Rev. Harold Kurtz
Senior Associate

Contact Information 6146 N. Kerby Avenue Portland, OR 97217-2053 503.289.1865 HaroldK@pff.net

BACKGROUND

Harold Kurtz didn’t begin as a Presbyterian. He was raised on an irrigation farm on the high deserts of Eastern Oregon. He is a little like the prophet Amos who came out of the wilderness of Judea with God’s word burning in his heart and said, “I am neither a prophet nor the son of a prophet.” But he treasures those roots as a wonderful beginning to a journey as a follower of Jesus.  There were no churches in that small community, but dedicated laypeople established Sunday Schools in the area. It was under their guidance that Harold made a decision at an early age to become a follower of Jesus. When he was in high school, Presbyterians established a home mission church in the community and he became a charter member.  WW II broke up that community and Harold joined the Air Force and flew as a pilot in Europe. Following the war, he attended a Presbyterian College in Monmouth, IL, and influenced by that environment felt the call of God to go into ministry. Following graduation from Pittsburgh Seminary, he served a congregation in Portland for three years.  During that time, he and his wife, Polly, felt the call to serve in mission. They were appointed to Ethiopia in 1955.

MISSION SERVICE

The first ten years of Harold’s service in Ethiopia was carried out from a small village high on a hill in the remote southwest corner of the country. With no roads available, Harold spent much time traveling by foot and pack mule getting acquainted with the different tribes of people, helping with medical service, establishing bush schools and sharing the Good News of Jesus. On their second furlough in 1965 Harold was sent to the School of World Mission at Fuller Seminary. Under the teaching of Dr. McGavarn as missiologist and Dr. Tippet as anthropologist, Harold’s understanding was radically changed on how and why the message of Jesus should be set free in the mother culture of every people group.  As a result, the Ethiopia Mission asked Harold to take responsibility for oversight of the mission program to bring them in line with the Biblical, anthropological and missiological principles he had learned. New mission work was begun in remote areas and Harold flew a mission plane for six years carrying out those responsibilities. During the last four years of the Kurtzes’ stay in Ethiopia, the country underwent a violent communist revolution.  They were forced to leave in 1977.  Following the fall of the communist regime, the sister church in Ethiopia, Mekene Yesus Church, has exploded to over four million members!

In 1977 Harold accepted a call to be pastor of the Kenton United Presbyterian Church in Portland, Oregon where he served for ten years. In 1982, along with his pastoral duties, he assumed responsibility as the Executive Director of the Presbyterian Frontier Fellowship. Through his efforts, the PCUSA has become a major player on the world mission scene in the area of cross-cultural evangelism among unreached peoples. (Unreached peoples are groups of people who do not have a viable church within their culture or who do not now have a witness of the Good News of Jesus Christ).  After his retirement as Executive Director of PFF in 2000, he began to serve the organization as Senior Associate.

PRESENT SERVICE TO THE CHURCH

Harold does extensive international travel in project development and speaks widely in churches and mission conferences. He also conducts seminars and teaches in “Perspectives On the World Christian Movement.”  Principles of indigenous church planting is his teaching theme both in the US and internationally. Harold is a story teller captivating his listeners with powerful images of how Jesus transforms lives and fulfills cultures. In all of this he bears witness to the fact that "the Gospel is out of control in the world." 

The need for a deep, life-transforming faith in Christ, and the world-wide dimensions of that faith, will always be the keynote of Harold's ministry.

Contact Harold at HaroldK@pff.net or 503.289.1865