OBITUARY - Gerhard Bargen

The Baergen family are of Dutch heritage from Mennonite community that escaped to Poland, Ukraine and then Canada. Gerhard trained in a bible college in Alberta aged 18, and then was called to Kashmir India as a missionary. In the midst of WW2, Gerhard found himself in the only passenger cabin on a Swedish freighter heading around the south of the Pacific area for Australia. In Melbourne, and then in Sydney he met up with people from the WEC organisation, and learned that the British freighter/passenger ship, the Nankin, was due to leave for India soon. Some further unusual circumstances meant that Miss Audrey Jeffrey of Sydney had also been called to Kashmir, and they travelled on the same ship which departed 1 May 1942. There were other missionaries on board as well.

However, on 10 May, off the coast of Western Australia, they were attacked by a German raider and all taken Prisoners of War. They were ultimately transferred to a Japanese prison in Fukushima, north of Tokyo, which was a former Catholic convent. Despite all this, Gerhard and Audrey secretly courted each other, and became engaged. It was not until after the end of the war that they reached Sydney where they were finally married on 30 March 1946 at the Ashfield Baptist Church.

Gerhard had stood up to the rigours of captivity fairly well, but Audrey suffered badly, bearing the consequences for the rest of her life. They were still members of WEC, but service in Kashmir was out of the question. Instead, they received invitations from two separate lines to transfer to Brisbane where establishing WEC in particular became their life's work!

Gerhard was leader in WEC International missionary organisation in Brisbane 1947-1976. He organised first WEC houseparty at Mount Tamborine Convention Centre and led many small Keswick conventions at Dalby, Chinchilla and Goomboorian Queensland. After 1976 he pastored the Southport Baptist Church for some years. A remarkable man of God.