of God missionaries to Africa were Edmond and Pearl Stark. Reflecting on the ocean crossing she and her husband Edmond made, Pearl Stark wrote: “On April 7, 1938, we watched the last glimpse of New York fade out of sight and soon realized that we were really on our way to the field which God had laid on our hearts, Angola, West Africa. It was a long journey and sometimes through rough seas, but deep down in our souls there was a deep calm and a peace that only the Lord could give when doing His will.” Although their journey through the rough seas of the Atlantic took 35 days, the Lord granted peace through even rougher days ahead as they devoted their lives to the gospel. When Edmond and Pearl met in 1937, she had already served another denomination in China and Liberia. Longing to return to Africa, she spoke one week at a church in Oilton, Oklahoma. When she requested someone to operate her slide projector, the pastor appointed Edmond. He also felt a call to the mission field, and his smile and dedication captured her heart. They married on October 8, 1937, and spent their honeymoon at the Church of God General Assembly in Chattanooga, Tennessee. During the Assembly, the newlyweds met with the World Missions Board, which agreed to appoint them to the African country of their choice. After investigation and prayer, the young couple concluded it was God’s will to go to Angola. Arriving on May 11, 1938, the Starks sought to determine what areas of Angola had no Christian presence. They petitioned the government for authorization to open a mission in the Kwanza Sul district and worked in a nearby territory while they waited. Edmond’s first convert, Bembua, faced extreme persecution, including burning his home and driving his family from their village. This persecution provoked a conversation during which Edmond reminded Bembua that this world is not our home. Perhaps prophetically preparing for rough days ahead, Edmond testified, “I do not plan to return to my country. Your country will be my country until I go to God’s country. His country is my real country.” Within days Edmond developed malaria and died on March 22, 1939. Bembua constructed a casket, and Pearl dressed Edmond in his wedding suit and buried him in the mission field he loved. Advised not to remain in Angola alone, Pearl returned to the United States. Yet, her passion for Africa persisted. A World War and the Angolan government seemed to conspire to keep her from fulfilling God’s will for her life, but in February 1948, Pearl Stark returned to the African country. She ministered there until January 1957. Before leaving Angola, she visited the grave of her late husband for a final time. Biographer, Douglas LeRoy, recorded that when Pearl Stark left Angola there were more than 125 Church of God congregations and mission stations. He concluded, “Edmond Stark died for missions; Pearl Stark lived for missions. When Edmond’s gospel light was extinguished by disease, Pearl picked up a new torch and lighted the paths of dark Africa, so that many could find their way to Christ.” Despite rough seas, they had fulfilled God’s will in their lives. |
“I do not plan to return to my country. Your country will be my country until I go to God’s country. His country is my real country.”
—Edmond Stark AFRICA Country/Territory Date Entered Angola 1938 Egypt 1946 South Africa 1951 Lesotho 1951 Mozambique 1951 Nigeria 1951 Swaziland 1951 Zambia 1951 Zimbabwe 1951 Namibia 1952 Botswana 1956 Malawi 1957 Chad 1963 Ghana 1965 Cameroon 1969 Democratic Republic of Congo 1971 Tanzania 1974 Liberia 1974 Kenya 1977 Burundi 1982 Uganda 1982 Mauritius 1983 Reunion 1983 Ivory Coast 1992 Togo 1992 Ethiopia 1994 Burkina Faso 1995 Congo 1995 Madagascar 1995 Benin 1997 Equatorial Guinea 1997 Mali 1997 Niger 1997 Sudan 1998 Gambia 2000 São Tomé 2000 Zanzibar 2000 Senegal 2001 Central African Republic 2002 Guinea-Bissau 2015 |
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Leaders of the Church of God and Full Gospel Church of South Africa meet together to sign an amalgamation agreement in 1951.
