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Here is a story of one man's vision of taking the message of Jesus to a nation that had not heard of Him. Austin Chawner wasn't called "Mr.Mozambique" for nothing!
Scroll down for other stories about Aimee Semple McPherson and the Gospel Boat Ministries in Canada.

 

C. Austin Chawner, son of pioneer missionary to South Africa, Charles and Emma Chawner, was only 6 years old when he first went to Africa in 1909. There were many hardships that he endured along with his parents in those early years of ministry. During his early adult life, possibly because of these hardships, Austin did not consider missionary work and felt he should work in the field of business. Being a wise father, Charles allowed the Lord to speak to his son for he know that Austin was called of God to be a missionary. Austin eventually did hear that call, and after attending Bible College at Bethel in Newark, New Jersey, he sought ordination at the 1925 Conference of the PAOC in London Ontario. He did not follow in his father’s footsteps, but felt a strong call from God to the Thonga and Shangaan tribes who lived in Mozambique and Portuguese East Africa.

Unable to obtain government permission to work in Mozambique, Austin began working among the Thonga people living in the Transvaal province of South Africa in 1927. A great deal of work was done with the men who worked in the gold mines as well. His life was fraught with pain and sorrow. But he never gave up his call! Following the death of his first wife, Carrie, from malaria, he moved to the administrative centre of Louis Trichardt where he started a church, a Bible school and a publishing operation to provide literature in the Thonga language. Later he was able to purchase land and build a mission station at Shingwedzi, just 60 miles from the Mozambique border.

In 1934, Chawner married Ingrid Lokken, a Pentecostal missionary from Norway who had worked in Mozambique. She became his most valuable ministry partner along with their two children, Marilyn and Stanley. Mozambique was a Portuguese colony under the religious rule of the Roman Catholic Church. They did not look kindly on the work of any Protestant missionaries in their territories. Austin made many attempts to get permission to live in Mozambique and finally obtained that permission in 1937. In his initial application, Chawner had to describe the areas where he intended to work. In order to do this, he made a 300-mile survey trip alone riding his bicycle through the African bush! The Archives is honoured to have his lectern-table that he folded and strapped to his bike as well as the photo of him with his bicycle.

The Chawners immediately began surveying the country, preaching and teaching wherever they went. They began to establish local churches and immediately set about the work of selecting and training national leaders using short-term Bible Schools. As the work grew, it attracted government attention which led in 1943 to the closing of the mission station and restrictions being placed on the Chawners ability to travel, although they were allowed to stay in the country. They arranged for their native workers to come to their home in Lourence Marques (now Maputo), the capital city for training.

Austin Chawner led a remarkable life. His whole reason to be was to spread the Gospel wherever he went. Often he is referred to as “Mr. Mozambique” because of the effect he had on that country. He blazed many new inroads into the country and managed to cross sand-dunes, crocodile infested rivers and live through difficult conditions. He was a linguist and spoke 6 different languages as well as being an evangelist, writer, teacher and church builder. He was also a student of the Word and received the degree of Bachelor of Theology, then Doctor of Theology and finally Doctor of Divinity. George Upton wrote Austin’s amazing story in a book called , “The Miracle of Mozambique” found in most church libraries.

While visiting Durban, South Africa in 1963, Austin was struck by a speeding driver and instantly killed. This was a profound tragedy to his family, the PAOC and the country he adopted as his own. At his funeral, nearly a 1000 people attended the memorial service on October 26, 1963. Ingrid, his wife and their two children, Marilyn and Stanley, had to face the task of transitioning the work to his successors. The legacy of this family is immeasurable. Charles and Emma, Austin, Carrie and Ingrid rest in the soil of their beloved country as the work of the Gospel continues to affect the lives of so many people in this South African country.

By 1957, 200 churches had been planted in Mozambique. Today there are almost 3,000 churches, over 1 million members and adherents, 635 pastors, 1700 evangelists, a Bible School with 74 students and some 1200 students studying by distance education. This ministry continues to grow as the PAOC invests in this country to bring the message of salvation to its people.

