Shelly, Andrew R. (1913-2001)

Mennonite Weekly Review obituary: 2001 Nov 22 p. 3

Birth date: 1913 Jan 13

Text of obituary:

GC mission leader, pastor dies at 88

NEWTON, Kan. — Andrew R. Shelly, a longtime pastor and conference worker in the General Conference Mennonite Church, died Nov. 18 at the age of 88.

Shelly was executive secretary of the GC Board of Missions (later the Commission on Overseas Mission) from 1960 to 1971. During his time in office, the GC mission team grew to a peak of more than 200 workers in foreign and North American fields.

He presented thousands of sermons as a guest speaker in congregations, conferences and retreats around the world.

In the 1940s and '50s he was a fund-raiser for Mennonite Biblical Seminary, then located in Chicago. For more than a decade he represented the seminary's work in hundreds of churches.

He was the principal fund-raiser for the new campus built by the seminary at Elkhart, Ind., and moved with the seminary to the new location in 1958. He also frequently taught classes at the seminary.

Shelly was a prolific writer of newspaper and magazine articles, most frequently in Mennonite Weekly Review, Mennonite Life and missions publications. In addition to missions, frequent topics in his writings included stewardship, Bible distribution, alcohol, abortion and world hunger.

"He had a heart for urban ministry, to which I also felt called, at a time when the city wasn't a high priority for Mennonites," said Leland Harder of North Newton, a pastor and church worker who met Shelly when Harder was a student at Mennonite Biblical Seminary from 1950 to 1952. "He was so totally dedicated to the cause. We loved him for that."

Shelly was born Jan. 13, 1913, to Elwood S. and Katie (Rickert) Shelly in Pennsburg, Pa., where he lived until moving to Philadelphia at age 21 to study at Philadelphia College of the Bible and serve as assistant superintendent of Philadelphia Gospel Mission.

After graduation, he began studies at Bluffton (Ohio) College. During this time he also became part-time pastor of Napier (Pa.) Mennonite Church (now Tulls Hill Bible Church).

A 1939 graduate of Bluffton, he completed seminary education at Hartford (Conn.) Theological Seminary. His first full-time pastorate was at Stirling Avenue Mennonite Church in Kitchener, Ont.

In 1947 the congregation released him part-time to do fund-raising for the new and financially struggling Mennonite Biblical Seminary. He began serving full-time with the seminary in 1951.

On June 28, 1952, he married Viola R. Lehman in Berne, Ind.

During these years he served, among others, on the GC committee on the ministry, film committee, church unity committee and missions committee.

In 1960 he became executive secretary of the GC Board of Missions in Newton.

In the 1970s and '80s, he returned to pastoral ministry, serving Hopefield Mennonite Church of Moundridge, First Mennonite Church of Newton and Emmaus Mennonite Church of Whitewater. He also took on part-time fund-raising responsibilities for Germantown (Pa.) Mennonite Church Corporation and the Haggai Institute of Atlanta.

In 1992 he became a quadriplegic in an automobile accident and in later years became blind and bedfast. Yet to the end he maintained a keen interest in the work of the church and its mission.

He is survived by his wife, Viola; a son, David, a schoolteacher in Wichita; and a daughter, Linda of Newton, who has served with Mennonite Central Committee in Latin America and at Akron, Pa.; and a sister, Margaret Weaver of Bluffton. He was preceded in death by a brother, Paul, and a sister, Kathryn.

Services will be held at 2 p. m. Nov. 24 at First Mennonite Church of Newton. Burial will be in Greenwood Cemetery.