The Strength of Partnership
Along with sending missionaries, the Church of God has extended our global reach by partnering with already established Pentecostal groups. Among the most significant partnerships is our amalgamation with the Full Gospel Church of South Africa. Church of God members in the United States learned about this extraordinary development through the pages of the Evangel in 1951. General Overseer H.L. Chesser reported to Evangel readers for almost a month as he and World Missions Director J.H. Walker Sr. traveled 4,000 miles by car from the Belgian Congo to Johannesburg, South Africa. In his March 6 letter, Chesser wrote: “Prospects look promising for the accomplishment of unity between the Church of God and the Full Gospel Church of South Africa. We have received a very warm welcome from the brethren we have met, and certainly the two groups have many things in common. The fellowship is grand…. and surely they are brethren of like precious faith.”
Chesser had anticipated the possibility of this trip since May 1949 when he and other Church of God leaders attended the World Pentecostal Conference in Paris. At this second global gathering of Pentecostal denominations, he met J.H. Saayman, who was the assistant general moderator of the Full Gospel Church of South Africa. Hearing that Saayman was on his way to tour the United States, Chesser invited him to visit the Church of God. Saayman’s visit culminated in his joining the Church of God and preaching at the 1950 General Assembly, where delegates gave an offering for building churches in South Africa. The Church of God also appointed Saayman as our missions representative to countries in the southern region of the African continent, including the Union of South Africa.
Seeing the value of a partnership between the Church of God and the Full Gospel Church, Chesser and Saayman began to work toward an amalgamation of the two Pentecostal bodies. Their labor proved successful and led to Chesser and Walker’s trip to Johannesburg to complete the union. At their March meeting, the Executive Council of the Full Gospel Church entered into an agreement with the Church of God. The agreement provided opportunities to support what God was already doing in South Africa and undergird an expansion of ministry in the African countries of Lesotho, Mozambique, Swaziland, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Malawi, Mauritius, Reunion, and Madagascar.
The amalgamation agreement signed on March 28, 1951, committed to carry the gospel to all races and ethnic groups in South Africa under the name “Full Gospel Church of God in Southern Africa.” By virtue of their offices, the moderator of the church in South Africa would sit with the International Executive Council at the International Offices in Cleveland, Tennessee, and the general overseer would sit with the Executive Council of the national office in South Africa. Each body agreed to recognize the ministers and members of the other body, and the Church of God received 30,000 new members. Today, our ministry in South Africa includes more than 300,000 members “of like precious faith.”
Reaching the continent of Africa and its diverse peoples remains a global effort. Along with Africans responding to God’s call to take the gospel to other African nations, numerous European countries have sent missionaries to the continent. A few examples include Willy and Inge Ruoff from Germany, S.E. and Joyce Arnold from England, and Peter and Deborah Thomas from Germany, who began as education director in Ghana and has served as field director of West, Central, and East Africa since 2008. With God’s help, the Church of God around the world continues to proclaim the gospel to the ends of the earth.
Along with sending missionaries, the Church of God has extended our global reach by partnering with already established Pentecostal groups. Among the most significant partnerships is our amalgamation with the Full Gospel Church of South Africa. Church of God members in the United States learned about this extraordinary development through the pages of the Evangel in 1951. General Overseer H.L. Chesser reported to Evangel readers for almost a month as he and World Missions Director J.H. Walker Sr. traveled 4,000 miles by car from the Belgian Congo to Johannesburg, South Africa. In his March 6 letter, Chesser wrote: “Prospects look promising for the accomplishment of unity between the Church of God and the Full Gospel Church of South Africa. We have received a very warm welcome from the brethren we have met, and certainly the two groups have many things in common. The fellowship is grand…. and surely they are brethren of like precious faith.”
