Interesting......What changed?
 

I am reading Sis. Pauline Gruse's autobiography from her early days in Liberia where she ministered for years. My inlaws worked with her there in the fifties. She actually died once when struck by lightning and was dead for a long while. My FIL prayed for her and she was raised from the dead. She testifies about it in the book.

Anyway, interestingly enough, in the forties when she first went over there, her first missionary journey into the bush (walking for days and days), she went with Assembly of God missionaries who were stationed near her. She was sent by a Oneness Pentecostal group. Her statement in the book says,

"With the heavy emphasis placed on the operation of a mission school, doctrinal differences were somewhat overlooked in those early days, and a strong rapport prevailed among most Protestant missionaries." They actually were allowed to go and minister together!!

WHAT HAPPENED since that time?

Sherri, at one time there wasn't a whole lot that separated (most) "Protestant Missionaries."

There is a lot of "difference" now between (most) "Protestant Missionaries".

While don't agree with the UPCI one has to wonder, who nessecarely did the changing?

Just a thought.:hypercoffee

I would like to know, what is the state of foreign missions in general. How many countries in the world are without an apostolic mission?

I don't know...I just found it interesting. She also traveled some with Baptist and Lutheran missionaries. They were definitely not Spirit filled, nor baptized in Jesus' name, but they still all fellowshipped. The idea of a UPC missionary today traveling and holding services with an AG one is unheard of, I would think.

I'm not sure about the mission field "regulations", but it makes sense to have fellowship.

In general I think the prevailing sentiment from the "early" days was just more tolerant. As I've stated before, my dad was baptized in Jesus name in 1931 and my mother in 1935. ( they met in 1946)
I was taught absolute Acts 2:38, 3 steps essential, but the approach to the
unsaved was different .
Prior to the merger I think there was more wiggle room. As time went on the parameters became more rigid.

What kind of dates were these?
Was this before the 1945 beginning of the UPC?
Was she maybe in the PCI?

I think 1943, and she was saved in a PAJC church. Later she was licensed with the UPCI.

Many years ago, it was my privledge to preach in various parts of Thailand when brother Billy Cole was there as a missionary. He once told me that in the early years of his missionary work that he became so hungry for fellowship of some sort since it had been a very long, long time since he had any kind of fellowship at all. He said that he happened upon a Greek Orthodox Priest and was so glad to see him that he fell on his shoulder and began weeping as he hugged the man.

I had to wonder about that. He said that he was so glad to have someone with whom he could fellowship with that knew the name of Jesus. I guess they fellowshipped on the basis of that both knew the name of Jesus. I can't imagine what other basis they had for fellowship. At least with Sister Pauline, there was a far wider range and basis of fellowship with the AOG missionaries that what Billy Cole had with that Greek Orthodox priest.

I think that is correct. If I rightly recall, Sister Pauline attended the Tulsa Bible School under the direction of bro. C.P. Williams who was strong PAJC, three stepper.

The problem is denominationalism. Once people come together around a certain truth that they feel distinguishes them from others, that truth tends to become the basis for fellowship rather than the common bond they have in Christ.

Sherri,
I dont know if I read it somewhere or it told to me by a missionary. When a missionary goes into some of these foreign lands everything is so different. The people can be very heathenistic, the culture is different, food etc.

That when another American, or English speaking person that is a CHRISTIAN comes to that area, they are so glad to see someone who they have something in common with, they could care less if they baptize in Jesus name.

To have some sort of interaction with another soul from the home land is so refreshing, its like coming across a long lost relative.

While we may see things different we wtill can be friends.
I know very few people that believe EXACTLY like I believe but I have many friends. I don´t care what card we hold or do not hold we are different in some way.
It is better not to try to fit in man made molds fit in the JESUS mold...He seemed to fiend His friends in the most unlikly places...

When we were missionaries in Hong Kong our best friends were a Southern Baptist missionary couple we went to language school with. They had two sons the same age as our sons and so it was a natural fit. I remember them saying we were the first Pentecostals they had ever had fellowship with. As time went on he actually brought his regional field supervisor to speak with me about our church plant because he was impressed with the progress we were making. He eventually received the baptism of the Holy Ghost and after we returned to Canada, the letters we received from him were like reading the Book of Acts.

On the mission field you are brought together with other missionaries immediately if you are having to study the language. This sets up some lasting relationships I think.

The Mormon boys when I lived in the south would come by just for a peice of cake! Ameican style..

This is an excerpt from a book titled Mountain of the Lion by Donald Hugh O’Keefe. it tells of his time spent as a missionary in Africa in the nineteen seventies. This part tells about his visiting two places, Bomi Hills and Fassama in Liberia and memories of some of the pioneer missionaries there and their sacrifices to reach the African people with the Gospel.

