Partner in ministry cited for commitment to lifelong call
Elaine Fletcher thanks her parents for giving her the opportunity they never had—to study at the Australasian Missionary College. She describes the experience as “a maturing and the opening of a door to a wider world. The lecturers of the day did give us a greater vision of world needs.” The friendships she made included a husband of 57 years, evangelist Pr Austin Fletcher.
The Lady Bible Workers Course proved a good preparation for life as a minister’s wife. The Fletchers served the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and at Avondale. Elaine knew marrying “not a minister but a man who is a minister” would mean a “busy, often lonely” life. “Our aim in ministry was to do a faithful work whether in city or country, large or small.”
Amid the unsettledness and the raising of four children, Fletcher would parlay her love of reading into the publication by the Review and Herald of two books. Elisha the Miracle Prophet preceded Farel the Firebrand, a biography of French–Swiss Reformation evangelist William Farel. She also wrote a chapter on public evangelism for a book about the history of the church in the South Pacific. Bookcases have now replaced Fletcher’s looms and yarns—hand weaving is a former hobby.
Sharing with Austin a love of the Scriptures no doubt helped Elaine become the New South Wales champion in a Bible Society quiz. “I have the plaque. The runner-up was happy to use the two travel tickets.”
The class of 1949 honours Elaine Fletcher for her commitment to the lifelong call of ministry.
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