1315 (traditional date) Death by stoning of mystic and missionary Raymond Lull in Bougie, North Africa (Tunisia). He had been persuaded by a vision to seek the conversion of Muslims, had founded a school to train men to the task, and had studied Islamic culture. 1900 HT: Dan Graves Our missionaries have remained with us;…
Here’s this week’s inspirational delve into the past by Paul James-Griffiths of Christian Heritage Edinburgh Image: Oswald Chambers (1874-1917), contemporary photograph, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons In faraway Cairo, a much-loved chaplain to the armed forces was laid to rest in 1917 with full military honours. Here soldiers, civilians and local people alike mourned the passing…
HT: Christian History Institute In 1900, rising anti-Western feeling in China led to the Boxer (Thunder-fist) massacre of westerners, many of them Christian missionaries. Hard hit was Taiyuan in the Shanxi province of northern China, where many Chinese Christians and at least forty-five foreign missionaries were executed in July. Among them was Dr. Arnold E.…
1836 HT: Christian History Institute Alexander Duff was a Scotsman who became a missionary educator in Calcutta, India, serving there for much of the nineteenth century. He set up his first school under a banyan tree and within two years had over a thousand students. However, he saw few conversions. Nonetheless, his educational methods inspired reform…
1776 HT: Christian History Institute John Newton was a slaver when he became a Christian. Some years after leaving the slave trade, he became a staunch anti-slavery man, a Minister in the Church of England, and the author of the hymn “Amazing Grace.” He also counseled people by letter. On this day, 20 June, 1776, he wrote…
Here’s this week’s inspirational delve into the past by Paul James-Griffiths of Christian Heritage Edinburgh. In the Gospels we find the two brothers James and John together for Christ’s cause; in Scottish church history it is Revd Andrew Bonar (1810-1892) and his brother Revd Horatius Bonar (1808-1889) who stand out. These brothers were key leaders behind…
On the anniversary of the birth of the Prince of Preachers in 1834, I’ll post a couple of great articles by others about this great man. HT: Geoff Chang C. H. Spurgeon, maybe more than any pastor, knew how busy pastoral ministry can be. In addition to preaching four times a week, he led his…
1745 David Brainerd commences his influential journal when he begins to preach to the Indians at Crossweeksung (in New Jersey). 1787 Death in Haddington of John Brown, a Scottish pastor, author of the Self-Interpreting Bible—a Bible with many marginal notes and comparison of one Scripture to another. He had been a pastor who instructed his…
On the anniversary of the birth of the Prince of Preachers in 1834, I’ll post a couple of great articles by others about this great man. HT: Philip Ort Who is Charles Haddon Spurgeon? Known as the “Prince of Preachers,” this Victorian, Calvinistic, Baptist minister testified as a powerful gospel witness in his time, but…
1896 HT: Dan Graves MAMIYELI MITSEKI GWAMBE was twelve when he left his family village in Mozambique to find work and get an education in South Africa. Living in the slums of Cape Town, he was appalled at the drunkenness and vice he witnessed, and resolved never to imbibe alcohol. The Cowley fathers (members of…