Showing 42 results

Sylvanus C. Breyfogel (1851-1934), American Evangelical bishop, was born in Reading, Pennsylvania, on July 20, 1851, the son of the Rev. and Mrs. Seneca Breyfogel.

Breyfogel was licensed in the East Pennsylvania Conference and ordained in 1877. He served in the pastorate and as district superintendent until 1891, when he was elected bishop at the General Conference in Indianapolis. He continued in this office for thirty-nine years until he retired at the General Conference in 1930.

Breyfogel helped to form the retirement program, known as the Superannuation Fund. He also was especially influential in the development of Albright College in Reading.

Breyfogel traveled throughout the United States and Canada, and also visited Europe, Japan and China. And worked with the Federal Council of Churches.

Breyfogel also served as president of the Evangelical School of Theology at Reading, and was the chief sponsor of the Evangelical Correspondence College, organized in 1885.

He wrote several books: Landmarks in the Evangelical Association, 1800-1877; Great Sermons by Great Preachers; The Preachers Assistant; and The Polity of the Evangelical Association. He was married in 1877 to Kate Boas, a member of a prominent Evangelical family. She died August 1, 1928. Breyfogel died at his home in Reading on November 24, 1934.

William Burt (1852-1936), an American pastor, missionary, and bishop, was born in Padstow, Cornwall, England, on October 23, 1852. His family immigrated to the United States. Burt graduated from Wesleyan University, in Middletown, Connecticut, in 1879, and from Drew Theological School in Madison, New Jersey, in 1881. Eventually, he received honorary doctorates from Grant, Wesleyan, and Syracuse Universities and Dickinson and Allegheny Colleges.

Joining the New York East Annual Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church in 1881, Burt served St. Paul's Church and De Kalb Avenue Church in Brooklyn before being transferred to the Italy Annual Conference in 1886. In 1888 he moved to Florence, establishing a theological school, and became superintendent of the Italy Mission. Coming to Rome in 1890, Burt was instrumental in establishing the Methodist Building, the Boy's College, a Theological School, Publishing House, and Young Ladies College. He also led in building several churches and schools in other parts of Italy.

On May 20, 1904, Burt was elected a Bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and appointed resident Bishop of Europe. While in charge of the work in Europe, he organized the France Mission Conference, the Austria- Hungary Mission Conference, the Russian Mission Conference, and the Denmark and Finland Annual Conferences. In 1910 he organized all the Methodist work in Europe into the European Central Annual Conference.

On several occasions the Board of Bishops designated Burt to be an Episcopal visitor in other areas of the world. In 1906 he was Fraternal delegate to the British and Irish Wesleyan Conference, and in that same year made the Quadrennial visit to Methodist missions in Africa. In 1917 he visited the Methodist work in the Orient including China, Japan, the Philippines, India, Korea, and the Malay Peninsula. Finally in 1919 Burt was called upon to study post-war conditions in Europe with the purpose of rebuilding Methodist Episcopal churches.

Burt's contributions and honors were many. He wrote ten books and translated the Discipline into Italian. King Victor Emmanuel II of Italy knighted him in 1903. He was received by the kings of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden as well as by the queens of Italy and Bulgaria, the Emperor of Germany and the Shah of Persia.

Bishop Burt returned to the United States in 1912 assuming episcopal leadership of the Buffalo, New York area. He retired in 1924 and died at Clifton Springs, New York on April 9, 1936. He is buried in Lynn, Massachusetts.

Burt married Helen Bartlett Graves (born April 14, 1856) on April 14, 1881. They had five children.

Matthew Walker Clair, Jr. (1890-1968) was a Methodist Church bishop. He received his B.A. from Howard University in 1915, a bachelor of sacred theology from Boston University in 1918, and a doctor of divinity from Gammon Seminary in 1936.

Clair's first appointment was to Bedford, Virginia in 1918, and this was followed by appointments in Martinsburg, West Virginia, in 1919; Roanoke, Virginia, in 1920; Daytona Beach, Florida (1924-1925); and Denver, Colorado (1925-1928). In 1929 he was appointed to the Board of Home Missions. Clair was professor of Practical Theology at Gammon Theological Seminary from 1936 until 1940, when he became pastor at St. Mark Church in Chicago.

During World War I Clair served as a United States Army chaplain. Elected to the episcopacy by the Central Jurisdictional Conference in 1952, he was sent by the Council of Bishops to review and appraise Methodist work in several parts of the world. He visited Africa in 1954, Singapore in 1956, Central and South America in 1958, and Europe in 1961

Clair was a member of several church wide organizations. He also served as president of the Board of Trustees of Philander Smith College. In 1964, after eight years as the bishop in charge of the work of the Central Jurisdiction, Clair retired.

