William Bryan Dingler

1. 9/12/1928 York, Pennsylvania USA

 

Spouse/Family

Wife: Evelyn Janet (nee Campbell), b. 5/4/1925 Lancaster, Pennsylvania USA

1. 3/17/1949

Children: Sharon Louise (Delmore) (1949); Brenda Lee (Cortopassi) (1951);

Trina Elaine (1954); Stephen Michael (1957); Eric Karl (1961)

 

Dates of Service Field Call Assignment

1959-64 Taiwan Evangelistic Missionary

1965-77 Hong Kong Director, Lutheran World Federation Broadcasting Service,

Chinese Area

 

Biographical Summary

After growing up in York, Pennsylvania, William (Bill) Dingler joined the Army and served following World War II.  He went to college in Lancaster, Pennsylvania on the G.I. Bill.  While in college, he and a friend introduced themselves to two young women they noticed in a restaurant, one of whom was Evelyn Campbell.  She was working at Hamilton Watch Company at the time.  Bill and Evelyn began dating and were married in 1949.  Their daughters Sharon and Brenda were born prior to Bill’s graduation in 1952.  After graduating, he began working as an engineer-in-training for the Bell Telephone Company, while Evelyn quit her job in order to care for their children.

 

While with Bell Telephone, Bill was transferred to Wilmington, Delaware.  There the family began attending Concordia Lutheran Church.  The pastor of this church, Rev. George Mueller, was very influential in their lives, and partly because of his admiration for Pastor Mueller, Bill started considering that he should work for the church in some capacity.  However, he never intended to serve as an ordained pastor until Pastor Mueller convinced him that he had the talents and gifts to attend seminary and be a pastor.  So in 1954 Bill enrolled at Concordia Seminary in Springfield.  This was also the year that the Dinglers’ third daughter, Trina, was born.

 

In 1959, the year that Bill graduated from seminary, he attended the placement interviews which were conducted for all graduating students.  Having served as a member of the occupation army in Japan in 1946-47, he had developed a strong interest in foreign service, and he told the placement faculty he would be most interested in mission work in Japan.  He was told he could not be placed in Japan but could go to Taiwan.  Evelyn was surprised that the Board for Mission Services would send a family with four children (son Stephen had been born in 1957) into foreign mission work, but she was supportive of Bill’s calling and made preparations to go abroad.

 

Arriving in Taiwan later in 1959, the Dinglers studied Chinese for a time with the help of tutors.  Following language study, Bill was assigned to several positions.  For the entire time they served in Taiwan, he was director of the Lutheran Hour for Taiwan and China, as well as business manager for the mission field in Taiwan.  He conducted services as auxiliary chaplain for the small American military force based on the island of Quemoy.  Evelyn was quite busy providing a smooth-running household for Bill and the children.  Youngest son Eric was born in 1961.  The children attended the Taipei American School.

 

In 1964, the Dinglers had a year of home leave, and Bill served as pastor for a parish in North Carolina.  In 1965, the Board for Mission Services approached Bill with the request that he take an assignment to Hong Kong.  He would be seconded to Lutheran World Federation as the director of their broadcasting services for Chinese-speaking people all over Southeast Asia.  Bill had always enjoyed working with communication media, and the assignment seemed like a good fit, so the family moved to Hong Kong in 1965.  Bill began working with Chinese-language churches to implement and improve their communication ministries.  For example, there were Lutheran Hour ministries both in Taiwan and in Hong Kong, and other Lutheran churches also had communication ministries.  He assisted with finding resources to conduct these ministries and sometimes helped churches produce content for their programs or determine what types of projects should go forward.

 

Ultimately, the hope was that the Lutheran church bodies in this area would be equipped to conduct and oversee their own communication ministries, so Bill worked hard at training others to do the work and helped Chinese churches set up an organization that would take over the work of his office.  By 1977, the Chinese churches were prepared to continue this work successfully.  During the time the Dinglers were in Hong Kong, their four oldest children had graduated from Hong Kong International School.  Evelyn, while continuing to care for their children and home, also served as secretary at the Church of All Nations for the final two years of their stay in Hong Kong.  In 1977, Bill, Evelyn, and Eric traveled back to the U.S.

