Henrietta Mears

{{Short description|Christian educator and evangelist}}
'''Henrietta Cornelia Mears''' (October 23, 1890 – March 19, 1963) was a [[Christians|Christian]] educator, evangelist, and author who had a significant impact on [[Evangelicalism|evangelical Christianity]] in the 20th century and one of the founders of the National Sunday School Association<ref>Ethel May Baldwin & David V. Benson, Henrietta Mears & How She Did It, (Glendale, California:Regal, Division of G/L Publications, 1966)</ref> Best known as the innovative and dynamic Director of Christian Education at [[First Presbyterian Church of Hollywood (Hollywood, California)|First Presbyterian Church]] of [[Hollywood, California]] and in charge of the college and young adult people<ref>{{Cite web|title = Guest posts {{!}} Kindling {{!}} Page 4|url = https://inkindle.wordpress.com/category/guest-posts/page/4/|website = inkindle.wordpress.com|accessdate = 2015-11-04}}</ref> in the mid-1900s, she built a dedicated, enthusiastic staff, trained and mentored her teachers and implemented a graded, age-appropriate curriculum from “cradle roll” to adults. Henrietta lectured and wrote passionately about Sunday school's power to teach others the Bible.<ref name="Richardson">{{Cite web|title = HENRIETTA MEARS|url = https://lights4god.wordpress.com/2013/10/23/henrietta-mears/|website = Lights 4 God|accessdate = 2015-11-10|first = William E.|last = Richardson| date=23 October 2013 }}</ref> Within two years, Sunday School attendance at Hollywood “Pres” was averaging more than 4,200 per week.<ref>{{Cite web|title = Henrietta Mears {{!}} Wheaton|url = http://www.wheaton.edu/ISAE/Hall-of-Biography/Henrietta-Mears|website = www.wheaton.edu|accessdate = 2015-11-03}}</ref>  She served in leading the Sunday School program from 400 to 6500.<ref>{{Cite web|title = The Henrietta Mears Story — Barbara Hudson Powers|url = http://ccel.us/mears.toc.html|website = ccel.us|accessdate = 2015-11-04}}</ref> Henrietta Mears taught the college age program herself.<ref name="Richardson"/> Henrietta Mears was one of the most influential Christian leaders of the 20th Century. She founded [[Gospel Light]], a publishing company for many of her training materials, [http://www.foresthome.org/aboutfh/henrietta-mears/ Forest Home], a Christian conference center nestled in [[Forest Falls, California]], and {{cite news |title=Gospel Literature Internationals (GLINT) |url=http://www.glint.org/}}, and profoundly impacted the ministries of [[Bill Bright]] and [[Vonette Zachary Bright]] (Campus Crusade), [[Jim Rayburn]] (Young Life) and [[Billy Graham]] ([[Billy Graham Evangelistic Association]]) and [[Louis Evans, Jr.]] who was the organizing pastor of [[Bel Air Church]] (where [[Ronald Reagan]] and many other stars attended)  and led the congregation of the [[National Presbyterian Church]], Washington, D.C.,<ref>{{Cite web|title = The Rev. Louis H. Evans, organizing pastor of Bel Air Presbyterian Church, dies at 82|url = https://www.latimes.com/la-me-evans2-2008nov02-story.html|website = [[Los Angeles Times]]| date=2 November 2008 |accessdate = 2015-11-13}}</ref> with her emphasis on Scripture and a clear Gospel message for young people. Mears is believed by many theologians to have most directly shaped [[Bill Bright]]’s Four Spiritual Laws, which defined modern evangelism in the 20th century.<ref>{{Cite web|title = Forest Home » Our Founder, Henrietta Mears|url = https://www.foresthome.org/aboutfh/henrietta-mears/|website = www.foresthome.org|accessdate = 2015-11-14}}</ref>

She was a gifted educator and was known as "Teacher" by those in her program.<ref>{{cite book |title=Teacher: The Henrietta Mears Story
 |url=http://www.foresthome.org/aboutfh/henrietta-mears/ |author=Marcus Brotherton|publisher=Regal Books |date=2006-10-06 |accessdate=2014-10-29 }}</ref> Her book, {{cite news |title=What the Bible is All About |url=http://www.gospellight.com/templates/ProductOptionsPage.aspx?id=201720}}," has sold over three million copies.<ref>{{cite news |title=Website offers new view of music |url=http://www.foresthome.org/aboutfh/henrietta-mears/ |publisher=Forest Home |date=2008-03-27 |accessdate=2013-10-05 }}</ref>

