Ivan Donald Raymer

Ivan Donald Raymer was born in Toronto, Ontario in 1916. His parents were Wilmont and Minnie Raymer and the family lived in Markham. He had three brothers and four sisters. The homestead is now a museum. As a teenager, he played Jr. Hockey for the Toronto Marlies. While playing, he took an appendix attack on the ice and had to be rushed to the hospital. He needed parental consent, so the ambulance took him to Danforth Gospel Temple in Toronto, where his mom was praying. She told him to come in and get his life right with God. He went in, was healed, and also filled with the Holy Spirit, all on that very night. He hung up his skates that night. His explanation to his daughter, Bonnie, later in life was, ‘Hockey was my god! I changed my allegiance that evening!’
He soon became involved in ministry teaching a Sunday School class of younger boys. One of the boys was Mark Buntain, who became a missionary to India.
Ivan enrolled in a Bible College, later known as Eastern Pentecostal Bible College. In his last year, he was to be the graduation speaker. World War II intervened and he was the only student conscripted into the army. Many people thought this was a tragedy. Looking back it was all a part of God’s plan. Immediately, he was deployed to Halifax NS.
He married his sweetheart, Ada McArthur on February 21, 1942 before their Bible School graduation. On June 9, 1942, they “set out for the far east - Halifax, NS., full of joy and excitement”. He served in the Canadian Armed Forces for 4 years during WWII. When he was stationed in Debert,NS., on many Friday evenings, Ivan and some other service men (Bob Eames - missionary to the West Indies, Jack West - evangelist) would preach on the corner of Inglis & Prince Street in Truro. Thus began a ministry in the Maritimes which spanned over 50 years.
“Brother and sister” Ivan and Ada Raymer pastored in Truro,N.S. from August 1943 to September 1944, and then from February 1945 to July 1947.

Mrs. Raymer recalls, “It was a fragile beginning. A soldier with only a ‘sleeping out’ pass. A new mother with a small infant. No car. Ivan had a bicycle. I had a baby carriage. No church building of our own.” It was during this time in Truro, that they found a lot on Main St. in Bible Hill for a church to be built. Sister Raymer had received a “Pentecostal Blessing” from a Baptist gentleman after she preached at a Tuesday night Bible Study at Faith Tabernacle, in Halifax. This man looked at her and said, “The Lord spoke to me during the service and told me to give you this.” She stated later that “it was the first $50 bill I’d ever seen”. That $50 blessing was the exact amount needed for a down payment for the lot. They willingly used their own bank funds to secure the lot. Shortly after this, the little church was completed.
Rev. ID Raymer went on to Pastor Calvary Temple in New Glascow, NS from July 1947-September 1953 and then Bethany Temple in Saint John, NB from September 1953 to October 1958.
I.D. Raymer and his wife, Ada, assisted Principal Cyrus Myher when the Maritime Bible School was opened in 1944. The Bible School was located in Halifax and operated for three years. Its goal was to provide training for young people who, for financial reasons, could not make the long trip to the Toronto school. In that brief period of operation, the school sent several graduates into pastoral work and Raymond and Lillian McKillop as missionaries to the West Indies.
Ivan Raymer became the Superintendent of the Maritime District on July 7, 1948. During his tenure, the District appointed leaders for Sunday schools, Christ’s Ambassadors, and Women’s Ministry Council activities. The Sunday school program especially helped develop several new assemblies. Regional radio broadcasts were also used effectively by a number of local churches to introduce the full gospel to thousands of Maritimers. His term in office spanned 26 years which was completed on April 24, 1974. The testimony of longevity, faithfulness and passion in his leadership was demonstrated along with the trustworthiness and integrity among fellow ministers.
During Ivan’s tenure in the District Office, a Pentecostal campground, Camp Evangeline, was founded in Debert, Nova Scotia, in 1950. I have attended this camp for 42 years, witnessing many souls saved, healed and filled with the Holy Spirit. “Brother” Raymer was instrumental in allowing God’s Spirit to have full access in the services there.
When Rev. Raymer became the District Superintendent, the ‘parsonage’ and Maritime District ‘office’ was on Robie St. in Truro. A person had to duck the furnace pipes to get to the District office. Soon after, they built a “fine new building in Onslow.”
Ivan helped to develop the merging of local church initiatives and district financial support. The district had supported tent meetings in the communities of Fredericton, New Brunswick,; Shelburne, Nova Scotia; and Summerside, P.E.I.
Ivan Raymer, as District Superintendent, supported a small group of Pentecostals in Campbellton, New Brunswick, to put up a church building in 1948. I attended this fellowship, for 6 months, in 1990.
The work in Gaspé region (Quebec) was developed by Roland and Cecile Bergeron in 1956, and they were able, with the Districts’ support, to build a church suitable for both French and English Services. I attended special meetings at this church in 1975.

