Dedicated to the Memory of Mary Elizabeth Baker
Written by Administrator Thursday, 22 March 2007 13:28
On March 29, 1946, missionary Mary Baker left the comforts of her home in Richmond, Virginia, and the company of her friends at Immanuel Baptist Church to invest her life in what was then known as the Belgian Congo. Though the task was hard for this single lady, she persevered knowing that Christ was by her side. She took encouragement from the words of Matthew 28, “I am with you always.” She wrote in her journal:
Across sea and land,
Across forest, raging streams, swollen rivers,
Over hot, dusty roads,
He is with me.
… Even in failures, Christ has been with me.
Mary Baker would need His presence. After independence was granted to the Congo in 1960, civil unrest left the country in turmoil. Though many missionaries chose to leave, Mary remained firm in her calling. Hardships ensued but Mary did not flinch in her devotion or duty. She, along with Margaret Hayes, a nurse from Great Britain, was arrested by rebel forces on November 3, 1964. Eventually, Miss Hayes was released, but Mary was kept under guard. On November 24, 1964, along the banks of a river near Banalia, Mary gave her life for the sake of the Gospel. Only a few days earlier Mary wrote these words to her friends:
“The Word of God has become very precious these days – like the voice of the tender Shepherd speaking directly now in our need. You are all constantly in my heart, and we pray for you individually and together. I know that each of you has suffered – if not physically, there have been the mental strains in Stan [i.e. the nearby town of Stanleyville] that I’m sure have been terrific, and my little bouts with the whole situation have been very easy to bear comparatively; I only tell you of them that you might know how it has been. As I said to B.M. the other day, with me, it was settled long ago, ‘by life or by death’ and there it rests!” (quoted in Marvin Newell’s A Martyr’s Grace, p. 123).
In 1965 Immanuel Baptist Church purchased a house on Park Avenue to serve as a residence for missionaries on home assignment. On February 20, 1966, the home was dedicated to the memory of Mary Elizabeth Baker. In June 1996 we completed a beautiful renovation of that facility. A memorial in Mary’s honor stands in our foyer by the piano.
A brochure prepared by Bill and Elaine Allen sketching the life of Mary Baker opens with these words …
“The name of Mary Baker rightly stands alongside other great missionary pioneers of this century. With a heart dedicated to the task of spreading the Gospel of Jesus Christ, this choice servant of God … gladly took the message of the cross to those who were lost in sin.”
She left for the field 61 years ago this week, and she has left behind a model of courage and grace.
-- Sparky