Chesser had anticipated the possibility of this trip since May 1949 when he and other Church of God leaders attended the World Pentecostal Conference in Paris. At this second global gathering of Pentecostal denominations, he met J.H. Saayman, who was the assistant general moderator of the Full Gospel Church of South Africa. Hearing that Saayman was on his way to tour the United States, Chesser invited him to visit the Church of God. Saayman’s visit culminated in his joining the Church of God and preaching at the 1950 General Assembly, where delegates gave an offering for building churches in South Africa. The Church of God also appointed Saayman as our missions representative to countries in the southern region of the African continent, including the Union of South Africa.
Seeing the value of a partnership between the Church of God and the Full Gospel Church, Chesser and Saayman began to work toward an amalgamation of the two Pentecostal bodies. Their labor proved successful and led to Chesser and Walker’s trip to Johannesburg to complete the union. At their March meeting, the Executive Council of the Full Gospel Church entered into an agreement with the Church of God. The agreement provided opportunities to support what God was already doing in South Africa and undergird an expansion of ministry in the African countries of Lesotho, Mozambique, Swaziland, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Malawi, Mauritius, Reunion, and Madagascar.
The amalgamation agreement signed on March 28, 1951, committed to carry the gospel to all races and ethnic groups in South Africa under the name “Full Gospel Church of God in Southern Africa.” By virtue of their offices, the moderator of the church in South Africa would sit with the International Executive Council at the International Offices in Cleveland, Tennessee, and the general overseer would sit with the Executive Council of the national office in South Africa. Each body agreed to recognize the ministers and members of the other body, and the Church of God received 30,000 new members. Today, our ministry in South Africa includes more than 300,000 members “of like precious faith.”
Reaching the continent of Africa and its diverse peoples remains a global effort. Along with Africans responding to God’s call to take the gospel to other African nations, numerous European countries have sent missionaries to the continent. A few examples include Willy and Inge Ruoff from Germany, S.E. and Joyce Arnold from England, and Peter and Deborah Thomas from Germany, who began as education director in Ghana and has served as field director of West, Central, and East Africa since 2008. With God’s help, the Church of God around the world continues to proclaim the gospel to the ends of the earth.
Lee University student Spencer Smith introduces children at the Phebe Grey Orphanage in Liberia to the computer lab Lee donated and installed. Rachel Roberts and Barbara
Curran, also Lee students, work in the background with the older students and teachers.
BUILDING THE FUTURE
IN 2015, Lee University launched an initiative to support students in integrating faith and vocation “through ethical action, redemptive service, and responsible citizenship in the community, the church, and the world.” As part of this initiative, Lee committed to make a difference in the lives of children at the Phoebe Grey Orphanage in Liberia by harnessing the talent and passion of every department of the university. The student body raised funds, and in May 2016, a team of students and faculty worked to enhance the library, provide reliable computing, and tackle the challenges of delivering electricity. The team took books for the library and classrooms, school supplies, computers, mosquito nets, bedding, and solar panels among other items; provided teacher training; and performed a community needs assessment in the nearby village. Later visits included building a science lab, offering additional teacher training including workshops on childhood trauma, and assisting in the development of a reliable donor base.
IN 2015, Lee University launched an initiative to support students in integrating faith and vocation “through ethical action, redemptive service, and responsible citizenship in the community, the church, and the world.” As part of this initiative, Lee committed to make a difference in the lives of children at the Phoebe Grey Orphanage in Liberia by harnessing the talent and passion of every department of the university. The student body raised funds, and in May 2016, a team of students and faculty worked to enhance the library, provide reliable computing, and tackle the challenges of delivering electricity. The team took books for the library and classrooms, school supplies, computers, mosquito nets, bedding, and solar panels among other items; provided teacher training; and performed a community needs assessment in the nearby village. Later visits included building a science lab, offering additional teacher training including workshops on childhood trauma, and assisting in the development of a reliable donor base.
David G. Roebuck, Ph.D. is director of the Dixon Pentecostal Research Center, Church of God Historian,
and Assistant Professor of the History of Christianity at Lee University.
and Assistant Professor of the History of Christianity at Lee University.