* Information sources,
“When the Spirit Came Upon Them” by Douglas Rudd (2002) Pg.78-83
James C. Craig essay on “Historical Examples of PAOC Missions Long-term Impact” (2002)



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Aimee Semple McPherson
 Evangelist, Woman of Destiny

by Marilyn Stroud, PAOC Archivist

Aimee Kennedy was born near Ingersoll, Ontario, in 1890. At 17, she attended a Pentecostal meeting in Ingersoll conducted by Robert Semple from the Hebden Mission in Toronto. She accepted Jesus and was baptized in the Holy Spirit. Robert Semple became more than an evangelist to her, and they were married on August 12, 1908, while serving in Stratford, Ontario. Their vision was to serve the Lord in China, and they left for Hong Kong in 1910. Aimee faced great tragedy after they arrived in Hong Kong—Robert became ill and died. She was left destitute and eight months pregnant. That day, Aimee received a letter, mailed many weeks prior, from a supporter who was urged by the Lord to send her $65. It was the exact amount needed to pay for her husband’s funeral. One month later, her daughter, Roberta, was born. She was quite sickly and Aimee decided to return to Canada. On the ship, she conducted Sunday services. When she embarked, the purser gave her an envelope with $67, donated by the passengers who had been blessed by those services. The money paid her way to New York, where her mother was working in The Salvation Army headquarters. But Aimee was restless, lonely and confused and didn’t know what God wanted her to do.

      
                    
Clockwise from top left: Aimee Semple McPherson, 1924; Aimee and her Gospel car, 1918; Aimee and her son, Rolf; a marquee advertising Aimee's service; Aimee in her later years;  a portrail picture of Aimee

In New York, she met and married Harold McPherson and settled down to married life. Her son, Rolf, was born in 1913. But her restlessness and God’s call to minister became stronger and stronger. Aimee returned to Canada and began to minister in camps and evangelistic meetings. For a time, Harold supported her calling but couldn’t reconcile her ministry and their relationship. Another tragedy! The marriage ended. But God continued to bless her ministry.

“Sister Aimee,” as she was called, ministered in Montreal in 1920 at the great Montreal revival under C. E. “Daddy” Baker. Hundreds came to the Lord. Montreal has never seen anything like it before or since. God used her mightily in large evangelical meetings across North America. She eventually established the Foursquare Church in Los Angeles, California. Aimee was destined to become one of the most famous personalities of her time. In fact, she rivalled such names as Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks and Charlie Chaplin when it came to newsworthy items! Her life has even been depicted in a Canadian ballet and a Broadway musical as well as in several biographies.

People know the name “Aimee Semple McPherson,” but usually people say, “Didn’t she get kidnapped for a publicity stunt?” Her story reads like a modern media star with tragedy licking at her heels! Her famous kidnapping experience is enough to raise the hairs on your neck. The debate has continued for over 50 years—was it a publicity stunt? Douglas Rudd, a former PAOC archivist, wrote Aimee Semple McPherson—Read the True Story. He examined original documents and the work of historian Dr. Edith Blumhofer, author of Aimee Semple McPherson—Everybody’s Sister. He tells of her tumultuous life and verifies the kidnapping as legitimate. His book proves that “Sister Aimee”, though much maligned in her lifetime, was called of God to win souls for Him. Her dramatic lifestyle was fodder for the paparazzi, but the real story will be revealed in heaven when the true impact of this great lady’s ministry is disclosed. The fact that she was a woman and also an evangelist was unique in those early days, but she prepared the way for women in ministry today. She ministered to hundreds of thousands of people who needed to hear about God’s love and was faithful to God’s call on her life, regardless of the sacrifice.

