| Honorific Prefix: | The Reverend |
| Edgar Louton | |
| Birth Name: | Edgar Myron Louton |
| Birth Date: | 13 December 1933 |
| Birth Place: | Grosse Pointe, Michigan, U.S. |
| Alma Mater: | Columbia International University |
| Years Active: | 1958 - present |
| Notable Works: | The Crisis of Christian Credibility in South Africa (1980) |
| Children: | 4 |
| Relatives: | Adam Oster (great-grandfather) |
| Signature: | E M Louton sig.svg |
Edgar Myron Louton[1] (; born December 13, 1933) is an American missionary.
Louton was born in Michigan, first traveled to South Africa in 1951 at the age of 17 and was ordained by the Assemblies of God in 1956. He began his own ministry in South Africa in 1958[2] [3] [4] and remains one of the longest ordained ministers in the organization and one of the longest-serving Pentecostal missionaries, in a career spanning seven decades.[5]
Louton was born on December 13, 1933 in Grosse Pointe, Michigan, near Detroit. He was the second of three children born to the Reverend Albert Gordon Louton (1902 - 1985) and Louise Rettinger Louton (1904 - 1967).[6]
In Detroit, he studied violin under renowned music tutor William Engel. After his parents pursued mission work in South Africa in 1951, he graduated from South African Bible Institute,[7] Central Bible College and Columbia International University, with a Master of Arts degree.
He returned to the United States in 1956,[8] where he was ordained and began his own mission work in Hout Bay, Cape Town in 1958. He then worked for six years among the Basuto people, spending part of the time in Basutoland.[9] During the late 1950s, Louton’s visits back to the Midwestern United States were frequent.[10] [11] [12] [13] [14] [15] [16] [17] In the press he was portrayed favorably, first as an “outstanding young missionary,” and later as a “veteran missionary.”
During the early years of his ministry, he befriended Nicholas Bhengu, who Time called the “Black Billy Graham.”[18]
Louton was active around South Africa and gained much prominence during the 1960s. His involvement included distribution of Christian literature and music. He began to hold influence within his denomination, first as the director of the Assemblies of God Youth program, and then as the District Superintendent of the Northern Transvaal.[19]
He vocally opposed Apartheid and cut ties with his organization over this in 1980, after his publication of an anti-Apartheid academic paper entitled The Crisis of Christian Credibility in South Africa. He resumed his mission work in the country in 1986, lecturing at a mission college before entering semi-retirement in 2008.[20] [21] [22]
Louton's ministry has been endorsed by large churches in the Midwestern United States.[23]
Louton married Barbara Ann Hughes, the daughter of the Reverend Ralph P. Hughes on February 1, 1958. The couple has four children.[24] [25]