Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is
the kingdom of heaven (Matthew 5:3).
Among the most appropriately entitled biographies of all time: In
the heart of a pearl there is always some grit.
And the subtitle reads, How the Lord used Pearl Winterburn in
Congo-Zaire.
Pearl’s father often expressed reluctance when confronted with the plans of his headstrong child – his headstrong female child.
Girls born in rural Ontario in 1920 – on a farm in Norland, Ontario in the Kawartha Lakes region – were not expected to reach beyond the admittedly noble status of getting married and having babies.
Pearl did neither.
And so, her father disagreed with her decision to train as a nurse – in Toronto! – in the early 1940s as World War II raged overseas.
Pearl relocated to North Bay to work in the hospital in the mid-40s. Her biography chronicles that she was invited to Bethel by some lady friends; however, she told me a different story – maybe both were true.
New to town, as she strolled by the old Bethel Gospel Hall (corner of
Fisher and McIntyre) on her way to work, she struck up a conversation with
evangelist Sidney Hoffman who, on learning she was a Christ-follower, invited
her back to church.
And so began her
7-decade relationship with Bethel.
Pearl was convicted by the Holy Spirit of God to pursue missions, a
decision that she initially opposed, and one with which she wrestled internally
for many months.
She enrolled at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore to build her
toolchest of skills. There she studied surgical supervisor and midwifery. (One
day as we sat in her room in her final years, I asked her if she ever completed
the calculus on how many infants she had delivered. Together, we concluded that
she had supervised the delivery of approx. 5000 Congolese babies!)
After her time in Baltimore, Pearl returned to North Bay long enough to resign from the hospital for the purpose of enrolling for 3 years at Emmaus Bible College, then located in Toronto. This, once more, was highly unusual for a young woman of that era. There she boarded with Sidney & Florence Hoffman.
At Emmaus, Pearl was again challenged about the mission field and the need/ opportunity for medical missionaries – this time by teacher Bill Deans, a Congo missionary in Ontario on furlough.
That nudged her over the edge, and Pearl decided to respond to what she knew was the Lord’s irrevocable calling on her life.
She evidenced grit – educated, headstrong, decisive, prepared to take risks – and she relocated to Quebec for a year of French language immersion.
Her father expressed disapproval.
But you can imagine his great concern and displeasure on learning of
her anticipated next steps: to Belgium for medical certification in tropical
disease medicine and further French education, with her ultimate goal of
entering the French-speaking Congo in the heart of the African continent in
1953.
However, this amazing woman, often the only white face – and a single woman in a culture that for generations inflicted terrible cruelties on its female population – persisted and thrived as a missionary for 52 yrs.
She was the personification of Visionary: developing a hospital and
medical clinics; opening a school for Congolese boys, and then convincing the
local leadership to extend education to their girls, too; financing promising
children to pursue post-secondary
education opportunities.
One of her challenging initiatives was to encourage the townsmen – many of whom had never seen an aircraft – to clear a long field and create an airstrip under Pearl’s supervision. Pessimism abounded.
But soon, Mission Aviation Fellowship planes were landing, bringing
supplies and responding to emergencies.
When on furlough, Pearl would board the Greyhound bus, riding
throughout North America to raise awareness of her work, developing a network
that would contribute and pray for the rest of her life.
She was finally forced to return to North Bay to retire, but only after
a fall that broke her hip.
But North Bay was never really her home.
And it turned out Pearl and the concept of retirement were antithetical,
mutually exclusive.
Into her 80s, she brushed up on her computer skills to continue to monitor, supervise and encourage the work in her real home – the DR Congo.
As she lay in her bed at Casselholme in her final weeks, she loved to
have the Bible read to her.
I read from the Beatitudes in Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount.
Those introductory verses were aphorisms, maxims of Kingdom values and
Kingdom living.
Jesus gave 9 Beatitudes, but in a culture where order often suggested importance, I focussed on the first – because that fit Pearl perfectly.
Mere days later, I had the privilege of preaching her funeral.
As I did, I centred on that Beatitude: Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is
the kingdom of heaven.
What is it to be poor in spirit? How could this bull-dozing
personality be described as such?
Pearl was not existing in financial poverty although she witnessed much of that affliction. In fact, she had a unique ability to extract the needed resources from her vast network. People gave to her willingly because they knew she would stretch those dollars to achieve Kingdom goals in a way – and in a place – that none of us could.
But in the essence of who she was, Pearl provided a picture in contrast
to most of the rest of us.
Our natural, God-given drive is for self-preservation. As a result of
the Fall and the effect of original sin, that has too often morphed into a spirit
of selfishness; and healthy self-esteem into pride and arrogance.
But even with her copious grit, Pearl exhibited a poverty of selfishness and of arrogance.
And, she demonstrated a riches of humility.
That doesn’t deny or diminish her strong character – as assertive, a leader, a risk-taker, a visionary – because Pearl was all of those things!
Takeaway: No one can embrace Christ by faith and repent of their sin recognizing
it as an assault on the holiness of God without exhibiting to some degree, a
poverty of arrogance, being poor in spirit.
Pearl displayed that better than anyone else I knew.
Having denied much self-interest for the purpose of serving the
Congolese and thereby serving her King, Pearl Winterburn exhibited that spiritual
paradox: the lady with grit who was poor in spirit.
