INTRODUCTION OF THE STOCKS AS BELL-MACKAY AWARDEES

By Marian McClure
Director of the Worldwide Ministries Division of the PCUSA
June 30, 2004, at the Presbyterians For Renewal Breakfast

Fred and Margie Stock, and Marian McClure

PFR leaders, speakers, friends –

There are only two things that can induce me to get up and get going at this early hour of the day – an international flight, and the PFR breakfast! It is a great honor that you invite me to sit at the head table and introduce the Bell-McKay winners. It is also a symbol of how our common mission discipleship binds together the Presbyterian part of the body of Christ.

You always make outstanding choices for the Bell-McKay award, and once again you’ve outdone yourselves in the choice of the Rev. Frederick Stock and Mrs. Margaret Stock.

Fred and Margie began serving in Pakistan in 1956. That’s 48 years ago, and it was the year after they got married and Fred had just graduated from Princeton Seminary.

Margie was no newcomer to mission service even at that young age. She is the daughter of Presbyterian missionaries to the Sudan. In addition, her grandparents, three aunts, an uncle and all four siblings were missionaries outside the US. In her years of service after completing education at Westminster College in Pennsylvania and what is now New York Seminary, Margie has been an educator at two schools in Egypt, and a worker in Bible teaching and literacy work in Pakistan. She has also provided the ministry of hospitality in the home without which in many cultures there is no prospect of developing meaningful relationships for witness to the Gospel.

Fred, who studied at UC Berkeley, and Princeton, Fuller and New York Seminaries, has served both the Presbyterian Church of Pakistan and the Church of Pakistan. Though his work sometimes involved him in supervision of other pastors, his main calling has been evangelistic outreach to tribal peoples. People with this calling have brought the Presbyterian Church USA back to its roots as a premier frontier evangelism mission society, and our denominational vision statement now lists as its first crucial challenge “witnessing and evangelizing where there is a need to share the Gospel for the first time”.

Fred and Margie, many people wanted to say something about you through me at this event. I’ve chosen a few of those to quote now. One is Paul Pierson, the Dean Emeritus at what Fuller used to call the School of World Mission. Paul wrote: “They have done an outstanding job of identifying with the local tribal, Hindu people, winning many to faith in Christ and training leadership. They represent the very best in our Presbyterian mission.” That paragraph by that author is one of the best reference letters a Presbyterian in mission can possibly obtain!

But there are a letters that are more moving, because they come from those who know you intimately, your children. Four of the five Stock children are still living, and all work in mission in postings such as Albania, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Central Asia.

One wrote about Margie’s work teaching women to read and know the Bible. One such woman was the night watchman’s wife, who went on to lead Bible studies for women in several villages.

One of them wrote for them all to say: “Without a doubt we are all terribly proud of them and love them more than words can express. We are exceedingly grateful to them for their love and example to us growing up. … They always took time each year, no matter how busy their schedule, for our two family vacations: a week in the mountains every summer and a week at the beach every winter. Those times are highlights for us filled with adventure - a Stock vacation is not one in which you lie around in a hammock! … We continue to be very close in heart as siblings although we are mostly far from each other geographically. We are all in mission work, which in itself is a testimony to the wonderful example our parents set for us. Our brother Dale (who "finished his race" while saving the lives of some children a few years ago) was following in the footsteps of a father and mother who have always put the needs of others before their own. If my life influences half as many people in my service of our Lord as my parents’ lives have - I will consider my contribution a great success.”

Another wrote to say this: “Once I was with Dad when he was having dinner with a brand new missionary from England. The missionary asked Dad, ‘What is the most important thing you’ve done in Pakistan all these years?’ I wondered if Dad would mention being the principal of a Bible School, or that he had worked to translate the Gospels, Acts and Romans into Hindi Sindhi, or that he and Mom had written a book about the history of Christian missions in Pakistan, a book that is required reading in some seminaries and Bible schools in the country. But he didn’t mention any of those things. ‘What is the most important thing Margie and I have done in Pakistan?’ he said slowly, thinking. ‘We’ve loved some people,’ was his simple answer. And it’s true. I was talking to an evangelist a few weeks ago. ‘How did you become a Christian,’ I asked him. ‘Your parents loved me; they cared for me; and that drew me to their God,’ was his quick reply.”

As of January, the Stocks had eight grandsons and six granddaughters, and when they too turn out like this, the blessing to the world church will take on Abraham-and-Sarah proportions!

Fred and Margie, you are a living letter for the Lord, as scripture asks us to be. And your literal letters from your mission site are great blessings to all of us who read them, full of praise and prayer items. Your most recent one ended “Pray for us on June 30^th as we have an opportunity to share about our ministry in Pakistan for 10 minutes at a breakfast meeting put on by the Presbyterians for Renewal.” With all those prayers behind you and before you, we know we will be blessed by your comments! Thank you!

Click here for more information on the Stocks.