Called to serve: Rev. Irene Pierce turns 100
By Erik Alsgaard
Photos courtesy of Adelle Banks
The Rev. Irene Pierce may be one of the oldest United Methodist clergywomen alive.
She began attending then-Asbury Methodist Church in the 1940s and joined the church in 1953. If you do the math, that’s 73 years ago. Today, after turning 100 this past August 28, Pierce was honored at two celebrations, one at her church and one with her family.
In her years of service, Pierce not only retired as a federal government employee, but served her local, regional, and general church in almost too many ways to count, including ordination.
Her ministry extended beyond Asbury to include pastoring a small Black church in a predominantly white town, where she confronted racism while also advancing her career with the U.S. Departments of the Treasury and Commerce.
Pierce is also an unfaltering supporter of Africa University.
Among the tributes was a video message from James Salley, the President and Chief Executive Officer of Africa University, a private, Pan-African and United Methodist-related institution located near Mutare, Zimbabwe.
“Irene has been a trailblazing leader, serving eight years with the General Board of Global Ministries, pouring wisdom and providing dedicated service to generations of children and adults,” he said. “She has championed Africa University since its inception in 1988, and is the longest-serving member of the Africa University Advisory Development Committee and Board Development Committee. We really appreciate what you have done for Africa University. You are a daughter of the universe, who balanced Federal service to the high calling of the Gospel. We do not have to wait until tomorrow to change the world, we can do it today.”
In an undated article written by Asbury UMC member Adelle Banks, Pierce is quoted as saying, “I feel that God has graced me with the gift of service and I’m a servant.”
Since the 1950s, Pierce has made a variety of contributions to Asbury. She served as a Sunday school teacher for 16 years, was president of the United Methodist Women from 1977 to 1980, and chairperson of the Council on Ministries from 1987 to 1989, the article noted. She also founded Asbury's United Methodist Women's Friendship Luncheon in 1977.
"It was a vision," said Pierce, who at the time was working for the U.S. Department of Commerce as a program coordinator in the Office of Foreign Commercial Service, Banks wrote.
As part of an oral history project at Asbury, Banks featured Pierce in an interview in 2021. In that clip, Pierce recalled being given the opportunity to serve a small church in Poolesville, Maryland, in 1985, by then District Superintendent, the Rev. Mary Brown Oliver.
“I’m a local pastor,” she said in the interview. “That’s because when I became eligible to be ordained, I was 72 years old.” In other words, she was already beyond the required retirement age for United Methodist Elders and Deacons.
“When I got to Poolesville, they were a family church,” she said. “Part of my ministry was to help them realize that they were part of the broader Methodist church.
One of the highlights of her ministry, Pierce said in the oral history interview, was meeting Mother Teresa in Calcutta.
“We went to the orphanage where she had the babies,” she said. “She walked us through a portion of the orphanage and seeing her diapering the babies and working with the others was very interesting.”
As Asbury and the wider United Methodist church celebrate and honor Pierce for her decades of service, we join together to praise God for a humble servant whose mission has always been one of service.