Arthur R. Clippinger (1878-1958) was a Church of the United Brethren in Christ minister and bishop. He was a public school teacher and a Sunday School superintendent at the age of eighteen. Clippinger enrolled in Lebanon Valley College in 1900 and graduated in 1905. While he was a student he received a ministerial license and probationary membership from the Pennsylvania Conference in 1903.

As a student he served in Greencastle and New Cumberland, Pennsylvania. In 1907 he married Ellen Mills (1882-1955) and enrolled in Yale Divinity School, from which he graduated in 1910. During his studies there he served Congregational churches.

In 1910 he became pastor of Summit Street Church in Dayton, Ohio. A year later, he was ordained in that church. Under his direction, the congregation grew, and built a new church on Dayton's Euclid Avenue, and renamed Euclid Avenue Church. In 1918, the Miami Conference elected him superintendent, and in 1921 he became a bishop of the Central Area of Ohio, where he served until retiring in 1950. He was a strong force in bringing together the Evangelical Church and the Church of the United Brethren in Christ in 1946.

Clippinger served on nearly every board or department of the various agencies of his denomination. He was a member of the Federal Council of Churches. During World War II he served on the National Chaplains' Commission. As a bishop he visited mission fields in China, Japan, the Philippines, Puerto Rico and Santo Domingo. He was also present at the first assembly of the World Council of Churches in Amsterdam in 1948.

Wayne Clymer (1917-2013), minister, bishop, educator, and psychologist, was born in Napoleon, Ohio, on September 24, 1917, son of Grace Susan Hulvey and George A. Clymer, a minister in the Evangelical Church. Clymer attended Asbury College, receiving his B. A. in 1939. In the fall of that year he entered Columbia University, and while attending there he became pastor of Immanuel Evangelical Church in Ozone Park, New York, and then St. Paul's Evangelical Church in Forest Hills. He completed his M.A. in 1942. Clymer went on to receive a B.D. from Union Theological Seminary in 1944.

In 1946, Clymer was appointed to the faculty of Evangelical Theological Seminary (ETS) as professor of pastoral theology. While there, he continued his graduate studies toward a Ph.D. at New York University, receiving his degree in 1950.

Clymer was ordained by Evangelical United Brethren Bishop John S. Stamm, and was a member of the Atlantic Conference. He went on to post-doctoral work at the New School for Social Research, Columbia University, the William Alanson White School for Psychiatry, and took clinical training at Massachusetts General Hospital, and Saint Luke's Hospital in New York City. In 1957 Clymer was elected dean of ETS, succeeding Paul Eller. In 1967 he was he was chosen as President.

Clymer was ordained by Evangelical United Brethren Bishop John S. Stamm, and was a member of the Atlantic Conference. He went on to post-doctoral work at the New School for Social Research, Columbia University, the William Alanson White School for Psychiatry, and took clinical training at Massachusetts General Hospital, and Saint Luke's Hospital in New York City. In 1957 Clymer was elected dean of ETS, succeeding Paul Eller. In 1967 he was he was chosen as President. The year prior, 1966-1967, Clymer and his wife lived overseas where he served as consultant to the United Church of Christ in the Philippines on ministerial training, and taught at both Saint Andrew's Theological Seminary in Manila and at Trinity College in Singapore.

The North Central Jurisdictional Conference of the United Methodist Church elected Wayne Clymer to the episcopacy in 1972, and he was assigned to the Minnesota Area, where he served for eight years before being assigned to the Iowa Area in 1980. In 1976, Clymer was appointed president of the United Methodist Committee on Relief. Clymer traveled extensively during his tenure as bishop, visiting countries in Africa, Asia and the Caribbean. Clymer and his wife retired to Minnesota in 1984. Bishop Clymer died from a stroke on November 25, 2013, while delivering a eulogy at Brooklyn Center United Methodist Church in Minnesota.

