Dr. Fred Metzger was born in the early 1920 to German-Hungarian parents in Budapest, Hungary. He was baptized in 1920 in the Evangelical Reformed Church in Hungary, educated in the Reformed Church and ordained in 1941.

On April 9, 1939 he won third prize in an international contest subtitled “Christ and World-friendship” in Geneva, originated by Dietrich Bonhoffer.

Dr. Metzger was appointed as a staff-member of the Good Shepherd Commission of the General Assembly in 1943 to offer protection to persecuted Jews.

After the war he was one of the three secretaries of the World’s Evangelical Alliance in Hungary, and by General Assembly appointment, Evangelist at Large of the Evangelical Reformed Church in Hungary.

In 1949 Dr. Metzger was married to Margaret Friesen, a Canadian evangelist, and a few months later he was ordered out of Hungary as an alien by the Communist Government.

In 1949-1950 Fred & Margaret Metzger worked in refugee camps in West Germany under the World Council of Churches.

Form 1951 to 1956 they established Hungarian speaking congregations in Edmonton, Alberta Canada and Vancouver, BC Canada under the Presbyterian Church in Canada.

In 1956, after the outbreak of the Hungarian Revolution, Dr. Metzger was appointed as a Church representative and also a special Immigration Officer by the Canadian Government to screen and escort over 4,000 Hungarian refugees from Vienna to Canada. He then became Pastor of Calvin Hungarian Presbyterian Church, Vancouver.

From 1958 to 1962 Dr. Metzger was a Faculty member of the Vancouver Bible Institute.

From 1963 to 1969 he was Chaplain of Central City Mission, Vancouver. At that time it was the largest shelter for homeless men in Canada.

In 1966 Dr. Metzger Founded and became Executive Director of the Westminster Foundation for Mental Health, providing clinical training for pastoral counseling to over 300 clergy of all denominations. He was a founding director of the Vancouver Crisis and Suicide Prevention Centre and is an accredited member of the Canadian Council for Pastoral Counseling.

From 1966 to 1969 Dr. Metzger was the Social Action convener and later the president of the Vancouver and District Council of Churches.

From 1967 to 1977 he conducted annual study-tours to the Bible Lands, and received the Terra Sancta and the Silver Tourism 25th Anniversary Medal from the Israeli Government.

On September 18, 1984 Dr. Metzger received the Pilgrim's Medal from Pope John Paul II on his visit to Canada.

In October 1997 Fred Metzger was honoured by the Presbyterian College of the University of McGill with a Doctor of Divinity (honoris causa) degree.

In 1967 Dr. Metzger founded and became the Executive Director of the Biblical Museum of Canada – Quest Exhibits, a historical museum presenting man’s search for meaning from Stone Age to Space Age.

_____________________________ THE BIBLICAL MUSEUM OF CANADA- QUEST EXHIBITS has been a member in good standing of the Canadian Museum Association since 1980.