Leader among Central Conference Bishops Born in Tagudin, Ilocos Sur Province, in 1898, Valencia grew up as a Roman Catholic, although he became acquainted with Protestants through the United Brethren mission near his home. He came from a family involved in the Filipino struggle for independence. His uncle was a guerrilla in the conflict with...
Missionary, Mission Board Staff, and Mission Advocate From her early years of growing up in a parsonage to her years as a professional person, and later a lay woman active in church affairs, Kathryne Bieri Sears was devoted to mission. At age twenty-four, she was the first single woman appointed by the Methodist Episcopal Board...
Mission Bishop Promoted Indigenous Leaders Ralph E. Dodge was an outspoken advocate for racial justice in Africa and the last white bishop of the United Methodist Church in Zimbabwe (Rhodesia) during that country’s colonial era. Dodge’s 1956 election as a Methodist bishop for central and southern Africa marked the only time that an American Methodist...
Founder of Norwegian Methodism and Co-Founder of Norwegian-American Methodism Methodism in Norway owes its introduction to a single founder, Ole Peter Petersen. As a young Norwegian sailor, Petersen had his first contact with the Methodists in Boston in 1843. The next three years brought much serious reflection and a strong feeling of spiritual need. In...
Missionary Worker in Quéssua, Angola Miss Susan Angeline Collins was the daughter of Isaac Collins—born in North Carolina in 1808, emancipated in 1845, and served in the Civil War, 1864-1865—and Sarah Ann Joiner Collins—born in 1825 and emancipated in 1839. Miss Collins was their fourth daughter. As a young woman, she worked for a pastor,...
