Epp, Jacob H. (1911-1993)

Mennonite Weekly Review obituary: 18 Feb 1993 p. 7

Birth date: 1911

text of obituary:

MB Pioneer Educator and Mission Leader Dies at 82

HILLSBORO, Kan. — Jacob H. Epp, Mennonite Brethren pioneer educator, mission leader, and churchman, died Jan. 12. He was 82.

Epp, of Saskatoon, Sask., had inoperable pancreatic cancer and was visiting a daughter in Hillsboro when he died.

Epp graduated from Bethany Bible Institute in Hepburn, Sask., and then taught there during the later 1930s.

He married Alvena Kruger in 1939. They planned to go to Japan as missionaries, but World War II ended that hope. While waiting for an open door for missions, Epp accepted another invitation to teach at Bethany in 1944. Though he anticipated a brief stint, he became principal in 1945 and held that position for 19 years. He usually combined administration with a full teaching load.

He served on the Board of Missions from 1954 to 1960. These were years of sometimes turbulent change, as the MB churches in India and the Belgian Congo emerged from colonial patterns. He also served for 10 years as chairman of the Canada Inland Mission, an organization dedicated to reaching Jews, Russians, Japanese and American Indians.

In 1964 he joined MB Missions/Services in Hillsboro as Secretary for Asia, Africa and Europe, serving 11 years in that capacity. He visited all the countries under his supervision, counseling missionaries and guiding relationships with maturing national conferences.

At age 65, the Epps went to Linz, Austria, with MB M/S to teach and direct a new Bible school. They returned four years later to Saskatchewan. After interim pastoral ministries in Ontario, Kansas and Saskatchewan, Alvena Epp died in 1981.

Epp was dean of students of the Graduate School of Missions, Komtal, Germany, from 1984 to 1987 and interim pastor of the Lustre (Mont.) MB Church for a year. He continued to preach and teach until shortly before his death.

He once challenged his students, “That which we profess to believe . . . magnifies God. We believe in God’s infallible Word, therefore we should trust it unreservedly. We believe in a full salvation, therefore we should demonstrate it in a life of victory. We believe in a god of love, therefore we should love one another.”