Judith Craig (1937-2019) was a United Methodist Church bishop. Craig was born in Lexington, Missouri on June 5, 1937. Her education started at William Jewell College (B.A., 1959), then Eden Theological Seminary (M.Div., 1961), and finally at United Theological Seminary (M.A., C.E., 1968). Baldwin-Wallace College bestowed an honorary Doctor of Divinity degree on her in 1980. Bishop Francis E. Kerns ordained her a deacon in 1972 and elder in 1974 within the East Ohio Annual Conference. Craig served at Cleveland's Epworth-Euclid United Methodist Church from 1972 to 1976 as a religious education minister and later as an associate pastor. Her next appointment from 1976 to 1980 came as the pastor at Pleasant Hills United Methodist Church. In 1980 she was appointed the Director of the East Ohio Conference Council on Ministries. Craig was elected to the episcopacy in 1984 by the North Central Jurisdiction and assigned to the Michigan Area until 1992. Afterwards she administered the Ohio West Episocpal Area until her retirement. Post retirement work includes the Office of Bishop in Residence and visiting professor at Methodist Theological School of Ohio. Craig has served on the General Commission on the Status and Role of Women ( 1984-1988), the General Council on Ministries (1988-1992), and the General Board of Publication.

Lewis Davis (1814-1890) was considered the "Father of Higher Education" in the Church of the United Brethren in Christ. At eighteen, he came under the influence of Methodist itinerants, who encouraged him to enroll in the academy at New Castle, Virginia. For two years, Davis taught at a local school in western Virginia, where he joined the Church of the United Brethren in Christ. He was licensed to preach in 1838, and spent the next eight years as an itinerant in Scioto Conference, where he became a champion of higher education in the church. Davis became a presiding elder in 1845. In 1841 he married Rebecca Bartles.

Davis was the first financial agent for Otterbein University, the new institution projected by the Scioto Conference. In 1850, Davis became president of Otterbein, a position he held until 1871. He was elected bishop in 1853 and held that office until 1860. Davis left Otterbein in 1871 and became senior professor at Union Biblical Seminary (now United Theological Seminary) in Dayton, Ohio. He retired to emeritus status in 1886. His wife survived him by five years.

David Edwards (1816-1876) was a United Brethren bishop and editor. His family immigrated to Ohio when he was five. When he was eighteen, Edwards converted and became a member of the United Brethren Church.

In 1836, he was ordained in the Scioto Conference. In 1845, he was elected editor of the Religious Telescope. He held that position for four years and refused reelection in 1849. Instead, the General Conference elected him bishop, a position he held for six successive terms.

Edwards was instrumental in founding Otterbein University and in establishing the foreign mission work of the church.

David Edwards (1816-1876) was a United Brethren bishop and editor. He was born in Denbighshire, North Wales. His family moved to Ohio when he was five. When he was eighteen, Edwards experienced a religious conversion and became a member of the United Brethren Church. In 1836 he was ordained in the Scioto Conference. In 1845, he was elected editor of the Religious Telescope. He held that position for four years and refused reelection in 1849. Instead, the General Conference elected him bishop, a position he held for six successive terms. Edwards was instrumental in founding Otterbein University and in establishing the foreign mission work of the church.

George Edward Epp (1885-1970) was an Evangelical United Brethren bishop and administrator. He was recommended to the ministry by the congregation in Port Washington, Wisconsin. Epp received his theological education at Evangelical Theological Seminary in Naperville, Illinois. Following graduation, he was ordained and received into membership in the Wisconsin Conference of the Evangelical Association.

In 1921, he became executive secretary of the Missionary Society of the Evangelical Association. He was reelected to that office in 1922, following the merger of the United Evangelical Church and the Evangelical Association. He remained executive secretary of the Missionary Society until 1930, when he was elected bishop, a position he held for twenty-eight years. Epp retired in 1958.

Cornelio M. Ferrer (1908-1988) Filipino pastor, editor and bishop, was born in Ligayen, Pangasinan, Philippines, on September 16, 1908. He attended Union College of Manila, receiving a B. A. in 1937, while serving student appointments. On February 23, 1935, he was ordained deacon and on November 28, 1937, an elder.

Ferrer was a member of the Phillipine Annual Conference. He married Emilia V. Rosario on April 14, 1934. From 1940 to 1946, Ferrer was a district superintendent. Shortly thereafter he was named a Crusade Scholar and attended Drew University, from which he received an M.A. in 1948. After his graduation he returned to the Philippines for a rural pastorate. From 1950 to 1968 he worked for the National Council of Churches in the Philippines while earning a B.D. degree from Union Theological Seminary in the Philippines. For years he was the Filipino correspondent of The Christian Century. During the 1950's, Ferrer served as the business manager of the Philippine Christian Advance.

On November 28, 1968, Ferrer was elected to the episcopacy by the Philippines Central Conference and served the Manila Area until 1974, when he retired. He then was a volunteer worker in rural missions. Ferrer died on November 23, 1988.