Visiting Researcher Writes about H. F. Reynolds and the Foundation of the Church of the Nazarene

By dri July 28th, 2015 in Alumni Profiles and News, Announcements, People, Publications, Research

For three years, Mary Lou Shea was a Visiting Researcher at the Center for Global Christianity & Mission. During that time, she devoted herself to uncovering the story of Hiram F. Reynolds, one of the first two General Superintendents in the Church of the Nazarene, and the architect of Nazarene missions around the world. The result of her work has recently been published as In Need of Your Prayers and Patience: The Life and Ministry of Hiram F. Reynolds and the Founding of the Church of the Nazarene.

Recently, Daryl Ireland asked Dr. Shea about the project. This is how she responded:

I did not choose Reynolds; he chose me, with the help of denominational archivist, Dr. Stan Ingersol, who approached me at a conference to ask if I would undertake the monumental task of reading the Reynolds archive and to consider writing his story. Since I knew nothing about Reynolds, and my colleagues (all ordained elders in the Church of the Nazarene) knew shockingly little about him, I said, "Sure." This is not unusual for me. In the first grade, each student had to choose a bird to report upon to the class. Did I choose the robin? The blue jay? The goldfinch or oriole? No, I picked the phoebe bird. In the fifth grade, we each had to write a report on a hero of the Revolutionary War, so I picked Molly Pitcher. Who wouldn't? When Reynolds presented himself, I was compelled to take on the challenge. Why write about someone we already know when there is something new to be learned?!

I worked with lots of primary materials.  Reynolds was kind enough to save what must have been every piece of correspondence he ever received!  (Well, maybe not every one, since the archival material grew exponentially once the Pentecostal Church of the Nazarene was created.) He also kept carbon copies of most of his outgoing correspondence. So, I had an abundance of letters, cables and wires, sermon outlines, schedules, to-do lists, receipts, article manuscripts and photographs to fill in the details. I also had access to personal letters to and from his wife and children. He also left an unpublished memoir written when he was 75 and reflecting, from his perspective, on the life he had led. This was especially crucial in filling in the details of his youth and his years as a Methodist Episcopal minister in Vermont. Together, I was given an unusually well-rounded portrait, written in his own hand. In addition, I had access to holiness newspapers and, from their first issues, of denominational newspapers that followed his travels, printed his columns and editorials, and reported on his work as a General Superintendent and missionary leader. Then there were the minutes of meetings, some handwritten, from a variety of sources including Annual Conferences, General Assemblies, meetings of the Women's Missionary Society,  gatherings of denominational mission leadership (like the General Board of Foreign Missions) and other such groups. For me, the difficulty was not in gathering enough material to piece together a biography. It was sifting through mountains of material, knowing that every choice I made to include one thing meant choosing to exclude others. I tried very conscientiously to chose representative materials that could offer glimpses into much larger volumes of related materials across the breadth of his responsibilities. The incidents, people, concerns, policies and practices that receive the most attention are the ones that Reynolds, himself, spent the most ink and time trying to resolve, create, or manage. Since they dominated weeks, months, or years of his documented time and effort, they became important aspects of this book.

Some folks have gently wondered if I have soft-soaped his story because, when I talk about him, he sounds too good to be true. That always makes me sad. Reynolds was human and he was bold in revealing his own faults and sinfulness to any who would listen to his testimony of God's grace and the joys of living a holy (sanctified) life. Still, during a tumultuous life filled with adventure, illness, and disaster, he strove, day in and day out, to live up to his calling as a minister of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. So far as I could ascertain, once he set off to follow Jesus he never committed adultery, lined his own pockets with church money, cheated anyone he met, or indulged in drinking alcohol, smoking, or gambling. Unhappily, with our societal taste for scandal, we find it hard to believe that an honest biography could present a man of integrity. What a shame that scandals have become so associated with Christianity that a biography is suspect if there are no lurid skeletons being dragged out of the closet. Perhaps this book can offer an alternative to the standard hypocrisy narrative, for I believe it accurately captures a person who embraced the joys of holiness, setting an example we might all do well to follow.