14 Jan 250 Years: On This Day in UB History (Jan 14)

For a number of years, we worked cooperatively with two other denominations, the Evangelical Congregational Church and the Primitive Methodist Church. We jointly sponsored missionaries and Sunday school curriculum, and the leaders met every year. We called it The Federation.

The 1981 General Conference instructed that we “aggressively pursue merger” with those denominations. A lot of meetings followed, and the three denominations tried hard to make it work. They saw a lot of advantages—for missions, colleges, camps, overhead, pastors, and other areas.

But in the end, it came down to Freemasonry. The other two groups allowed church members to also belong to the Masonic lodge, and we didn’t. If we changed our stand, it would have been hugely divisive.

January 14, 1983, at a meeting in the UB National Office, leaders of the three denominations published a statement saying that merger wasn’t going to happen. They saw benefits to cooperating in various endeavors, but real problems going a step further and merging.

Said Bishop C. Ray Miller, “I personally am interested in beefing up the Federation. But in light of the problems I see that would be divisive, I am not interested in merger.”

12 Jan 250 Years: On This Day in UB History (Jan 12)

On January 12, 2010, a monster 7.3 magnitude earthquake struck Haiti, killing at least 220,000 people and displacing 1.5 million. The capital, Port au Prince, was hit especially hard. Two UB churches in Cite Soleil, the poorest area of Port Au Prince, were destroyed.

At the time, superintendent Oliam Richard was attending the General Conference meeting in Honduras. His wife, Esther, had flown into Haiti the day before. He spent that night, Tuesday, glued to CNN and seeking information on the internet. He tried to find passage home on Wednesday, but nothing was available.

During the closing service of General Conference on Wednesday night, at a packed church in La Ceiba, an offering of $800 was taken up for Haiti. The Canadian delegates added another $900, and the two Guatemalan delegates gave $50 out of their own pockets (said Jeff Bleijerveld: “This, believe me, is a LOT of money”). The money was presented to Rev. Richard, and the delegates from around the world laid hands on him in prayer.

Rev. Richard was eventually able to reach the Dominican Republic, and then travel by van across the border to Haiti. He found his wife and family shaken, but well. Although their home was still standing, they were staying outside because of the continued aftershocks.

United Brethren people proved very generous, as is usually the case after natural disasters. By June, Global Ministries had received over $170,000 designated for Haiti. In addition, money was sent to Haiti from Jamaica ($6900), Honduras ($900), Hong Kong ($7900), and Canada ($10,000).

08 Jan On This Day in UB History: January 8 (Rita Wild Koroma)

Rita Wild Koroma, 87, passed away on January 8, 2011, in Oxford, England. She served as a missionary teacher in Sierra Leone 1954-1962.

Rita was the daughter of Rev. Fred Wild, who pastored UB churches in the Midwest for 48 years in South Dakota, Nebraska, and Illinois. She graduated from Huntington University, and later earned a Masters in History from Northwestern University.

Rita arrived in Sierra Leone during the early stages of Centennial High School, working alongside principal E. DeWitt Baker. She taught at the school for ten years, and served one year as interim principal while the Bakers were on furlough. In 1963 she married Adams Koroma, and spent the rest of her days in England.

07 Jan 250 Years: On This Day in UB History (Jan 7)

On January 7, 1955, Centennial High School was dedicated in Mattru Jong, Sierra Leone. The name recognized 100 years of United Brethren ministry in Sierra Leone. It was a big day. The 800 guests included various government dignitaries, and the National Secretary of Education gave the keynote address.

Centennial was not only the first UB high school in Sierra Leone, but the first co-educational high school in the country. Spearheading the school was missionary DeWitt Baker, who had arrived in Sierra Leone in 1949 (and in 1965 became president of Huntington University). He ordered materials, hired and supervised workers, and oversaw all other aspects of construction.

They needed hundreds of bags of cement, which they mixed with sand on the beach to make thousands of blocks. Construction stopped in June with the advent of rainy season. When work resumed in September, 100 men arrived seeking work. DeWitt hired 50 of them. He wrote, “I hauled stone and sand, and kept my eye on all that was happening.”

Ultimately, there were 15 buildings, including an administration/library building, boys’ and girls’ dormitories, four classroom buildings, bath houses, a dining hall, a chapel, and five buildings for staff. Water was pumped 800 feet from a stream into a large tank which supplied the various buildings.

The school opened on January 24, 1955. Enrollment quickly rose to about 90. DeWitt was the proud principal…and much more. He taught classes, hired construction workers, supervised teachers, led chapels, wrote paychecks, kept the books, ordered supplies, unloaded building materials, graded papers, cooked meals, typed and mimeographed tests, planted fruit trees, and so much more.

After ten years, the school had grown to nearly 300 students. After 30 years, there were 600 students and a staff of 31. Scores of children had found Christ, and Centennial alumni could be found in cities throughout the country working in colleges, police stations, schools, government posts and sundry other jobs.