Long-time FCA minister, Harmon Alden Johnson, 87, of Brooklyn, NY, passed away on September 28, 2020, in Decatur, GA, due to complications from Parkinson’s disease. He was born May 22, 1933, in McGregor, Minnesota, to Alma and Arthur Johnson, a Minnesota pastor who later served serve Salem Gospel Tabernacle, an early FCA church in Brooklyn, New York.
Harmon attended North Central University (then North Central Bible College) in Minneapolis and was ordained to the ministry by Lake View Gospel Church in Chicago, Illinois in 1955. He served pastorates in Delavan, Wisconsin, and Montpelier, Vermont. At an interchurch rally in Vermont, he met Carol. They married on October 17, 1959.
Within two years, God opened the door for them to become missionaries to Brazil, where they lived on and off for 15 years. During those years, while earning an MA in Theology at Fuller Theological Seminary, Harmon served with Paul Zettersten as youth pastor at Immanuel Christian Assembly in Los Angeles and co-authored the book, Latin American Church Growth. An active member of the FCA, Harmon assisted Zettersten with editing Conviction magazine (later Fellowship Today) and served several other Fellowship churches.
After returning full-time from Brazil, Harmon pursued various ministries—as Dean at Salem Bible College in Brooklyn, New York; pastor of Christian Fellowship Church in Bergen County, New Jersey; editor for Edification Ministries, president of NUESTRA in Washington D.C.; Provost of the American University of the Caribbean in Haiti; and Vice President of Beulah Heights Bible College in Atlanta, Georgia. He was also member of the American Society for the Scientific Study of Religion, the American Society of Missiology, the American Society for Church History, and the Society for Pentecostal Studies.
Harmon believed training leaders occurs through discipleship, and he mentored hundreds of church and lay leaders over several decades and continents. He also had a passion for music, however, and conducted orchestras, choirs, and praise and worship teams. He is survived by his wife, Carol Johnson, two brothers, a sister, four children, ten grandchildren, and 15 great-grandchildren.
The family hopes to hold a memorial service for Harmon in May of 2021, circumstances permitting.