 

Upon return to the States, the Dinglers settled in St. Louis.  Bill became the media director for the Lutheran Laymen’s League for ten years, while Evelyn took a job as a dental assistant and later as secretary for Concordia Lutheran Church in Kirkwood.  After ten years, Bill was hired as communications director for Lutheran World Relief, and he and Evelyn moved to New York City, where Evelyn worked in jewelry sales at a department store.  Both retired in 1994, and they returned to St. Louis.  Though retired, Bill was asked to work part-time in communications at LCMS World Mission, and he worked in this capacity until 2000.  Both Bill and Evelyn continue to volunteer their time in retirement.  They work in different volunteer positions at St. Luke’s Hospital in the St. Louis area and also volunteer for their church.  Three of their children have returned to Asia to work for various periods of time, and they remain committed to mission and to sharing the Gospel and the love of Christ in every way and place they are blessed to serve.

 

Nota Bene

Phase 2 Information

Biggest missiological issue faced?

As a missionary starting out, one tends to wonder, “What can I do for these people I’m going to serve?”  However, the Dinglers found that as missionaries they quite often were recipients of help or wisdom – missionaries receive so much from the people to whom they are sent.  Bill remembers an example of the Chinese “Bible women” he saw consistently witnessing to their faith; they were a true inspiration.

 

Mission work is an ongoing process, and missionaries should respect the ministry that the Lord has already established in a place long before missionaries arrive.  God prepares people as only He can.  One example that really made an impression on Bill was that of a man who worked as a “rag-picker” (basically collecting scraps and trash to sell), whom one might think would not be very enlightened.  But despite appearances, he had abundant wisdom and faith.  He always gave more than a tithe even of his meager income to the Lord.  He also gave Bill some help when Bill was canvassing neighborhoods; with his knowledge of the area, he was able to show Bill which doors to knock on and how to approach people.  It seemed clear that God had blessed this man with faith beyond what the missionaries could have anticipated or hoped.

 

Most significant contribution during missionary service?

In Hong Kong, Bill’s work in communications ministries was set up to be terminated at some point and handed over to national churches.  He found a blessing in being able to develop a structure for the national church that would be able to carry on after he left the mission field.

 

Connection to today’s mission?

After having left the church body in Hong Kong with, he hopes, the ability to continue the communications work he started, Bill hopes that the church has been able to maintain and also to go beyond his own work!  Overall, the type of mission work the LCMS does in Hong Kong has changed, but the churches continue in partnership with their God-given mission.

 

Lessons Learned

• An appreciation for what God is doing through many different people.
• It’s important to be able and willing to accept the help of others when it’s offered, particularly the help of nationals when on the mission field.
• All members of the Dingler family learned about being in a minority and what it means to be “different” in a particular place and culture; whether “different” or not, all people have things to teach each other and missionaries should be open to this learning.
• Bill: “You’re not as smart as you thought you were!”
• Bill found that he learned a lot from his work with pan-Lutheran organizations; he gained an appreciation for what is being done by the church at large. (Lutherans as well as other denominations)

 

Best Practices

• Intentionally setting out to turn over the work done by missionaries to the national church (like Bill’s work in communications in Hong Kong).
• Remaining open to trying new things suggested by others.  National church members and leaders often have a better understanding of the context in which they’re working.

 

Phase 3 Information

Inspiration for entering foreign missions?

Bill developed an interest in Asia – specifically Japan – while stationed in Japan at the end of World War II.  He never thought he would become a pastor until the Dinglers moved to Wilmington and he began to talk with their pastor about his interest in working for the church.  Gradually he was convinced to go to seminary!  However, he had a lifelong interest in communications which he was able to develop during his ministry both abroad and in the United States.  Evelyn had not considered living abroad before Bill began seminary and began thinking about foreign mission work, but she knew that he was interested in working in Asia.  While she was surprised that the family was called to foreign mission, she was willing to go and made a wonderful home for their family.  With God’s help, their years were filled with wonderful memories and much love for the Chinese people.

 

Quotation by/about or brief story:

• Mr. Sia, the “rag-picker” mentioned above, imparted much wisdom to Bill regarding stewardship and reaching out to people with a simple invitation.  This shows that God works in great ways through many different people.

 

• Prior to the Dinglers’ mission work, the example of Pastor Mueller shows how the influence of a good and faithful pastor can really shape a person’s life.  Bill probably would not have gone to seminary at all without Pastor Mueller’s example and encouragement, and the family likely would not have worked overseas.  Bill’s contribution to (in particular) communications ministries across Asia may never have happened without the contribution of Pastor Mueller.