Manie Payne Ferguson

Manie Payne Ferguson (1850 – 8 June 1932) was a pioneer leader in the American Holiness Movement, a Christian evangelist and social worker who co-founded the Peniel Mission, and the author of several hymns, most notably "Blessed Quietness".

Early life

Ferguson was born Manie Payne in 1850 in the town of Carlow in County Carlow, 84 km from Dublin, in the south-east of Ireland. On 7 June 1883, she married Theodore Pollock Ferguson (born January 10, 1853 in Mansfield, Ohio in Richland County, Ohio; died July 12, 1920 in Los Angeles), a former minister in the United Presbyterian Church (Jones, Guide 628; Hunt 285), who had been converted in 1875 in Oberlin, Ohio through the preaching of evangelist Charles Finney(Clark 1949:79). After relocating to Santa Barbara, California in 1879, he was entirely sanctified in a holiness revival meeting in 1880 in California. (Frankiel 106). Initially TP became an itinerant preacher, before moving with Manie to Los Angeles during the boom of 1885-1886. (Frankiel in Holland, 22]

Peniel Mission

Ferguson, along with her husband, Theodore, founded the Los Angeles Mission on November 11, 1886. This was eventually renamed the Peniel Mission. According to Piepkorn, "The name Peniel was chosen from Genesis 32: 24-30, and is meant to connote spiritual triumph." (Piepkorn 27) According to Frankiel, Peniel means "Face of God". (107) From the outset, the Peniel Mission was undenominational and nonsectarian. In 1894, the Fergusons received a significant anonymous financial donation (from former English cricketer George Studd). With this funding the Fergusons were able to plan to expand the ministry of the Peniel Mission. They invited former Methodist presiding elder Dr Phineas Bresee to join them in their endeavour, and constructed a 900 seat auditorium and ministry centre at 227 South Main Street, Los Angeles. It was decided that there would be four superintendents: Theodore and Manie Ferguson, George Studd and Phineas F. Bresee.

On Sunday 21 October 1894 the 900-seat Peniel Hall was dedicated. University of Southern California president Dr. Joseph Pomeroy Widney led the 9.30am Praise Service, while Bresee preached in the 11.00am service "from the text, "And Jacob called the name of the place Peniel: for I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved."(Smith, 40). In the initial issue of the Peniel Herald, it was announced

"Our first work is to try to reach the unchurched. The people from the homes and the street where the light from the churches does not reach, or penetrates but little. Especially to gather the poor to the cross, by bringing to bear upon them Christian sympathy and helpfulness.... It is also our work to preach and teach the gospel of full salvation; to show forth the blessed privilege of believers in Jesus Christ, to be made holy and thus perfect in love." (Smith 40)

As Timothy Smith explains:

Here were holiness and humanitarianism working hand in hand, as in the days of Wesley. And sectarian feeling was rejected: "Peniel Mission is thoroughly evangelical but entirely undenominational," the Herald declared. Its superintendents would welcome help from all "earnest souls . . . who have any time over and above the work in their churches that they desire to give." (Smith 40)

After Bresee and Widney separated from the Peniel Mission in September 1895 to form the Church of the Nazarene, Manie Ferguson provided primary leadership of the Peniel Mission. According to Schwanz,

"Manie Ferguson was more outgoing than Theodore and was the guiding force for the expansion of the ministry. ... Under Manie’s direction, the Peniel Missions sought to provide a ministry for single women. This appears to have been a primary motivation in the growth of the movement. The women usually lived in rented rooms near the rented hall where they conducted evangelistic services. They boldly testified on street corners and in bars and houses of prostitution. All workers were unsalaried, but the local mission paid for most of their expenses. Even the Fergusons were not paid by the mission, but lived on the rental income from three small houses they owned."[1]

According to Sandra Frankiel, "Together with his wife Manie, he offered street-corner meetings in the afternoons and evangelistic services nightly, with a meal afterwards. Their entire work, like that of most of the city holiness missions, was oriented toward soul saving and the promotion of holiness. The mission was not a church, however; converts were supposed to join one of the regular denominations. It was, rather, a holiness revival station spreading the message of Christian perfection." (Frankiel 106-107) "The Peniel Mission used some of the same methods as the Salvation Army, including street-corner meetings followed by parades back to the mission hall."(Taiz 185)

After her husband's death in 1920, “Mother Ferguson” continued to direct the work until her own death on 8 June 1932.[2] In 1947 the Peniel Mission became a part of the present-day World Gospel Mission.[3] In 1998, the West Coast USA Peniel Missions experienced a significant change when the majority of Peniel Missionaries resigned from Peniel Mission and went to work for City Team Ministries leaving the Peniel Mission in Stockton, California the remaining American Peniel Mission affiliated with the World Gospel Mission.

Poet and Hymn Writer

Manie Ferguson wrote many poems and hymns. The song for which she is still remembered is “Blessed Quietness” (“Joys are flowing like a river / Since the Comforter has come”) (1897).[4] Other hymns she wrote include: "That Man of Calvary"[5] and "Christ in the Storm" (1904).[6]

Writings

Sources and Further Reading

Notes

  1. 1 2 Wesleyan/Holiness Women Clergy at www.whwomenclergy.org
  2. ↑ "CO-FOUNDER OF PENIEL MISSIONS DIES OF ILLNESS", Los Angeles Times (9 June 1932):a16.
  3. ↑ Nineteenth Century Holiness at www.novelguide.com
  4. ↑ Blessèd Quietness at The Cyber Hymnal
  5. ↑ That Man of Calvary at The Cyber Hymnal
  6. ↑ Christ in the Storm at The Cyber Hymnal
  7. ↑ California's Spiritual Frontiers at ark.cdlib.org
  8. ↑ http://www.prolades.com/glama/la5co07/overview_1850-1930.pdf

External links

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