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Shank, David A. (1924-2010)
Mennonite Weekly Review obituary: 2010 Nov 8 p. 10
Birth date: 1924 Oct 7
text of obituary:
By Mennonite Mission Network staff
GOSHEN, Ind. — David A. Shank, a mission worker in Europe and West Africa and professor at Goshen College, died Oct. 20 at his home. He was 86.
Shank and his wife, Wilma, served with Mennonite Board of Missions in Belgium from 1950 to 1973 and in West Africa from 1979 to 1989.shank was a pioneer in biblical and theological training in Benin, wrote Ernest Oueounou, president of one of the major councils of churches in Benin, in a condolence letter addressed to Shank's family and to Mennonite Church USA.
"Through Dr. Shank's fervor and love for God's work, he brought together Christ's body in Benin around God's word," Oueounou wrote.
In 1983, Shank taught the first ecumenical Bible training seminar in Benin at the invitation for a council that brought together all non-Catholic churches in the country.
This seminar was the seed that gave birth to Benin Bible Institute, where thousands of West African church leaders from more than 70 denominations have been trained.
James R. Krabill, Mennonite Mission Network's senior executive for global ministries, served in Côte d’Ivoire with the Shanks and recently published a book of David Shank's writings, titled Mission from the Margins: Selected Writings from the Life and Ministry of David A. Shank.
Krabill and the Shanks were models of how to take cultural context seriously when engaging in ministry.
David A. Shank was born Oct. 7, 1924, in Orrville, Ohio, the sixth child of Charles L. and Crissie (Yoder) Shank. During World War II he served three years with Civilian Public Service, working in soil conservation and mental health.
In 1948 he graduated from Goshen College with a bachelor's degree in sociology and married Wilma E. Hollopeter, from Sharon Center, Ohio.
After studying at Goshen Biblical Seminary, he was ordained in 1950 for ministry in Belgium.
There they provided emergency relief and care for war orphans, ministered to immigrants, started the first Mennonite church in Belgium after a hiatus of nearly 350 years, and created the Brussels Mennonite Center.
In 1955-56 he earned a master of divinity degree from Eastern Baptist Seminary.
When Congo gained independence from Belgium in 1960, the Shanks began to work toward relationship-building with African-Initiated Churches.
Shank spent 1973 to 1976 at Goshen College as associate professor of relgion and philosophy and campus minister. He also helped found Assembly Mennonite Church in Goshen.
He received a doctorate from the University of Aberdeen in Scotland in 1983.
After serving in West Africa, the Shanks retired, first in Michigan and then at Greencroft retirement community in Goshen. He continued translating, teaching and writing.
Shank died just weeks after he and Wilma were honored with the Goshen College Culture for Service Award.
He is survived by his wife, Wilma, of Goshen, four children, Michael and his wife, Carol Troyer, of Madison, Wis., Stephen and his wife, Jean Gerber of Brussels, Belgium, Crissie J. Buckwalter and her husband, Tim, of Hyattsville, Md., and Rachel Shenk and her husband, Jim, of Goshen; nine grandchildren; two great-grandhildren; and two sisters, Mary Lehman and Lois Musselman, both of Goshen.
