There is very little information on Erma’s childhood. She grew up in the United Brethren Church, her father was elected a bishop in the Church of the United Brethren in Christ, and at some point in her early life, her family moved to Huntington, Indiana.

After high school, Ms. Funk attended Huntington College for one year. After one year at Huntington College, she returned to Pennsylvania, and continued her education at Shippensburg State Teachers College. After college she retained a teaching position in a York County School. It was during this time in Pennsylvania that she was licensed as a pastor in the Pennsylvania Annual Conference of the Church of the United Brethren in Christ.

Before Sister Funk was assigned a church, she felt the Lord calling her to mission work in Sierra Leone, where the United Brethren had an active mission. Ms. Erma Funk left for Sierra Leone for her first three-year term of service in 1944.

After a furlough, Rev. Funk returned to Sierra Leone in 1948. Accompanying her on the trip was Ms. Olive Weaver of Sherkston, Ontario. The purpose of their mission work was to start a girl's boarding school in Bonthe, Sherbro, Sierra Leone. The Minnie Mull Home and School for Girls provided lodging and education for girls, as well as education for men and women in the area who could take night classes.

The missionaries taught all subjects during the extent of their stay, as well as attending, and sometimes leading, the worship services in the village. They also made trips to neighboring villages to check up on them and make sure that the Gospel was being preached. For a little more than a year before she returned to the States, Erma Funk was serving as the Secretary of Education for the African Conference.

Sister Funk returned to the United States in 1955 where she planned on additional schooling prior to returning to Sierra Leone. She received a three-year Bible diploma from Huntington College in 1957. However she did not return to Sierra Leone as planned. In 1957 she was assigned the pastorate of Cold Springs United Brethren Church, in Fayettville, Pennsylvania which she served for one year. She was also ordained by the Pennsylvania Annual Conference that year. From 1959-1960, she taught public school while living in Greencastle, Pennsylvania. In 1961, she was a again assigned a pastorate, this time at Mt. Tabor United Brethren Church in Greencastle. Again, she only served a one-year appointment. She would continue teaching public school until 1970.

In 1971 Rev. Funk retired and moved back to the Huntington, Indiana. In 1977, due to an extensive illness, she would moved to a nursing home in Huntington, where she would remain for the remaining three years of her life. She passed away on December 24, 1980 at Huntington Memorial Hospital.

Erma Funk lived a life of service to God. She was a missionary, a minister, and a member of the Women's Missionary Society for many years, even serving as the General YPMB Counselor for a period. Her life was a sacrifice to the Lord.