Samuel F. Timmerman, a longtime missionary to the French-speaking world, died Dec. 28 in Searcy, Ark., after a long battle with cancer. He was 92. Born in Alabama, he preached for churches in Tennessee before he and his wife, Maxine, moved to Belgium in 1948 to serve as the first missionaries there for Churches of Christ.

The couple spent 16 years in the European nation. They focused on the French-speaking region of the country and helped plant churches in Verviers, Liege and Brussels.

Later the couple served in the Canadian province of Quebec, working with French-speaking churches there.
In 2008 Timmerman spoke at the French World Mission Workshop in Castle Rock, Colo., about the challenges of evangelism. The Gospel has spread through Europe in the past half-century, but “not like we’d like to see it spread,” he said.

“Oh, there are so many cities, there are so many people in France, Belgium, Switzerland that have never heard the Gospel,” Timmerman said.

Arnold Dzah, a Ghanaian-born evangelist working in the French-speaking African nation of Senegal, met Timmerman at the Colorado conference and said he was inspired by the missionary’s sacrifice and devotion.

“Let his life be a great example for us to also try and be dedicated,” Dzah said.

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