Literally hundreds of men and women<ref>Baldwin & Benson, p. 142, quoting a letter to her from Dr. Harold John Ockenga, first president of Fuller Seminary in Psadena</ref> came out of her Sunday School program into full-time Christian service, including 1st Presbyterian Hollywood's Louis Evans, Sr.'s son; [[Louis Evans, Jr.|Louis H. Evans, Jr.]] ([[Colleen Townsend|Colleen Townsend Evans]]), who became the organizing pastor of [[Bel Air Presbyterian Church|Bel Air Presbyterian church]];<ref>{{Cite web|title = It's The Life That Wins {{!}} Henrietta Mears|url = http://www.henriettamears.com/its-the-life-that-wins/|website = www.henriettamears.com|accessdate = 2015-11-03}}</ref> [[Bill Bright]] and his wife [[Vonette Zachary Bright]], founder of Campus Crusade for Christ, which lived in and worked out of Henrietta's house for 10 years; [[Billy Graham]]; Reverend [[L. David Cowie]], pastor of [[University Presbyterian Church (Seattle, Washington)|University Presbyterian Church]] in Seattle, Washington, 1948 to 1961; [[Donn Moomaw]], a UCLA All American football player in 1951, who later became [[Ronald Reagan]]'s pastor at [[Bel Air Presbyterian Church]] in Bel Air, California and [[Frederick Dale Bruner]], a biblical scholar best known for his commentaries on Matthew and John.

==Early life==
Henrietta Cornelia Mears was born on October 23, 1890, in Fargo, North Dakota, the seventh child of banker E. Ashley Mears and Baptist laywoman Margaret Burtis Everts, whose father had been an influential Chicago pastor. Already 42 when Henrietta arrived, Margaret died when her youngest daughter was only 20. (An obituary tribute said, "as a Bible teacher she had few equals in the city of Minneapolis").

Henrietta's father, E. Ashley Mears was the President of First Bank of North Dakota and sold mortgages to private investors. At the height of his business, he owned approximately 20 banks.<ref>{{Cite book
| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=Da8XAAAAYAAJ
| title = United States Circuit Courts of Appeals Reports: With Key-number Annotations ... V. 1-171 [1891-1919].
| date = 1903-01-01
| publisher = West
| language = en
}}</ref> Originally wealthy, the Mears family lost most of their money in the Panic of 1893 and re-settled in Minneapolis. Here Henrietta inaugurated her early schooling by announcing that she was bored with kindergarten because it was "to amuse little children, and I'm amused enough. I want to be educated." At seven years old she declared she was ready to become a Christian and joined the First Baptist Church of Minneapolis.

Henrietta was troubled by poor health, contracting muscular rheumatism at age 12. Though the prayers of a family friend brought healing, she suffered from bad eyesight all her life, and her doctors advised her that if she continued her studies (she planned to enroll in the University of Minnesota) she would be blind by age 30. Her response was, "Then blind I shall be—but I want something in my head to think about." She graduated from the University of Minnesota in 1913, still able to see, and began teaching chemistry at rural high schools. In 1915, Henrietta returned to Minneapolis to teach at Central High School and live with her sister. In Minneapolis, Henrietta attended the [[First Baptist Church (Minneapolis)|First Baptist Church]] where she was encouraged to apply educational standards to Sunday School programs. After teaching Sunday School for over a decade,  in 1927, Henrietta took a sabbatical to California. While there she visited First Presbyterian Church Hollywood which had a Sunday School of 450 students.<ref>{{Cite web|title = Henrietta Mears {{!}} Wheaton|url = http://www.wheaton.edu/ISAE/Hall-of-Biography/Henrietta-Mears|website = www.wheaton.edu|accessdate = 2015-11-16}}</ref>

