MILDREN, Arthur Henry 1891 - 1950

Obituary from the Minutes of the Methodist Conference 1950, page 144

Born at Burnley, Lancashire, in 1891. After serving for two years as a lay pastor in the Barnard Castle Circuit, Durham, he was accepted for the Ministry of the Wesleyan Methodist Church, and entered Headingley College in 1915.

During his first year there he enlisted in the army, and from 1916 to 1919 served abroad. He completed his training at Didsbury College, and in 1921 was sent to the Gold Coast, where he laboured in Ashanti.

Returning to England in June 1923 he married, and, with. Mrs. Mildren, went back again to the Gold Coast inM September, where he remained until 1935, serving in Ashanti in circuit work and as ‘     Secretary of the Synod. He had a gift for mastering detail in order that thereafter the detail might be the servant of his spiritual ministration to others.

In West Africa he studied building construction, motor mechanics, and above all, the microscope. He became an expert in making blood-tests, and his medical work formed as natural a part of his ministry as his preaching. Village catechists still remember him for his patience and understanding.

He returned to this country in 1935, where he served successively in South Petherton, Exeter, Wellington, and in the Devon and Dorset Mission.

Again his native genius for administration won the admiration of his colleagues and the gratitude of his circuits. His services as Secretary to the Exeter District Synod were characterized by an amazing knowledge of District

affairs, and by a sound, impartial judgement.

He was an able preacher, a diligent pastor, a friend, and a brother. His personal life was beyond reproach: he had found the spring of all true life in God.

After a very brief illness he passed suddenly, yet quietly, home on 14th March 1950, in his fifty-ninth year and in the thirty-second year of his ministry.

©Trustees for Methodist Church Purposes 1950

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