Becker, Charles C.
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Becker, Charles C.
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Charles C. Becker
"' ..By John A. Yeoman
/J.,.
• "'_,...
1•111 ,_
M HARLES
CHRISTOPHER BECK-
ER was born in Flint, October 27,
C
1879. His father and mother were members of long standing in Court Street
Church, and from that Church he received his Local Preacher's licen se.
His father died when he was four, and
his mother when he was fifteen, which
necessitated his leaving school before
graduation. When he was twenty-one
years of age, he heard the call of God
to the Christian ministr y and the nex-t
ten years were given to preparation for
his life's work. He finished his high
school worl<, took his A.B. from Albion,
his M.A. from the University of. Wisconsin, and his B.D. from Garrett Biblical
Institute in Evanston.
I
In 1909 he was married to Huldah
Milla-rd, and this union was blessed with
two sons, Raymond Millard, and Wilfred
Charles.
The first years of his ministry were
spent in Wisconsin, where he served the
following charges: Verona ; Frederick;
St. Croix Falls; Burlington; English
Settlement and High St.; Evansville and
Cooksville; Grand Rapids and Port Edwards; Lake Mills and Milford. In 1921
he came to the Detroit Conference and
has served the following Churches: Trinity, Flint; First Church, Saginaw;
Wyandotte; Calvary, Detr oit; First
Church, Birmingham, and his final
Church was Bethany, Detroit.
For 24 years Charlie, as he was affectionately called, did an outstanding piece
of work on the BoaTd of Ministerial
Training of the Detroit Conference, of
which he was chairman for many ··ear~ .
Wherever he went he did thorough a nd
painstaking work. One outstanding piece
of work was at Calvary, Detroit, where
he helped solve a long and troublesome
financial problem. He l ed his people
with a budget that h ad almost doubled
and before he left he paid almost onehalf the debt.
Few of his brethren in the ministry
were aware that in his early manhood
he had a slight impediment in his speech.
Indeed there w"re fears that it might
interfere with his career as a minister.
Those who were familiar with hi s cleaT
enunciation little dreamed that it took
t he reading aloud to hi s wife of more
than one hundred books to correct the
difficulty.
Charles Becker was a good minister of
J esus Christ. He took his orders from
his Master and went ahead. H e was a
hard worker. He was everlastingly at
it. The only budgeting of his time was
that which made it possible for him to
do the greatest amount of work in a full
day. He was firs t, last, and all the time
a student. These were those who came
under his direction on the Board of Ministeria l Tra ining, who thought him severe, but it was hi s thought of them and
their future and his stewardship to the
Conference and to Christ, which made
him what he was. He never a sked any
man to do what he had not already don:!
.
.
to suggest how one may inherit eternal
life.
Notice a few of the details: Martha,
apparently the elder woman, welcomes
Jesu s to her house in "a certain village."
Mary, her younger sister, instead of following Martha out into the kitchen, to
prepare for all the guests (Jesus and
his disciples?), seats herself "at the
Master's feet" listening to what he is
saying. At last Martha, .. ,,·orried with
all she had to do for them," comes
brusquely up to J esus and add resses
him, "Mast er, does it make no difference
to you that my sister has left me to do
all the work a lone? Tell her to help me."
(Luke 10: 38-40, American translation).
Busy American housewives suddenly
required to entertain unexpected guests
can appreciate Martha's predicament.
To her was not Mary acting the uncooperative sister? How much could Martha be blamed for the discourtesy with
which she interrupted Jesus? She might
better have called her sist er aside and
not let her "distracted" t emper get ·the
better of her, but, after all, was she not
simply performing the duty · of Oriental
hospitality?
Jesus' reply is the center of t he story:
"Martha, Martha , you a re worried and
anxious about many things, but our
wants are f ew, indeed there is only one
thing we need. F or MaTy has chosen the
right thing, and it must not be taken
Becker, Charles C.