Public education might have remained Henrietta's life work if not for an encounter with Stuart MacLennan, pastor of the First Presbyterian Church of Hollywood, who spoke at the Mears' sisters' church in Minneapolis in the 1920s. In 1927, Henrietta took a sabbatical year to consider whether she should enter Christian work full-time. She and Margaret traveled to California, where the sisters visited Dr. MacLennan's church and Henrietta spoke. Before Henrietta left, MacLennan offered her the Director of Christian Education post, and in 1928, she and Margaret moved to Hollywood.<ref name="Ambitious for God">Henrietta Cornelia Mears was born on October 23, 1890, in Fargo, North Dakota, the seventh child of banker Ashley Mears and Baptist laywoman Margaret Burtis Everts, whose father had been an influential Chicago pastor. Already 42 when Henrietta arrived, Margaret died when her youngest daughter was only 20. (An obituary tribute said, "as a Bible teacher she had few equals in the city of Minneapolis").
Originally wealthy, the Mears family lost most of their money in the Panic of 1893 and re-settled in Minneapolis. Here Henrietta inaugurated her early schooling by announcing that she was bored with kindergarten because it was "to amuse little children, and I'm amused enough. I want to be educated." At seven years old she declared she was ready to become a Christian and joined the First Baptist Church of Minneapolis.
Henrietta was troubled by poor health, contracting muscular rheumatism at age 12. Though the prayers of a family friend brought healing, she suffered from bad eyesight all her life, and her doctors advised her that if she continued her studies (she planned to enroll in the University of Minnesota) she would be blind by age 30. Her response was, "Then blind I shall be—but I want something in my head to think about." She graduated from UM in 1913, still able to see, and began a career as a public school chemistry teacher, establishing a home with her older sister, Margaret.
Public education might have remained Henrietta's life work if not for an encounter with Stuart MacLennan, pastor of the First Presbyterian Church of Hollywood, who spoke at the Mears sisters' church in Minneapolis in the 1920s. In 1927 Henrietta took a sabbatical year to consider whether she should enter Christian work full time. She and Margaret traveled to California, where the sisters visited Dr. MacLennan's church and Henrietta spoke. Before Henrietta left, MacLennan offered her the Director of Christian Education post, and in 1928 she and Margaret moved to Hollywood.</ref>

==Selected works==
* ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=bNJUAAAAYAAJ The Two Creations]''
* '''What the Bible is All About'', Regal Books, 1953 {{ISBN|978-0-8307-4329-2}}
* '''God's Plan'', Regal Books, 2008 {{ISBN|978-0-8307-4562-3}}
* '''Teacher'', Regal Books, 2006 {{ISBN|0-8307-3347-7}}
* {{cite book |last=Mears |first=Henrietta C. |title=Christians on the Move: The Book of Acts: The Continuing Work of Jesus Christ Through the Apostles and the Early Church |publisher=Gospel Light |date=2012}}
* {{cite book |last=Mears |first=Henrietta C. |title=Discover Jesus in the Pages of the Bible: Amazing Facts About the Greatest Person Who Ever Lived |publisher=Gospel Light |date=2013}}
* {{cite book |last=Mears |first=Henrietta C. |title=Founders of Our Faith: Genesis through Deuteronomy: From Creation to the Promised Land |publisher=Gospel Light |date=2011}}
* {{cite book |last=Mears |first=Henrietta C. |title=Sunday School Changes Everything: Your Church's Best Opportunity to Reach the Next Generation for Christ |publisher=Gospel Light |date=2012}}
* {{cite book |last=Mears |first=Henrietta C. |title=The Life of Jesus: Matthew through John: His Life, Death, Resurrection and Ministry |publisher=Gospel Light |date=2011}}
* {{cite book |last=Mears |first=Henrietta C. |title=What the Bible Is All About: Bible Handbook, KJV, rev. ed. |publisher=Gospel Light |date=2011}}

==Notes==
{{reflist}}

==References==
* ''Ambitious for God'', http://www.christianitytoday.com/ch/2006/issue92/5.30.html
* ''Biographical Dictionary of Evangelicals'', https://www.amazon.com/Biographical-Dictionary-Evangelicals-Timothy-Larsen/dp/0851119964 Inter-Varsity Press, Timothy Larsen, editor
* ''Dream Big: The Henrietta Mears Story'', http://www.christianbook.com/dream-big-the-henrietta-mears-story/earl-roe/9780830763870/pd/763870 Regal Books, 1990, Earl Roe, editor
* ''Henrietta Mears'' http://www.kamglobal.org/BiographicalSketches/henriettamears.html
* ''Memorial Service'', http://www.discogs.com/Various-In-Memoriam-Memorial-Service-For-Henrietta-C-Mears/release/2735979
* ''Mother of Modern Evangelicalism: The Life and Legacy of Henrietta Mears'', https://www.christianbook.com/mother-american-evangelicalism-legacy-henrietta-mears/arlin-migliazzo/9780802877925/pd/877922?event=ESRCN Eerdmans Publishing, Arlin C. Migliazzo

{{Billy Graham}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mears, Henrietta}}
[[Category:American evangelicals]]
[[Category:Baptist writers]]
[[Category:Editors of Christian publications]]
[[Category:1890 births]]
[[Category:1963 deaths]]
[[Category:20th-century Baptists]]
[[Category:Writers from Fargo, North Dakota]]