Edgar MILLER

MILLER, EDGAR (b. Mintaro, SA, 1893, d. Adelaide, SA, 1971). Methodist clergyman.

Edgar Miller's schooldays and teen years were spent at Broken Hill. At the age of 20 he felt called to full-time ministry and became a Home Missionary for the Methodist Church on Kangaroo Island. In 1915 he was accepted as a candidate for the ministry by the SA Methodist Conference. It soon became apparent that he had outstanding evangelistic gifts.

He served faithfully in both country and suburban parishes and retired from active ministry in 1961. However, Edgar Miller was never content merely to fulfil a church maintenance role. He spoke at open-air meetings at a time when the majority of his colleagues no longer followed that practice. He was always an evangelist and aligned himself with groups like the Evangelization Society of SA. He also served for a term at the Fitzroy Mission in Melbourne where he worked with the fervent and often controversial Walter Betts (q.v.).

At times he was something of a voice crying in the wilderness, for he had emphases which were not common among his fellow ministers. In particular he laid great stress on the work of the Holy Spirit several decades before the charismatic movement began to make this a familiar feature of Australian church life. A number of young people who later had significant ministries both as ministers and laity owned their own vision and call to Edgar Miller. His vision and his passion are summed up in a phrase he often used. He longed for 'a unifying, purifying, evangelizing movement of the Holy Spirit in the whole church, throughout the whole world'.

After his retirement he made a significant contribution as chaplain to Vaughan House, the SA government institution 'for wayward girls', believing as he did that every human being is significant and redeemable.

ARTHUR JACKSON