VALLEY FORGE, PA (ABNS 9/5/06)-Arley Richard Brown, former missionary to Congo/Zaire, died August 8, 2006, at the Health Services Center at Pilgrim Place in Claremont, CA. He was 80 years of age.
Arley R. Brown was born on May 15, 1926, in Vanga, Congo of missionary parents, The Rev. and Mrs. Lewis A. Brown. He received his B.A. degree in 1948 from Pasadena College and his B.D. degree in 1951 from Berkeley Baptist Divinity School. Ordained by the First Baptist Church of Sioux City, Iowa, on April 16, 1952, he was an assistant pastor and served in the Navy for two years. He was married to Ruth Esther Dietz on June 2, 1951 in Berkeley, California.
The Reverend Arley Richard and Ruth Dietz Brown were appointed by the American Baptist Foreign Mission Society on January 22, 1952. They served for over forty years in Zaire, with two interruptions in 1960-61 and 1991-92, at which times they were evacuated because of the political changes and upheaval taking place in the republic.
Ruth and Arley served in a variety of ways in Zaire. Arley supervised church planting, development and regional schools in Kinshasa, Kikongo, and Boko. In 1961 he worked in Kimpese at the interdenominational Ecole de Pasteurs et d'Instituteurs (School for Pastors and Teachers). In 1965, while stationed in Leopoldville, he assumed the responsibilities as acting field secretary for one year. He also worked in Nsona Mpangu in the secondary school and in Busala with the churches in visitation into the many villages.
In 1979, after eight years of teaching at the Baptist High School in Milundu, he coordinated a program of Theological Education by Extension (TEE). At that time, this was a new way of training all kinds of Christian leaders without sending them away to school. At TEE he developed teaching materials and organized pastors as teachers of village church leaders. They blended together education, evangelism, literacy training, writing/translating, and Christian Nurture. In 1992 they retired from being missionaries.
Upon returning to the states, they resided in Santa Cruz, California, where he was Docent at the Wilder Ranch State Park. Later they moved to Claremont, California, where he enjoyed studying native plants and hiking foothill trails.
Arley, is survived by his wife of 55 years, Ruth, by their three daughters, Miriam F. Noyes (a missionary with IM serving at Vanga/Lusekele in the Democratic Republic of the Congo with her husband, Ed Noyes), Evelyn Mayes (a graphic artist in Spring, Texas), and Rita Chapman (an IM missionary to the Democratic Republic of the Congo with her husband, Glen Chapman, presently on U.S./Puerto Rican assignment), by five grandchildren--Mark and Rebecca Noyes, Marcie, Timothy, and Elaina Chapman, and by two brothers, the Rev. Stanley A. Brown, retired American Baptist pastor, and Dr. Wesley H. Brown, former IM missionary.
A Memorial Service was held in Decker Hall, at Pilgrim Place, 660 Avery Road, Claremont, CA 91711, on Saturday, August 26, at 3:30 p.m. Memorial gifts may be sent to International Ministries, ABC/USA, Box 851, Valley Forge, PA 19482-0851, and designated for Theological Education by Extension in Congo. Messages of condolence can be sent to Ruth E. Brown, 619 Leyden Lane, Claremont, CA 91711.
Andrew C. Jayne American Baptist Churches, USA Mission Resource Development http://www.abc-usa.org/