The work on P.E.I. began with the ministry of Sheldon and Agnus Myers at Charlottetown in 1956. Sponsorship by the Maritime District helped the work go forward rapidly. They soon were able to erect a building (Calvary Temple), to be self supporting and which in turn, helped to establish other smaller works on the island.
Eskasoni First Nations, Cape Breton, NS. : This story is told by Ivan’s daughter, Bonnie (Raymer) Sawler. “As dad travelled the Maritimes during those years, he prayed over every Aboriginal community. When Art & I came back to the Maritimes to begin aboriginal ministries, Mom told us that Dad had prayed for this for 50 years.”
After “retiring” from the Maritime District Office, Ivan and Ada Raymer dedicated themselves to preach the Gospel in the foreign fields of Africa. Ivan would say, ‘for all these years I have done what God wanted; now the Lord is allowing me to do what I want’. It started out with just a 6 month visit to their son and daughter. Their mission stations are as follows;
1. Kenya (1975 - 1977)
The Raymer’s taught at the Kisumu Bible College at Nyang’ori, founded in 1949. Even though in the 50’ and 60’s, there were fierce and unrelenting tribal enmities, the College faculty managed to eliminate such problems among its student body. By the late 70’s, the school had over 70 men from almost 20 different tribes studying and working together in harmonious relationships.
2. Zambia (1978 - 1982)

The Raymers taught at the Bible School in Zambia. There were only a few students in the Bible College at this time. Consideration was being given to closing the school because there no teachers and few students.
Ivan asked for the opportunity to invest in these students. His strategy was for them to pray together with him, from Monday to Friday, during the first week of school. They were to ask God one question. ‘God, what city, in Zambia, do want me to evangelize for You, while I am in Bible School?’ When Friday came, each student had his answer from God. On that day, Ivan gave them bus fare to go to their cities with instructions to return to classes on Monday. Every weekend the students went out to preach in their cities. By graduation, there were established churches in those cities.
Nevers Mumba, who is the Zambian High Commissioner in Ottawa, says that Ivan Raymer was his spiritual father and that he had a great influence on his life. Ivan was referred to as “the white missionary that everyone called the ‘Holy Ghost man’”! By the missionaries, he was known as ‘Mr. Optimist’.
3. Uganda (1982 - 1985)

Ivan and Ada also taught in the Bible School at Mbale. They were in Uganda at the time of Idi Amin and his regime. They were actually on the bank of a river hanging laundry when the Israeli fighter planes flew over to rescue the hostages, at Entebee. The planes flew about 200 yards above the river and Ivan could see the soldier’s faces!
On one occasion, it was necessary to remove the women & children to Kenya for safety. Ivan was the designated driver and he was accompanied by the Uganda Chief of Police for Mbale. Ivan told him he was escorting an ambassador. All the way to the border and home, Ivan was saluted by the army at every checkpoint. He saluted back but never once took his foot off the gas pedal! The chief told him, ‘They saluted because I told them that you were an ambassador. Is that true?’ Ivan told him that the Bible says we are ambassadors for Christ. He was surely a true ambassador for Christ who had absolute confidence in his God.
“Brother” I. D. Raymer fell ill with a stroke on Tuesday, January 12th, 1999 and passed peacefully into the Lord’s presence on the next Wednesday, January 20th, 1999. His funeral at Calvary Pentecostal Church, in Truro, was packed out as family, friends and fellow ministers celebrated the life of one of God’s great Generals. The 2 hour service was “an experience of victory”.

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