Did you know that the words “apostle” and “missionary” have the same meaning? It’s true! One comes from Greek and the other Latin but both meanings are the same: “sent one.”  

Hilda Plummer is one of the unsung heroes throughout church history. She was a woman of extraordinary vision, determination and courage throughout her 35 years of active ministry and two decades of retirement service in South India.

Hilda was born on February 15, 1899, in Nottingham, England. She attended a Salvation Army corps (church) with her family in the hometown of the Army’s founder, William Booth. In her late teens, Hilda immigrated to Canada and then to the United States where she became an active soldier of the Troy, New York Corps. She and her fellow soldier (member of The Salvation Army), Harold Francis (this author’s grandfather), assumed leadership roles in the enthusiastic, vibrant ministry of the Troy Corps.

After attending the training college in New York City, Hilda was commissioned as a Salvation Army officer (pastor) in 1925. She embodied her session’s name, “The Invincible” session. One year later, she began her service in India. Initially being assigned as an evangelist, then-Lt. Plummer gravitated to her lifelong work as a nurse in leper hospitals and colonies across India. She adopted an indigenous daughter, Mary, while working at the leper hospital. Hilda retired in 1960 from the Evangeline Booth Leprosy Hospital at Bapatla, India. Throughout her retirement, she worked at the nearby Bethany Leprosy Colony. Brigadier Hilda Plummer was promoted to glory in 1980.

During her retirement years at the Bethany Leprosy Colony, she wrote an autobiographical manuscript titled “Fifty Plus Years of Loving.” She also had copious correspondence with Lt. Colonels Harry and Luella Poole in the USA who faithfully supported her with encouragement, council and practical assistance.

Indeed, Hilda exemplified what it meant to be fully devoted follower of Jesus Christ. Her faith, fueled by a compulsive urge to share Christ and undergirded by a complete surrender to God’s will, reminds us of all of our tandem calling and commission—to love God and others!

So What?

Are you living out “loving obedience” to God and “loving service” to others? What priorities shape your understanding of God and His mission? Are you willing to be a “sent-one” and serve God wherever He leads?