Alcorn, Rev. R A Bob

N.Z.B.M.S. Missionary, East Pakistan/Bangladesh, 1949-1966. Member of North East Valley. Trained at N.Z. Baptist Theological College. Rev. Alcorn was sent directly to East Pakistan on completion of his studies in response to the urgent need for a male missionary. In 1951 he married Miss Agnes Trudinger (see separate entry) of the Australian Baptist Missionary Society. They served together in Chandpur, where their primary work was evangelistic. Alcorn�s increasing concern was for the publication of appropriate Christian literature and he convened the Literature Committee of the East Pakistan Christian Council. He improved and enlarged the Christian paper �Nabajug� and upon completion of a new literature centre in 1962 was able to further advance the effective use of literature for evangelism and teaching. Alcorn remained in East Pakistan with Stuart Avery when other missionaries were evacuated in 1965, but in 1966, with four children needing to be educated and a still volatile political situation in the new Bangladesh the decision was made not to return after furlough. He was appointed in 1969 to the Leprosy Mission, of which he became South East Asian director in 1977. Refs: NZB November 1966, 296; October 1977, 6.