Mart & Betty Jane Bailey

Global Missionaries – West Orange, New Jersey

Mart and Betty Jane Bailey met at Eden, 50 years ago last fall. Mart had come to fuse his journalistic ambitions with his love for the church. Betty had set out to study nuclear chemistry – but in those days, young women didn’t. So she’d switched to sociology and come to Eden to focus on group work and Christian education. She and Mart became engaged while studying for a systematic theology exam and rushed to tell their professor, Allen Miller. “Before we left his office we had a prayer,” recalls Mart, adding that Miller officiated at their marriage the following year, one day after graduation.

In a shower of rice, they threw their suitcases in the car and drove to Iowa, Mart writing his ordination paper on the way. He won the honor graduate scholarship from Eden to earn his master’s in journalism at Northwestern’s Medill School, later returning to Eden to receive a Doctor of Divinity degree. Betty received a Doctor of Ministry at McCormick Theological Seminary after another master’s from Drew University, and has worked as an associate minister, teacher and consultant, chairing commissions on ecumenism and civil rights, helping found a nursery school and serving as moderator of the United Church of Christ’s Central Atlantic Conference.

Mart began his ministry with the National Council of Churches working on the “International Journal of Religious Education.” He eventually became editor of “United Church Herald” and then “A.D.” magazine which also served the United Presbyterian Church.

It was an exciting and satisfying time, and it has challenged the rest of our life.

The couple’s creative output could fill a library: Betty has written books on the Middle East and the Soviet Union; spirituality, pilgrimages and worship for youth. Mart has written articles and editorials, books on peace and reconciliation; produced TV programs, directed communications for religious organizations including the National Council of Churches and served as an international media correspondent.

After lives that full, what would they do in retirement? Live overseas for nearly four years, becoming experts in Middle Eastern culture, religion and politics. Betty retired a year early and studied Middle Eastern modern history and Islamic personal law at Columbia University. In 1994, Mart retired, and three days later they were boarding a plane. They lived first in Jerusalem, then in Bethlehem. Betty assisted the director of Tantur Ecumenical Institute for Theological Research; Mart consulted for the Middle East Council of Churches; together, they researched their book, “Who Are the Christians in the Middle East?”

“It was an exciting and satisfying time, and it has challenged the rest of our life,” says Betty. “We came home because we realized there were important things to be done here.” They helped start the Peaceful Ends Through Peaceful Means organization. Mart created a media watch for accuracy in the coverage of Middle Eastern news and began directing development for Worldwide Faith News and currently is on the executive committee for A Different Future, a group of Jews, Christians and Muslims that is working to support peace movements in Israel and Palestine. They are active members of Union Congregational UCC in Montclair and in the New Jersey UCC Association. Betty, who won the UCC’s 2001 Antoinette Brown Award, focused on promoting alternative travel to the Holy Land and educating people about that troubled, sacred place. She represents Common Global Ministries at the United Nations, and both she and Mart consult for Common Global Ministries’ Middle East office. At Eden, they helped fund an endowed chair with an emphasis on mission and peace, honoring their old friend Allen Miller. They also funded a Cultural Immersion Program, giving more Eden students opportunities to experience the world – and let it change them.