Collection 503 Oral History Interviews with Ian M. Hay

Collection

Identifier: CN 503

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

Oral history interviews with Ian M. Hay in which he describes his childhood; missionary parents and their work in Nigeria; Hay's spiritual growth and call to missions; education and training for missionary work; Sudan Interior Mission (later renamed SIM International) for which he worked (as a missionary, administrative executive and director); missionary work in Nigeria; indigenous church administration (particularly in the Evangelical Church of West Africa or ECWA); Other topics discussed include: comparisons of different generations of western missionaries; descriptions of African church leaders (most notably Byang Kato, Tokunboh Adeyemo, Panya Baba); the transition to national leadership; emergence of ECWA's own missionary agency (Evangelical Missionary Society of EMS); paternalism of earlier missionaries; his leadership of SIM; previous SIM leaders; organizational restructuring of SIM; wife's role in mission work; Evangelical mission leaders; and Hay’s own management philosophy. The time period covered by the interviews is 1910 to 1994.

Ian Hay was interviewed by Paul A. Ericksen on August 31 and September 1, 1994 at the SIM headquarters in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Dates

Created: 1994

Conditions Governing Access

There are no restrictions on the use of this collection.

Biographical Information

Full Name: Ian Moreland Hay

Birth: December 19, 1928, in Miango, Nigeria

Death: March 2, 2021, Sebring, FL

Family:

Parents: John and Sarah Elisabeth Mc Farland Hay, Scottish missionaries with Sudan Interior Mission in Nigeria

Siblings: Agnes Gwendolyn "Gwen" Hay Wyllie, born 1924

Marital Status: Married to June in 1951

Children: Unnamed still-born son, Brenda, twin sons, one of whom died at age four of cerebral malaria and the other (Alan) at age eight of leukemia, and Bob

Education:

Elementary and secondary education in Canada and US, including at Gowans Home for missionary children in Collingwood, Ontario

1946 - Graduated from high school in Iowa

1950 - Bryan College, BA, cum laude, English major, history minor

1951 - Columbia Graduate School of Bible and Missions, MA in Biblical Education, summa cum laude

1976 - Bryan College, Honorary Doctorate of Divinity

1984 - Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, Doctorate of Missiology

Career:

1951-1993 - Served SIM International: joined (1951), missionary to Nigeria in evangelism and church planting in rural Kuta (1952-1956), Hausa language school and administrative assistant in Jos (1957-1958), mission Field Secretary for West Africa in Jos (1958-1965), mission Director for North America (1965-1972), mission Deputy General Director (1972-1975), mission General Director (1975-1993), mission General Director Emeritus (1993- ). Furloughs in 1956, 1961.

Other significant information: Served on and chaired the boards of the Evangelism Missions Information Service (EMIS), Interdenominational Foreign Missions Association (IFMA), and Bryan College. Chairman of the Board of Columbia International University where he is also an adjunct professor.

Authored or contributed to books and articles on missions, evangelism and the African church.

Extent

6 Audio Tapes

Language of Materials

English

Additional Description

Accruals and Additions

The materials in this collection were given to the Billy Graham Center Archives by Ian Hay in September 1994.

Accession: 94-75

December 13, 2002

Paul A. Ericksen