wfn.org | ABCUSA: WILLIAM HINCHMAN, RETIRED MISSIONARY, DIES

[RICH.SCHRAMM@ecunet.org]

AMERICAN BAPTIST NEWS SERVICE 
Office of Communication  
American Baptist Churches USA 
P.O. Box 851, Valley Forge, PA 19482-0851 
Phone: (610)768-2077 / Fax: (610)768-2320 
Web: www.abc-usa.org
Richard W. Schramm, Director 
 E-mail: richard.schramm@abc-usa.org

WILLIAM HINCHMAN, FORMER MISSIONARY IN JAPAN, DIES
 The Rev. William L. Hinchman, retired American 
Baptist International Ministries missionary in Japan, 
died Oct. 7 in Phoenix, Ariz.  He was 79.  
 Hinchman was appointed as a missionary to Japan 
in 1947 by the American Baptist Foreign Mission Society.  
The following year he married Nadine Lee, who also was 
commissioned in 1948. 
 Hinchman served for 13 years as secretary of the 
Japan Mission.  He was involved in the ministry of  the 
Christian Center in Fukagawa, completed in 1952, which 
provided opportunities to reach laboring people who had 
little contact with Christianity.   Hinchman was active on 
numerous boards and committees, including the Board of 
Trustees of the Theological College of Kanto Gakuin 
University, where he later became chancellor.   He 
regularly preached at local churches and taught English 
and Bible classes at the Mead Christian Center.  
 Through the Hinchmans' work numerous new 
churches were formed, such as the Nishi Okamoto Church 
in Kobe and the Tokyo Peace Church, where he was 
pastor for many years. 
 Bill and Nadine Hinchman retired in 1993 after 
serving 44 years as missionaries in Japan.
 The Hinchmans were members of First Baptist 
Church, Phoenix, Ariz.  Bill Hinchman also preached for the 
Japanese language services at the Japanese Free 
Methodist Church in Phoenix and spoke occasionally at the 
Orangewood Retirement Center. 
 A memorial service was held at First Baptist 
Church in Phoenix on Oct. 9. 

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