Honouring Lois Meredith, Missionary to Africa

Lois is one of the most organized and efficient people I have ever met. She gets things done! She gave of herself and her means, often personally meeting people’s expenses or giving them something extra, because she knew they ‘needed’ it. She genuinely loved and lived out her love in her own way. And, the people knew it. The kingdom is better off in Africa, Lois, because you have been there.
Henry Church, Africa Area Director, FMWM

Lois Meredith has served Free Methodist World Missions for 37 years, primarily in Christian education and bookkeeping in Burundi, Rwanda, and most recently, Kenya. Throughout her ministry, Lois has endeavored to help equip people to better serve God, which she’s carried out through training national bookkeepers and Sunday school teachers. She officially retired as a long-term missionary, May 31, 2007.

Lois grew up near Wallaceburg, in southwestern Ontario, on the farm of her parents, Don and Eva Meredith. She attended a one room school with her siblings, Betty, Bill and Donna. Their whole family attended the Charlemont Free Methodist Church.

In 1959 Lois graduated from London Teacher’s College and accepted a teaching position at an elementary school in Brantford, Ontario. While living in Brantford she attended North Park Free Methodist Church (now Freedom Christian Community) where she taught Sunday School. Lois still has her membership at Freedom and she has maintained connections there over many years.

Lois began her missionary work under the VISA program in 1969 when she served as teacher of missionary children, in addition to bookkeeper, in Burundi. After three years in Africa she returned to Canada and taught in London, Ontario. During that year, however, she realized her calling was not to teach privileged children in Canada, so in 1973 she returned to Central Africa as a long-term missionary.

Over the years Lois has assumed various areas of responsibility, caring for mission visitors and
personnel, women’s ministry, bookkeeping, auditing financial records, arranging conferences, mentoring indigenous leaders, and so on.

In 1994, Lois was living in Rwanda when the genocide took place. She lost everything but her life. After this she moved to serve in Kenya, based in Nairobi, a city of 4 million people.
Although retiring from career missionary service, she is not retiring from God’s work. Lois has plans to serve as a short-term missionary in Ethiopia, helping with International Child Care Ministries.

written by Betty Humphrey and Dan Sheffield