He mentions Sis. Bailey. I heard her speak back in 1956 in Racine, WI. She had been in Africa and, at that time had to walk over 100 miles through the jungle to get to her mission station. She had worn a blister on her foot and it had broken and gotten infected and she was suffering from blood poisoning. She could not walk any farther and sat down. She felt like she was dying. She asked God to lay her on someone’s heart who could pray for her. Then something happened. She was healed and able to continue her journey. Later while visiting the United States she heard the rest of the story. At the time she sat down and asked someone to pray, there was a message in tongues in a Church in Texas. When the interpretation was given it was an exhortation to pray for Sis. Bailey because she was dying from poison. People interceded and God worked. The folks in Texas didn’t realize it was blood poisoning. They thought maybe someone had tried to poison her. When she and someone from that church in Texas compared notes, the exhortation to pray in Texas had come at the very same time she was in Africa asking God to lay her on someone’s heart so they would pray for her.

I think the Sam Latta he speaks about was at Bible School in St. Paul, MN when I was there in 1956/1957. At that time his father was pastoring a church in Moline, IL which was across the state and a little south from where I lived in SE Wisconsin.

Following is the excerpt from the book about the sacrifices of some of the missionaries.

It was a special day the first time we went to the historic Bomi Hills mission station. We had heard much about Bomi Hills ever since coming to the Lord.

We lived for two months in the very quarters on the mission station once occupied by Sister Valda Russell. Her favorite chair was still in the house.

We talked to people who were present when Missionary Jack Langham's daughter was shot to death. As I stood in the room where she died, I felt that I was standing on ground hallowed by the blood of spiritual pioneers, giants of faith who had dedicated themselves to reach the African people. I stood by the grave of this fine girl and thought of the sacrifice made by the Langham family. Every sacrifice had been made with love.

Brother Langham was not at home when his daughter was shot. When he reached the house later and heard about his daughter's death, the police brought the perpetrator to him. He was a young man who worked regularly on the mission compound and was well known to the Langham family. The man was deeply sorry and said it had been an accident. The Liberians wanted him to receive the greatest penalty allowed by law, but Brother Langham pleaded for him to be released and forgiven. Some of the Liberians told me that his display of Christian love changed their life and convinced them of the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

I saw where Sam Latta's airplane crashed on the mission school's playground. Momentum carried it across the main road and into a store building. Brother Latta climbed out of the plane uninjured. No one else was injured either, but the plane was a total loss.

The roll call of missionaries who had served here was long, I thought of Mother Holmes, Pauline Gruse, Velda Russell, Ena Hylton, Laverene Collins, Gladys Robinson, Porter Davis, the Parks family, the Basil Williams family, the Cupples family, Brother and Sister Harvey Davis, Else Lund, the Garlands, Sister Bailey, and Brother and Sister Otis Petty.

I could not remember all the names and wished I could. A person did not have to be there but a few days to realize that these men, women, and children had made truly great sacrifices in giving themselves to the work of God for Liberia. And it is tragic for such sacrifice and service to go unremembered. The names of some of these missionaries to Liberia could well stand alongside the names of faithful heroes in Hebrews 11.

When the time came for us to take a trip to Fassama we were excited. Fassama was just as famous as Bomi Hills, but much more remote. ...

In Fassama, as in Bomi Hills, we felt surrounded by history. Here, Sister Laverne Collins had given her life. Just six months after her arrival in Liberia a malarial fever took her. Her grave site was a memorial to a life unselfishly laid down for her Master.

Sister Gruse had walked through this jungle to bring salvation here. She built the house that she lived in and that still stands—a round mud hut. Here, in front of many witnesses, she was killed by a bolt of lightning. As she lay dead on the ground, the villagers felt that their heathen gods had shown their power in striking down this purveyor of a strange new religion. But then something happened. Sister Gruse rose from the dead! She stood up! Healed! Alive!

The people were stunned. Her God was greater than all of theirs.

On another occasion, some villagers tried to kill one of the missionaries by putting a deadly cobra on her bed while she slept. The snake would not bite.

The next day the village witch doctors confessed that they had been trying to kill the missionary with the snake and with devil curses. They acknowledged the failure of their gods and admitted that Jesus Christ was greater. Revival came to Fassama.

Do you know where I can get this book, Sam? These are all the people that my inlaws worked with in Bomi Hills and Fassama! Eddie was born in the hospital at Bomi Hills. There are some fascinating and amazing stories in that part of the world.

Amen, Mother!!

What many fail to realize is, disagreement is not a sign of a need for severing ties, and fellowship is not compromise.

And I agree, regardless of how many I may admire, to be like Jesus must be my goal...

Well, I just finished reading her book. It has the story in there about the Langham's daughter being killed and also about Sis Gruse being raised from the dead. It's a very interesting book overall. She just recently passed away, probably near 90 years of age.

