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Stoesz, Samuel J. (1922-2011)

  • Person
  • 30 January 1922-12 October 2011

Samuel J. Stoesz was born in Mountain Lake, Minnesota on January 30, 1922, and spent his childhood on the family farm there. While attending St. Paul Bible Institute (Crown College) he met and married Wanda Manee in 1945. Sam pastored and started a number of Christian and Missionary Alliance churches in several states. He also taught and prepared students for pastoral and full time Christian ministries at Nyack College, New York; and Canadian Bible College (CBC), Regina, Saskatchewan. In 1970, while at CBC, he co-founded Canadian Theological Seminary (now Ambrose Seminary, which is part of Ambrose University in Calgary, Alberta). He wrote several books, notably All for Jesus (principal author), Life is For Growth, and Sanctification: An Alliance Distinctive. Stoesz passed away peacefully on Wednesday, October 12, 2011 at Shell Point, Ft. Myers, Florida, where he spent his retirement years He was predeceased by his wife Wanda in 1986, and by his second wife May Carlson in 2005.

From obituary in Regina Leader Post

Tozer, A. W. (Aiden Wilson) 1897-1963

  • Person
  • 21 April 1897-13 May 1963

A. W. (Aiden Wilson) Tozer is perhaps the most widely-known and influential member of the Christian and Missionary Alliance (C&MA). He was born on 21 April 1897 in La Jose (now Newburg) Pa., and died in Toronto, Ont. on 13 May 1963. He was ordained as a minister in the C&MA in 1920 and served pastorates in Toledo, Oh. (1921-23); Indianapolis, Ind. (1923-1928); Chicago, Ill (1928-1959); and Toronto, Ont. (1959-1963). He also served as vice-president of the C&MA (1946-1950) and, most significantly, as editor of the denomination’s official organ The Alliance Weekly (1950-1957) and its successor The Alliance Witness (1958-1963).

Tozer was a convinced evangelical and a staunch supporter of the ideals of the C&MA. His first book, Wingspread: Albert B. Simpson, a Study in Spiritual Altitude (Harrisburg, Ps.: Christian Publications, 1943) was a spiritual biography of the founder of the Alliance. Although loyal to the Alliance, Tozer had an ecumenical spirit. He felt a sense of spiritual community with all true Christians, regardless of their denominational affiliation.

Regarded by many of his admirers as a prophet, Tozer exerted an influence that extended beyond evangelicalism and beyond North America through his insightful books and editorials on the spiritual life. His writings reveal a mystical approach to the Christian life that was founded on his love of the Christian spiritual classics. He was in great demand as a speaker, and during the 1950’s many of his sermons were broadcast over Chicago’s WMBI radio. Tozer wrote nine books during his lifetime, the most influential of which were The Pursuit of God (1948) and The Knowledge of the Holy (1961). An additional twenty volumes of his sermons and editorials have been published since his death. For further biographical information see Fant, David J. A. W. Tozer: A Twentieth Century Prophet (Harrisburg, Pa.: Christian Publications, 1964).

Wiens, Evelyn R. (Evelyn Ruth) 1943-1998

  • Person
  • 12 November 1943-11 September 1998

Evelyn Ruth Wiens served as a missionary for the International Church of the Nazarene in South Africa (1970-1981) and Papua New Guinea (1987-1994). She was born November 12th 1943 and died on September 11th 1998. She received a Bachelor of Theology degree from Canadian Nazarene College in Winnipeg, Manitoba, in 1965 and went on to graduate from the Royal Alexandra Hospital School of Nursing in 1968 with an R.N. degree.
Before beginning her missionary work Wiens worked as a nurse in Alberta with a First Nations community from 1968-1970, in order to fulfill requirements for the grant that covered her training expenses. After finishing that work, she applied to the World Mission Division of the Church of the Nazarene to work as a missionary nurse and was appointed to a position in Acornhoek, E. Transvaal, in the Republic of South Africa. She served in South Africa from 1970 until September of 1981, when mental health issues resulted in a doctor and the mission board recommending that she take a medical leave of absence. She returned home to Canada, where she stayed with her family. In 1982, after several episodes of distorted thinking and actions, she requested to be hospitalized.
In 1987, confident that God had healed her schizophrenia, Wiens reapplied to the Board of World Missions to be reappointed as a missionary nurse. After some deliberation, the board decided that the severity of her previous breakdown was due to extenuating circumstances and that she was healthy enough to serve again. She was appointed to a position in Papua New Guinea, where she helped to train nurses and establish a community based health care program. She served there until 1994, when she suffered a major seizure, which resulted in significant brain damage.
After hospitalization she was sent home to Canada, where she was placed in a rehabilitation program for brain damage in the Chedoke-McMaster Hospital in Hamilton. She was honored with a Distinguished Service award from Oakville Church of the Nazarene in 1996 for her work in missions. She passed away on September 11th 1998 of a brain seizure caused by her pre-existing brain damage.

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