View source for Lapp, George Jay (1879-1951)

 

George Jay Lapp, born 26 May 1879 at Juniata, Nebraska, was one of the eight children of Samuel W. and Sarah Gross Lapp. He died 25 January 1951 at [[Goshen (Indiana, USA)|Goshen]], [[Indiana (USA)|Indiana]]. He was an outstanding foreign missionary of the [[Mennonite Church (MC)|Mennonite Church (MC)]], having served nearly 40 years (1905-1945) in the Central Provinces of [[India|India]]. He was ordained to the ministry in 1905, and as bishop in India in 1928. He served as interim president of [[Goshen College (Goshen, Indiana, USA)|Goshen College]] from February 1918 to June 1919. He attended Elkhart Institute one year in 1901, then Northwestern University two years 1901-1903. His degrees were: B.A., Goshen College (1913); M.R.E., [[Bethany Theological Seminary (Richmond, Indiana, USA)|Bethany Biblical Seminary]] (1930); B.D., [[Goshen Biblical Seminary (Goshen, Indiana, USA)|Goshen College Biblical Seminary]] (1947). He was married twice: (1) Esmer Ebersole, 25 June 1905; (2) Fanny Hershey, 14 April 1920. Mrs. J. Lawrence Burkholder (Harriet) and Mrs. Ezra Camp (Lois) are daughters. In India he was the founder and director of the Mennonite Bible School from 1910 to its merger with the [[Dhamtari Christian Academy (Dhamtari, Chhattisgarh State, India)|Dhamtari Christian Academy]] in 1931. He was a member of the National Christian Council of India and under its direction made a study of rural life, which was published as <em>The Christian Church and Rural India </em>(Calcutta, 1938). He wrote and published in Hindi <em>Menno Simons and the Mennonite Church </em>(Jubbulpore, 1929) and <em>Fundamental Doctrines of the Bible </em>(Jubbulpore, 1933).


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