I am a retired teacher who wrote 7 photocopiable books for Teachers and one book for children Union Jack Colouring Book.
The 7books covered Geography, History (Medieval/ Tudor/ Stuart), Travel and Transport, Myself and Events (this included diaries), Race Against Time Stories (SATS based), Church Dates for Children plus Nature and Seasons (including Sport). These 7 books have been mainly broken into a number of segments.
Challenging the Physical Elements, my Geography book, is complete.
I am a retired teacher who wrote 7 photocopiable books for Teachers and one book for children Union Jack Colouring Book.
The 7books covered Geography, History (Medieval/ Tudor/ Stuart), Travel and Transport, Myself and Events (this included diaries), Race Against Time Stories (SATS based), Church Dates for Children plus Nature and Seasons (including Sport). These 7 books have been mainly broken into a number of segments.
Challenging the Physical Elements, my Geography book, is complete.
John was born in Sturton- le Steeple, Nottinghamshire. He was educated at Gainsborough grammar schol and at Christ’s College, Cambridge where he became a fellow in 1594.
In 1594 he was also ordained as an Anglican priest. Between 1600-1602 he preached in Lincoln. In 1606 he broke with the Church of England and became minister at Gainsborough, Lincolnshire, to a group of who also had abandoned the C. of E… He then spent 2 years with John Robinson where they helped organize the Separatists in Nottinghamshire.
In 1608 the two Johns, with their followers,fled to Amsterdam in Holland. which was known for its religious tolerance. There they all began to study the Bible ardently.
John Smyth then took it upon himself to baptize himself. He recited a confession of faith then baptized himself and then baptized all his followers.This brazen act scandalized even those who despised England’s state church. Amsterdam Separatist, Richard Bernard, nicknamed him ‘So-Baptist’ - self baptizer. His followers preferred ’ Christians Baptized on Profession of their Faith’. The derogatory ‘so-baptist’ later shortened to ‘Baptist’, stuck.
John insisted that true worship was from the heart and so the liturgy was abandoned - no readings from the Bible John wanted prayer, singing and preaching to be completely spontaneous. This idea stemmed from the belief that worship should be ordered by the Holy Spirit.
Church leadership would be just 2 fold- pastor and deacon.
In 1609 they came to believe in believer’s baptism- rejecting infant baptism- and they came together to form one of the earliest Baptist churches. He was convinced that believer’s baptism and a free church, gathered by covenant, was foundational for the church.
Before his death, in 1612, he wrote a letter of apology, regretting that he had baptized himself. By then Thomas Helwys had returned to England to form the first permanent Baptist church in 1611,
I have included, from Amazon, details about *The True story of John Smyth. the Se-baptist, as Told by himself and his Contemporaries (1881) *
Sources used
Britannica Online Encyclopedia
Christian History
Francis was born in Hamstead Bridge, Staffordshire, England. He became the the first bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church in the USA.
After limited schooling - aged 12 he worked as a blacksmith’s apprentice. By the age of 14 he had been ‘awakened’ in he Christian faith.
He attended Methodist meetings where he soon began to preach and soon became a licensed as a preacher. Aged just 21 he was admitted to the Wesleyan Conference.He served 4 years in England as an itinerant preacher.
In 1771 John Wesley asked,* Our brethren in America call aloud for help. Who is willing to go over and help them?* Francis stepped forward. October 1771 John landed in Philadelphia. On landing he hit the road so hard he became ill.
For the NEXT 45 years he suffered illnesses - colds, coughs ,fevers ,headaches , ulcers and eventually chronic rheumatism.Yet he continued to preach. He covered something like 8,000 km, each year, for 45 years on horseback - in later years he used a carriage. He crossed the Alleghenies mountain range - part of the Appalachian system 60 times.
Ezra Tipple, his biographer summed up Francis’ style of sermons with these words Under the rush of his utterances, people sprang to their feet as if summoned to the judgment bar of God.
During the Revolutionary war -the War of American Independence (1775-83) he stayed silent.
After the war Wesley ordained Thomas Coke as his American Superintendent.
