Jackson Biggers
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Jackson Biggers | |
|---|---|
| Bishop of Northern Malawi | |
| Church | Church of the Province of Central Africa Episcopal Church |
| Diocese | Northern Malawi |
| In office | 1995 – 2000 |
| Successor | Christopher Boyle |
| Orders | |
| Ordination | 1963 (diaconate) 1964 (priesthood) by John Allin |
| Consecration | 4 April 1995 by Walter Khotso Makhulu |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 16 May 1937 Corinth, Mississippi, USA |
| Denomination | Anglican |
| Alma mater | University of Mississippi (B.A.) Sewanee: The University of the South (B.D.) |
Jackson Cunningham Biggers (born 16 May 1937) is an American Anglican missionary bishop. Ordained as an Episcopal priest, he spent much his career in Malawi and served as the first Bishop of Northern Malawi in the Church of the Province of Central Africa in the 1990s.
Biggers was born in 1937 in Corinth, Mississippi to a farmer and hardware store owner. After graduating from public schools in Corinth, he attended Georgetown University before receiving a B.A. from the University of Mississippi in 1960. Biggers went on to the School of Theology at the University of the South, graduating in 1963. Biggers was ordained to the diaconate in the Episcopal Diocese of Mississippi in 1963 while serving at St. James' Episcopal Church in Jackson, then to the priesthood by Bishop John Allin in 1964.[1]
Missionary to Malawi
Sermons preached at Sewanee by Bishops Stephen Neill and Donald Arden fueled Biggers' interest in overseas missions and Malawi in particular. He relocated to the Diocese of Malawi in 1964, initially serving for two years as rector of St. Peter's, Lilongwe, as well as chaplain to suffragan bishop Josiah Mtekateka.[1] Biggers returned to the United States after being called as rector of Church of the Redeemer in Biloxi in 1970, then returned to Malawi as the first archdeacon of Lilongwe in 1972.[2][1] He was the only non-Malawian priest in the diocese at that time.[citation needed]
In July 1974, Biggers' work permit was abruptly revoked and he was exiled by the autocratic Hastings Banda government. He returned to the United States, where he assisted then-Presiding Bishop John M. Allin in New York.[2] He briefly served in the Diocese of the Bahamas and the Turks and Caicos Islands before accepting a call to return as rector of Church of the Redeemer in Biloxi, where he remained until 1994.