What’s in a Name?
At my birth in 1941 my parents named me after my maternal great, great, grandfather, the Reverend Daniel Lindley. Reverend Lindley, along with his bride, Lucy, of just two weeks, was sent to Africa as missionaries to the Zulus in 1832 by the American Board of Commissioners of Foreign Missions (ABCFM). In 1941 my parents, staunch New England Episcopalians, knew nothing of the ABCFM, or that it would evolve into Global Ministries of the United Church of Christ (UCC) and the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) (DOC).
At my birth in 1941 my parents named me after my maternal great, great, grandfather, the Reverend Daniel Lindley. Reverend Lindley, along with his bride, Lucy, of just two weeks, was sent to Africa as missionaries to the Zulus in 1834 by the American Board of Commissioners of Foreign Missions (ABCFM). In 1941 my parents, staunch New England Episcopalians, knew nothing of the ABCFM, or that it would evolve into Global Ministries of the United Church of Christ (UCC) and the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) (DOC).
My parents had no idea that it was Henry Opukahai’a, a native Hawaiian, who was instrumental in the ABCFM sending its first missionaries to Hawaii. My parents had no idea that I would become a UCC minister ordained in Hawaii in 1986 and that I would work in semi-retirement this past year as the Interim Executive Director for the Henry Opukahai’a Center—the lay educational institution of the Hawaii Conference, UCC. Nor did my parents, both deceased, know that I would be connected to the national setting of the UCC as Hawaii’s representative to the Board of Directors of the UCC Justice and Witness Ministries.
My parents didn’t know and I didn’t know that a chance invitation of a friend to join him on a trip to South Africa would lead me to discover that, with the vision of Lucy Lindley, 140 years ago Reverend Daniel Lindley had established the Inanda Seminary, a school for Zulu girls, an active partner of Global Ministries of the UCC and DOC. My parents didn’t know, I didn’t know, but God knew! By the grace of God I will be present at the 140th Anniversary Celebration on March 7, 2009, as a descendant of Daniel Lindley, and a representative of the United Church of Christ!
In celebration of these graced events, I would like to present to Inanda Seminary a scholarship fund in honor of the ministry, vision, and mission of Lucy and Daniel Lindley and have worked with Global Ministries to set up the Lucy and Daniel Lindley Scholarship Fund in order to provide scholarship support for the girls and young women attending Inanda Seminary today.
I invite you to join with me in this effort. You can learn more about Inanda Seminary at www.globalministries.org and www.inanda.org . Donations to the Lucy and Daniel Lindley Scholarship Fund can be made by check to Wider Church Ministries, clearly indicating in the lower left corner “South Africa Inanda Lucy and Daniel Lindley Scholarship Fund.” Send your check to Global Ministries, Attn: Treasurer,
700 Prospect Avenue, Cleveland, Ohio44115-1100 . One hundred percent of all gifts will go to the Scholarship Fund and are tax deductible. Administrative expenses and bank transfer fees are covered by Our Church’s Wider Mission (OCWM) giving. We will tally up the total of gifts to the Fund in late February 2009 to be announced in early March at the 140th Anniversary Celebration of Inanda Seminary.
In Christ love and awe of God’s amazing grace,
Dan
The Rev. Daniel Lindley Hatch
Honolulu, Hawaii