There were MANY times in the book where she took 2-3 week treks back into the jungle with AG missionaries and held services each night. She even talks about how God spoke to them about the village where the AG missionary was to set up her work. Whenever she flew in and out of the country, she always stayed in the AG missionary house in Monrovia. I just think it's very interesting that this seemed to be the norm in the 1950's, but it would be unheard of fifty years later. This was in the UPC too, at this time. Was this really an accepted practice fifty years ago??? Just curious.

Shiloah Books at
http://www.shiloahbooks.com/books_Biography.html
offers a book titled "I Surrender All" by Charles Clanton which is a biography of Pauline Gruse. I've ordered a copy.

What I quoted in my post was an excerpt from a book titled, "Mountain of the Lion" which I found at
http://www.geocities.com/upcpitt/mou..._the_lion.html

We have seen more of this lately - I think God is about to grant us with a baptism of love and respect for one another.

Kristin and I have shared testimony behind several AOG, Global, UPC pulpits in the last few months. I also, heard a UPC man Preach an excellent message at the local AOG last month - with several hundred in attendance. I am thrilled at this new love for one another. An AOG minister also recently shared "a Word" with me concerning my life - and I recieved it readily.

Another case - not far from here - where an AOG minister has started interdenominational meetings and expressed his desire to baptise "In Jesus Name" (also had a UPC man speak.)

So I don't think it is extremely rare - but I do agree it's more rare than it should be.

What is the title of that autobiography?
Is it available from the UPC Publishing House?

I knew the Langham´s in fact they once visited Brazil years ago...Sister Bailey lives in Texas. I have read that book. Very interesting.

Love you, Sherri...Wish you would tell that story you told me about Eddi´s father...I have wept and told my children about it...

Wasn't Sis. Bailey's first name Geneva?
Seems like that's what I remember from when I heard her 51 years ago (if it is the same person).

What is the title of the book you are referring to?

yes

The book Sherri mentioned.

It's Sis. Gruse's autobiography you said that you ordered...."I Surrender All".

With the heavy emphasis placed on the operation of a mission school, doctrinal differences were somewhat overlooked in those early days, and a strong rapport prevailed among most Protestant missionaries." They actually were allowed to go and minister together!!

WHAT HAPPENED since that time?
It seems to me that the people at this time were interested in truly representing Jesus and not building their own things. I don't believe that they walked together, were beneficial to each other, then went and talked about the strangeness of each others doctrines. How can two walk together unless they be agreed? Agree on what, walking together!

I just finished reading the autobiography earlier this evening.
What a servant of God and what a burden for those people in Liberia!

The quote in your post is on page 154. Then on pages 196-197 it mentions priorities changing later where mission schools were de-emphasized and there was more evangelization going on. Sis. Gruse says, "With the increased efforts towards preaching the Word came a gradual cooling between the Pentecostals and other Protestant missionaries."

On page 278 she says that the month of January, 1959 was a special month for her and mentions two reasons for its being special. "First of all, on the 7th of the month little Eddie Cupples was born in the Liberian Mining Company Hospital at Bomi Hills." I wonder who that was.

I see I have a few books to buy. :)

On page 104 of the book, Sis. Gruse tells about going to Tennessee soon after her conversion. Sis. Gruse had written to Bro. Witherspoon who was the General Chairman of the PAJC asking if they would sponsor her as a missionary to Africa. He responded that they were not dispatching new missionaries at that time and if she ever did get to go to Africa it would have to be based on her faith. Sis. Gruse was becoming more active in her local church at that time. A woman evangelist named Emily Taylor came to Christ Temple in South Bend, IN and preached a two week revival. She invited Sis. Gruse to return to Tennesse with her and help her. She went to Rockwood, TN and worked with the church there and preached in that area. While there she received ministerial credentials from the Church of Jesus Christ which she described as "a small southern orgnization to which Sis. Taylor belonged." After a year at Bible School in Tulsa, she spent a year of preaching in Tennesse and Indiana, and then returned to Tulsa for another year at Bro. William's Bible College in the fall of 1941. In January 1943 she left for Liberia as a missionary with the Church of Jesus Christ. She was promised a salary of $50 per month if funds were available. She mentions the name of the Director of Foreign Missions being Robert Hancock. She remained with the Church of Jesus Christ until she joined the UPC in 1947 when the Church of Jesus Christ was no longer able to support her.

This brought a couple of questions to my mind. I assume this was the Church of Jesus Christ organization which had been chartered by Bishop Mark Lawson in 1927. That group had churches in Tennessee and other places. I don't know how large the organization got. It is still in existence today but it has become fragmented into several organizations many of which retain the words "Church of Jesus Christ" in their name. I belonged to that organization for a short time in 1959. At that time Bishop R.L. Hancock was Foreign Missions Director but I think his name was Russel. I wonder if that was the same man that Sis. Gruse was talking about.

You are very right.

so true...

I think her story is fascinating! It's funny and full of faith. It's special to me for obvious reasons. LOL!