Frank R. Birch
Feb. 1919-Jan. 1922; Oct. 1922-Jan. 1926; Aug. 1929-Nov. 1932; Dec. 1933-Jan. 1937; June 1938-1943. Foreign Missionary Secretary 1943-1959.
Only a sixteen-year-old boy was saved during a six-week tent meeting adjacent to the Solon Center, Michigan, Wesleyan Methodist Church. The consensus of opinion at that time was that not much had been accomplished. Looking back, one would have to revise that estimation for the boy was Frank R. Birch.
When Frank and Zola Birch went to Sierra Leone in 1919 one of their first tasks was to begin the work at Kamakwie. With great diplomacy they laid the foundation for future development. His love and concern for individuals is reflected in the following incidents related to Lois Sheridan by two Sierra Leoneans.
Mono Birch: "In the establishment of the mission here by Pa Birch there was much opposition, especially by the Moslems. Some of the sub-chiefs were favorable while others were not. One of the sub-chiefs was Alimamy Kondeh, a very powerful woman ruler. One day she came to Pa Birch with a severe toothache. Her face was swollen and everyone was feeling very sorry for her. Pa Birch told her that he could pull the tooth. She said to do as he liked as the pain was more than she could bear. He pulled the tooth, gave her some medicine and in a short time she was well. This incident so impressed her that she began to influence many people to favor the mission. That year she went to Kamabai to conference and presented a big cow to express her thanks to the mission and to Pa Birch for his work in the Sella Limba chiefdom."
Buremah Turay: "My uncle had taken me to Kamakwie for medicine because of my big sores. I will never forget my first meeting with the Birches. He was the very first missionary I ever saw and I was afraid. I was a dirty little boy with only ragged clothing. Mrs. Birch took a fine clean pan, put water in it, then she took white pieces of cloth and washed my dirty sores. She then put on medicine and bandaged them. I stayed near the Birches for over one year before my sores began to heal.
When the other workers went home at night, Pa Birch began to teach me to read. While we were sitting together he used to talk to me. He said, 'One day this little village of Kamakwie will be a big town. If the railroad does not come here a motor road will. There will be a big church. There will be a dispensary. People everywhere will know this town.’ Everything Pa Birch told me came true. (Kamakwie now consists of more than 500 houses, 3 primary schools of over 1200 boys and girls, a secondary school of 270 students, a hospital of 55 beds which ministered to 121,833 patients last year. It is a busy crossroads town with people traveling in all directions.) "
Pa Birch had a keen interest in teachers, students, laymen and former mission preachers. Incidents concerning that love are vivid. "It seemed that every time we went anywhere, " Ione Driscal recalls, "we would be delayed because he would say, ‘Oh, I think Alimami, or Nindawa, or Yenaba works here. Let me see.' So, we would wait, perhaps a bit impatiently, but when we would see the joy of Alimami, Yenaba or whoever, we would know the time was well spent. He also realized the need of missionaries to have recreation and relaxation from the pressures of the work. He encouraged birthday parties with all missionaries invited."
Pa Birch had a vast understanding of the native mind and law. Chiefs consulted him about tribal control. Even though he was not an M.D., to many Sierra Leoneans, he. was "doctor." They would walk miles to reach him, sometimes going right past government hospitals. His ability to speak their language, to almost "think black," his personal interest, and the knowledge that he prayed, gave confidence to many.
When he became foreign missionary secretary, he brought to that office a vast wisdom of missionary "know-how" and a sympathetic understanding of missionary problems and needs. His genuine love for the Africans expanded. to include national Christians in every land he visited. The same Christian love manifested itself in his administrative contacts and in his business and. church life.
When he came to office there were four Wesleyan fields and 30 missionaries. Upon his retirement 16 years later 110 missionaries served in 11 countries. On March 26, 1966 he went to be with the Lord.
Rev. Dayton A. Manker, who knew Dr. Birch for more than 40 years, expresses admiration that was felt by many who knew him and worked with him. "He was a radiant personality, warm-hearted and cordial in his associations and enthusiastic in this work. To have known him is to have been enriched, and to be nudged along a bit in one's own reach for the good things of the kingdom."
