Waldo Penner

Waldo Penner[9] (1919[1] - 2006[1]) was a Baptist missionary[10] who served in India[5] from 1946 through 1981[6] as a team member of the Canadian Baptist Ministries.[5] Penner was born in Secunderabad[1] in India where his parents were missionaries of the American Baptist Mission.[5]

The Reverend Doctor

Waldo Penner, CBM

D. D. (Honoris causa)
Born
Waldo Penner

(1919-10-03)3 October 1919[1]
Secunderabad,[1] India
Died5 May 2006(2006-05-05) (aged 86)[1]
St. Catharines,[1] Canada
NationalityCanadian
Education
Alma mater
Occupation(s)Ecclesiastical Administrator and Pastor
Years active1946[4]-1981[6] in India
Parent(s)Anna and John Penner[1]
ReligionChristianity
ChurchCanadian Baptist Ministries
Ordained1945[7]
Offices held
Principal, Baptist Theological Seminary, Kakinada, (1958–1964)[8]
TitleThe Reverend

Studies

For collegiate studies, Penner studied at the McMaster University,[11] Hamilton for the graduate degrees of B.A. and B.D.. Penner also studied for a postgraduate course leading to M.Th. at the Berkeley Baptist Divinity School (renamed as the American Baptist Seminary of the West), Berkeley.

Ecclesiastical ministry

After Penner's ordination in 1945,[7] he volunteered for missionary service in India and stayed on in the country for more than 35 years.

Ecumenical initiatives

In 1958 when A. B. Masilamani stepped down as Principal of the Baptist Theological Seminary, Kakinada, the Seminary Council appointed Waldo Penner to take on the Principalship of the Seminary. It was during this period that ecumenical conversations were building up for the formation of a unified Seminary in the state of Andhra Pradesh (Telangana included). Penner, together with his companion, A. B. Masilamani[12] were in the forefront[12] of the ecumenical conversations leading to the formation of the Andhra Christian Theological College, Rajahmundry in 1964 together with the Anglicans, Congregationalists, Lutherans, the Methodists and the Wesleyans.

On the formation of the ecumenical seminary in 1964 in Rajahmundry, Penner relocated from Kakinada to Rajahmundry[13] and joined the faculty of the newly formed ecumenical seminary and taught Systematic theology till 1971-1972 when the college shifted in its entirety to Hyderabad in Telangana. Meanwhile, the Seminary Council appointed Victor Hahn in place of Waldo Penner at the Baptist Theological Seminary, Kakinada. As for his companion, A. B. Masilamani, he had already moved to the Bible Society of India Andhra Pradesh Auxiliary, and like Penner was ministering in an ecumenical setting.

Development initiatives

When the 1977 Andhra Pradesh cyclone struck the coast of Krishna district along the Bay of Bengal, thousands of lives were lost. As part of the relief and rebuilding efforts, the Canadian Baptist Ministries also lent its hand and its work was supervised[14] by Waldo Penner.

Honours

In 1982,[1] the McMaster University, Hamilton conferred upon[1] Penner the degree of Doctor of Divinity by honoris causa.[1]

References
  1. Mennonite Brethren Herald, Volume 45, Number 10, August 11, 2006
  2. Year Book of the Baptist Convention of Ontario and Quebec, Baptist Convention of Ontario and Quebec, 1987, pp.115, 361.
  3. Baptist Yearbook 1959, Baptist Convention of Ontario and Quebec, 1959, pp.168, 250, 262.
  4. W. G. Carder, Hand to the Indian Plow: Volume One, Carder, Hyderabad, 1976, Appendix II, p.15.
  5. Peter Penner, Russians, North Americans, and Telugus: The Mennonite Brethren Mission in India, 1885-1975, Kindred, Winnipeg and Hillsboro, 1997, pp.95, 105-106.
  6. Yearbook 1991, Baptist Union of Western Canada, 1991, p.401
  7. Directory of Churches, Alphabetic by City, Church, Baptist Convention of Ontario and Quebec, 1992, p.72.
  8. C. L. Johnson (Edited), Canadian Baptist Mission 125 year's Jubilee Celebrations of Baptist Churches in Northern Circars, Baptist Theological Seminary, Kakinada, 1999, p.217-219.
  9. 2001 Annual Reports of the Baptist Convention of Ontario and Quebec, The Convention, 2001, p.71.
  10. John Frederick Keith, The First Few Wars are the Worst: His Grace Has No Measure, Canadian Baptist Ministries, 1998, p.99.
  11. The Ottawa Journal from Ottawa, 30 November 1942, p.16
  12. Indian Church History Review, Volume 13, Church History Association of India, 1979, pp.79, 80.
  13. John Greenfield Leonard, Kandukūri Vīrēśalingam, 1848-1919: A Biography of an Indian Social Reformer, Telugu University, Hyderabad, 1991, pp.277, 306.
  14. Jarold Knox Zeman, Baptists in Canada: search for identity amidst diversity, Acadia Divinity College, G.R. Welch, 1980, p.188.
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