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…
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…
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…
1789 HT: Dan Graves THE HONOR of evangelizing New England for the Methodists belongs to Jesse Lee. Charles Wesley preached in New England in 1736, before the Methodist movement could fairly be said to have gotten off the ground. During the next fifty years, a few other Methodists ventured into New England. None planted churches…
1744 HT: Dan Graves DAVID BRAINERD lived only twenty-nine years, but his faith was responsible for two major events. He helped trigger the formation of Princeton University (as the College of New Jersey) and converted many Seneca and Delaware Indians to Christianity. His journal and diary also had a powerful influence after his death. Born…
1632 John Owen graduates BA from Oxford University. He becomes one of the leading non-conformist preachers of his day and the author of many theological works. A Calvinist, he will strongly oppose Arminian views. 1923 Mildred Cable and the Chinese Trio leave Hwo Chow to set out for Central Asia, uncertain what and where the…
597 Death of Columba of Iona, influential Irish missionary to England. He had founded several monasteries which served as centers of faith and learning. 1790 HT: Dan Graves Robert Robinson, born September 27th, 1735, and died June 9th, 1790, was an English Dissident, prominent Baptist, and thinker who made a lifelong examination of the history…
1891 HT: Dan Graves Charles Haddon Spurgeon, “Prince of Preachers,” preached his last sermon at the Tabernacle in London on this day, June 7, 1891. Years before, his ministry had almost come to an early end. His congregation had grown so large they had to erect this special building to accommodate the crowds who came to hear him.…
1882 HT: Josh Weidmann In 1842 George and Jane Matheson had a child and named him George, obviously and proudly, after his father. His mother was the second cousin to his father, and they both resided in Glasgow, Scotland at the time George, their firstborn child, was birthed. He was the first of eight children, but the…