Dr. Grace Susanna (Herr) Holland

Grace Susanna Herr Holland, faithful servant of Christ, beloved missionary, author, and intercessor, joyously entered Heaven on October 9, 2025 surrounded by the presence and peace of the Lord she loved and served so dearly. 

Born October 7, 1932, in Englewood, Ohio, to Ohmer Ulery Herr and Anna Rozella (Boyer) Herr, Grace’s life was shaped from the beginning by Christian service, prayer and devotion in her home and at the Fairview Brethren in Christ (BIC) church where her father pastored. Her mother recorded that she came to Christ at an early age, showing a tender and sincere heart toward God — one that remained steadfast throughout her lifetime. Grace sensed as a young girl her calling to missionary work. 

She studied education at Messiah College where she met her husband Fred Holland. Together, Fred and Grace served for 23 years as missionaries with the Brethren in Christ (BIC) in Zimbabwe and Zambia, where they taught at Wanezi Bible Institute, Zimbabwe, and Sikalongo Bible Institute, Zambia, and developed Text Africa TEE (Theological Education by Extension). Over the decades, Grace authored and edited a complete curriculum of 43 TEE books, many translated into more than 200 languages, equipping generations of leaders around the world. Fred and Grace traveled around the world doing seminars and training for TEE and church planting. 

A gifted teacher and scholar, she earned a Master’s degree from Fuller Seminary and a Doctor of Missiology from Trinity Theological Seminary and served as a professor at Ashland Theological Seminary for almost 20 years. After retirement, she enjoyed anything to do with missions and prayer and when the two came together, even better. She enjoyed teaching the World Christian Movement course in the Directed Study Program, BIC US and served for many years on the BIC US Commission for World Missions and in the Missionary Development Community.

In 1986, Grace became the first woman to present a message at the Brethren in Christ General Conference, and in the early 1990s, she coauthored the denomination’s position paper on women in ministry leadership, shaping its enduring commitment to affirming God’s call to all believers.

Grace maintained deep friendships and cultivated spiritual connections with neighbors and friends and was known for inviting people over for tea. She treasured her friends and pastors at Dillsburg Brethren in Christ Church (DBIC). Her main ministry in later years was prayer. She spent most of her recent years praying for missionaries around the world and local friends, and spent hours on her computer communicating with people, reading prayer letters and participating in online prayer meetings like the BIC Wednesday morning call and Saturday evening BIC Japan fellowship. The evening before her death she participated normally in her regular DBIC Wednesday evening zoom prayer meeting. During the last decade of her life she became involved as an intercessor with the ministry of Peace Promise - an organization dedicated to restoring women who are victims of sex trafficking. 

In her autobiography, Planting Seeds: A Missionary Story, Grace wrote, “Because I came into this world on the power of prayer, it became the fervent centerpiece of my life.” Her life indeed bore abundant fruit — the fruit of a heart wholly yielded to God.

Grace cherished her children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren and loved to get together with extended family. This past July she attended the Herr reunion with 70 relatives coming together. She loved music and sang solos and in quartets and choirs in high school, college and church. An avid gardener, she continued to care for both vegetable and flower gardens to her last day.

Grace was preceded in death by her beloved husband, Fred Holland, her son Stephen and her older brother, Samuel and sister-in-law Leola (Paul). She is survived by her siblings Ruth (John) Pawelski, and Paul Herr, and sister-in-law Evelyn, and numerous nieces and nephews, sons Phil (Joelle), Mike (Sherry), and Mark (Annette), ten grandchildren and twenty-one great-grandchildren. A celebration of Grace’s life and ministry will be held on November 1, 2025 at the Mechanicsburg Brethren in Christ Church, 1050 S. York Street, Mechanicsburg, PA 17055  at 11:00 a.m. An Open Visitation time with the family will precede the service, beginning at 9:00 a.m. In lieu of flowers, the family is inviting donations in honor of Grace to be made to BIC US World Missions.