Theodore S. Henderson

Theodore S. Henderson

14 May 1868 - 11 February 1929
Bishop: 1917-1924


Bishop Theodore Sommers Henderson

by Sidney D. Eva

Some men, passing, leave their footprints on the sand of time; others write their names with immortal pens upon hearts of their fellows and on the pages of a nation's life. So wrote Theodore S. Henderson, Bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church and for eight years resident Bishop of the Detroit Area.

Nobility and strength marked his manhood and ministry. Endowed with great physical strength and immeasurable powers of endurance, he laid all at the feet of his Master. Such a consecration baptized his splendid strength with a nobility of spiritual grace and his great endurance with the stamp of a sublime enthusiasm. Thus did he give the church unparalleled leadership, the Gospel adornments of power and grace, and his fellow-workers the incalculable blessing of a noble example and an intensity of purpose.

Bishop Henderson was born at Millburn, N.J. on May 14, 1868. Business first claimed him. Later, while still in early manhood, the knighthood of the ministry summoned him to a career of holy crusading which was destined to become distinguished in lofty leadership and victorious adventuring.

The Centenary Collegiate Institute at Hackettstown, N.J., Wesleyan University, and Drew Theological Seminary gave their best in fitting him for the Christian ministry and a cultured, christian gentleman was the result.

All his years in the pastoral relationship were spent in the New York East Conference which he joined in 1894 serving churches in Rockville Centre, N.Y., Flushing, N.Y., James and Simpson Churches in Brooklyn, New York East Side Parish and Stamford, Conn.

The General Conference Commission for Aggressive Evangelism made him its Field Secretary in 1906, a position he filled with high success for two years, affording him broad scope for the exercise of his evangelistic passion.

Again the pastorate called and Hanson Place Church, Brooklyn, claimed him as its minister. Here he served for four years. The General Conference of 1912 opened a new door admitting Dr. Henderson to broader fields of leadership and responsibility, electing him to the office of Bishop.

Entering this new and eminent service a new enthusiasm crowned him and a deeper consecration sanctified his powers with a fresh intensity and passion.

Bishop Henderson was assigned to the Chattanooga Area, which he served for four years. Detroit Area welcomed him as its Episcopal leader after the General Conference of 1916. Here his leadership had full play for two quadrenniums.

The narrow limits of this tribute prohibit a full catalogue of his achievements and the range of his influence. These are written down in fuller measure elsewhere.

In this brief record the Detroit Conference wishes to inscribe the name of Bishop Henderson upon the scroll of its honored dead in the language and spirit of sincere affection and tender recollection.

We cannot describe those we love, we can only hold them in reverent affection and admiration. Thus, in the name of the members of the Detroit Conference, we write the name of Theodore S. Henderson in the book of our Remembrance there to remain among those honored in life, revered in death and remembered for their heroic living, exalted achievement, and uncompromising comradeship.

We do not attempt to define the personality of Bishop Henderson or to appraise his gifts. We can but remember him as a true apostle of the Gospel and a brother in the faith. His gifts in administration and ability in organization are best told in the records of the Church's growth and the Kingdom's advance.

Detroit Area is richer for his leadership and the Church at large is in possession of a heritage in consecrated manhood and womanhood, the fruits of labor, far beyond computation of figures or compilation of facts. Rooseveltian in name and in the qualities of his manhood, Bishop Henderson displayed an intensity of effort, a skill in organization, a contagion of enthusiasm and a compelling spiritual appeal which bequeath to church and to nation wealth of uncounted treasure and eternal worth.

Bishop Henderson's work came to a sudden close while serving the Cincinnati Area, the largest in Methodism. On February 11, 1929, one of the most dynamic personalities of this day and generation finished its course. One wonders if he entered the Eternal City to the stride of his oft-used crusading song --

"Lead on, O King Eternal,
We follow, not with fears;
For gladness breaks like morning
Where'er Thy face appears;
Thy cross is lifted o'er us;
We journey in its light:
The crown awaits the conquest;
Lead on, O God of Might."

- Detroit Annual Conference minutes of 1929, pp. 146-147

Appointments

Links