She said, “Soul winning is the most important thing in the world. All I have is on the altar of the Lord, and while I have life and strength, I will put my whole being into carrying on the Great Commission!”1 Although in poor health, she spoke to 10,000 people at a meeting in the Oakland Auditorium on September 26, 1944. Hundreds were saved and brought into the kingdom. Later that night, at age 54, she passed into the presence of the Lord in her hotel room. She lay in state at the Angelus Temple for days as thousands of people paid homage to this woman of God. Rudd said, “Aimee may not have left a great deal of money behind, but she certainly left a legacy that money could not buy. She was a successful evangelist whose ministry of love and compassion reached out to multitudes of people and brought them to Jesus.”2

1Foursquare Online, p. 3 of 3. March 8, 2005. on-line posting, http://www.foursquare.org/landing_pages/8,3.html.

2Douglas Rudd, Aimee Semple McPherson—Read the True Story (Belleville, ON: Guardian Books, 2006), p. 138.

"Here We Go A-Sailing"

PAOC Coastal Missions


In the early 1930's, a great challenge faced the emerging church in British Columbia. With over 12,000 kilometers of the Pacific coastline as the parish, it became a challenge of how to take the Gospel to the many isolated families and Native peoples living along the coastline. There were no roads to reach these souls; there was only one way – water! How was the PAOC to solve this challenge?

It was decided at the BC District Conference in 1939 that churches be asked to meet this great need through special designated finances. Through the help of the local churches who saw the vision of reaching souls and the International Office in Toronto, a 32-food fish packer vessel was purchased. Alternations were made with the addition of living quarters and by 1940, the first "Gospel Light" was launched. 

A second vessel was later purchased, with a third vessel called "Speed The Light" added to the fleet. A 17-foot boat was purchased for Alert Bay and renamed the "Glad Tidings". At Pander Harbour, another 17-foot boat was used by Walter Ackroyd and his wife in 1943. Eventually there were 5 Gospel Boats, including the "Gospel Light II" acquired in 1973 after a devastating fire destroyed the first boat. This was not an easy ministry, yet it continued along the BC coast into the late 1970's.

Accounts of the many adventures of these pioneers have been carefully preserved in the pages of the early issues of the Pentecostal Testimony. Here is one of those reports by Rev. P Jones, BC District Superintendent. Heroism was the operative word for these men and women who guided these boats through difficult waters:

• "The island waters along the BC coast are treacherous. Many a boat has floundered on these stormy seas. The Gospel Boat navigators have fought many a battle against riptides, sloppy seas, high winds and blanket fogs. They have been mercilessly thrown around by mighty, rolling seas, trying to make port. Their boats were comparatively small, their equipment was not of the best, and their living quarters were cramped. Yet while there was one lost soul to be rescued, the men and women who manned the Gospel Boats would pull out to sea."

 These pioneers in the Gospel Boat Ministry were Frank and Mabel Harford, the first "Skipper" of the Gospel Light I and John Elwood and Mary Shannon. They brought the Gospel to the many isolated fishing folk, lighthouse keeper, loggers, native and coastal peoples on a regular basis. At Alert Bay, John and Elizabeth Nygaard ministered in the surrounding areas establishing many congregations along the way. Some of the other "Skippers" were Robert and Evelyn Starrett, Ingemar and Audrie Tingstad, Herbert and Gladys Deardon and Marjory and Bryon Personeus. Rev. Fehr was also involved with the Gospel Ship ministry in those early years. As a result of the heroic efforts of these men and women, churches were established at Gibson's Landing, Powell River, Alert Bay, Port Hardy, Coal Harbour, Quatsino, Fort Rupert, Bella Coola and Bella Bella.

The sighting of the Gospel Boat on the horizon caused great rejoicing from the inhabitants of the regions being visited at the time. Now the spiritual lives of their families and their communities could be refined and renewed because of the faithfulness of the "skippers" of the Gospel boats. In these early years, British Columbia could easily have been named an "Access Restricted Nation"!!! Maybe not as we understand it today, but the dangers and the restrictions placed upon these brave men and women then is no different from today. And like today, the call to evangelize was strong and could not be ignored.