Strachan, Susan [Beamish] (1874-1950)
Co-founder of the Latin American Mission (LAM)
Born of Protestant parents in predominantly Catholic Country Cork, Ireland, Susan Beamish experienced person conversion as a teenager in a small Methodist chapel, felt called to missionary work in Africa, and prepared at Harley College in London. There she met Harry Strachan, her Africa-bound future husband. Rejected for service in Africa for health reasons, she proceeded instead to Argentina under the sponsorship of the Regions Beyond Missionary Union in 1901. Strachan subsequently experienced a similar unexpected rejection for African missionary service and in 1902 was also sent to Argentina where the couple renewed their courtship and were married, serving together in Buenos Aires and Tandil. While in Argentina, Susan’s three children were born, and she became the principal founder of the still-active Evangelical League of Argentine Women.
When the Strachans felt called in 1918 to carry out continent-wide evangelism and moved to Costa Rica, Susan cofounded and became codirector (with her husband) of the Latin American Evangelization Campaign, later known as the Latin American Mission (LAM). While Harry traveled extensively to coordinate evangelistic crusades throughout the Spanish-speaking world, she organized and directed supportive ministries, such as a seminary, hospital, orphanage, and Spanish-and English-language periodicals, laying the foundation for the LAM’s holistic outreach today. She died in the Clinico Biblico, the hospital she cofounded in San José, Costa Rica.
W. Dayton Roberts, “Strachan, Susan (Beamish),” in Biographical Dictionary of Christian Missions, ed. Gerald H. Anderson (New York: Macmillan Reference USA, 1998), 645-646.
This article is reprinted from Biographical Dictionary of Christian Missions, Macmillan Reference USA, copyright © 1998 Gerald H. Anderson, by permission of Macmillan Reference USA, New York, NY. All rights reserved.
Biography
Secondary
Roberts, W. Dayton. One Step Ahead: The Innovative Strachans and the Birth of the Latin American Mission, Miami, FL: Latin America Mission, 1996.
Evangelist, the monthly publication of LAM (issues from 1921-1946).
Links
Portrait
From left to right: Harry, Grace, Susan, and R. Kenneth Strachan. Used by permission of the Strachan Family Foundation.