Portrait of Sarah Faris. IMB Photo

Sarah Faris, an International Mission Board missionary emeritus who shared the gospel in Brazil, died July 17, 2026, in Albuquerque, New Mexico. She was 93.  

Sarah was born July 4, 1933, in Oxford, North Carolina, to the late James Faucette Bullock and Helen Farabow Bullock. She graduated from McClenaghan High School in Florence, South Carolina, and attended Winthrop College, Rock Hill, South Carolina, and Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, School of Church Music, in Louisville, Kentucky, before receiving the Bachelor of Music Education from University of New Mexico, Albuquerque. 

She married Kent Faris on June 18, 1955. They lived and worked for three years in Charlotte, North Carolina, where Kent was assistant pastor of Pritchard Memorial Baptist Church. In 1958, they applied to the Home Mission Board (now North American Mission Board) and worked among the Laguna and Acoma American Indian tribes in New Mexico.  

While seeking missionary appointment Sarah wrote, “During this time both of us have realized the appeal of the masses and have felt that God needs us to tell many others throughout the world of his eternal love and saving grace. And so, our call to foreign missions!” 

In 1966, the International Mission Board appointed Kent and Sarah missionaries to Brazil, where they served for more than two decades.  

Sarah was preceded in death by her husband of 66 years, the Rev. Kent Faris. 

She is survived by her three children, their spouses, six grandchildren, and 13 great-grandchildren.  

A funeral service will be held Aug. 6 at French Funerals & Cremations in Albuquerque, with burial in Laguna-Acoma Baptist Indian Mission Cemetery, Cubero.  

Read an obituary here.