The famous Baltimore 'Christmas Conference of 1784 gave birth to the American Methodist Episcopal Church. Coke ordained Francis as deacon, then elder. On December 27th, elected by his peers, he was consecrated as superintendent. Francis in 1785 used the term ‘bishop’. Coke 6 months later returned to England.
Francis now held the reins of American Methodism. Francis was very good at organizing. He created districts which would be served by circuit riders- preachers who travelled from church to church to preach and minister. In the late 1700s 95% of Americans lived in places with less than 2,500 inhabitants.
Besides preaching and administration he was also against slavery. He petitioned George Washington to enact antislavery legislation. He launched 5 schools and promoted Sunday schools.
On his arrival there were 3 meeting places and 300 communicants The growth of the church was largely the result of his strenuous efforts. By the time of his death there were 412 Methodist churches with a membership of 214,235.
His efforts did much to assure the continuance of the Methodist Episcopal Church in the USA.
For his lasting Legacy and Honours read enclosed sheet.
In 1958 his Journal and Letters were published in 3 volumes
Sources
Christianity Today
Britannica Online Encyclopedia
SMU Bridwell Library Perkins School of Theology
Thomas and Alexander Campbell were a father and son team.
Thomas (1763-1854) Alexander (1788-1866)
As a family they were going to immigrate to the USA. Thomas was going first
Alexander, the son, and the rest of the family were delayed further because their ship was shipwrecked. They had to spend an extra year in Scotland. The 19 year old started to preach and study at the University of Glasgow. He was disgusted by the theological pettiness in Presbyterianism. He refused communion. His father was coming to the same conclusion. When the family finally met up in Pennsylvania they agreed there was a lack of scriptural support for infant baptism.
Thomas Campbell published in 1809 the Declaration and Address off the Christian Association of Washington. He was stripped of his ministerial credentials by the Presbyterian Synod. In the declaration he set forth some of the convictions about the church as he organized the Christian Association of Washington not as a church but an association.
Thomas’ son Alexander, having immigrated to the USA, joined his father in 1809 and before long assumed the leading role in the movement.
4th May 1811 saw the Christian association constituted as a congregational governed church. They be the practice baptism of adults by immersion. They constructed building at Brush Run- it became the Brush Run Church. They worked with the Redstone Baptist Association (RBA) from 1815-1824.
Alexander began publishing a journal -The Christian Baptist which promoted reform which caused conflict with RBA. Those following the Campbells were called* Reforming Baptists* Alexander preferred ‘disciples’ Opponents were
nicknamed ‘Campbellites.’
Merger with the Christians (Stone Movement) - read paragraph.
The Stone and Campbell movements merged on 1st January, 1832.
Christians or Disciples of Christ . The confusion over names still exist.
Sources
Christianity Today
wikipedia
Richard Allen was a minister, educator, writer and one of the USAs most active and influential black leaders.
He was born into slavery on February 14th 1760 in Delaware. As a child he was sold to Stokley Sturgis. He began to attend the local Methodist Society which welcomed slaves and free blacks. He taught himself to read and write. He joined the Methodist at 17 and began evangelizing which attracted criticism from local slave owners. He and his brother worked hard for Sturgis so no one could say his slaves did not do well because of their religion.
The Revd. Freeborn Garrettson, who had freed his own slaves, came to preach in Delaware in 1775. Stugis became convinced slavery was wrong and gave his slaves the opportunity to buy their freedom. Richard did extra work and bought his freedom in 1780. He changed his name from ‘Negro Richard’ to’ Richard Allen’.
Richard qualified as a preacher in 1784 at the Christmas Conference -the founding of the Methodist Church in North America. He was one of two black attendees - neither were allowed to vote- but Richard lead the 5 a.m. services.
1786 Richard became a preacher at St. George’s Methodist Episcopal Church in Philadelphia bur restricted to early morning services. He attracted more black members and was ordered to met them in a separate area for worship. He preached on the commons and had meeting of nearly 50 worshippers.
Richard and Absalom Jones resented the segregation so they left the church and formed the Free African Society (FAS) a non-denominational mutual aid society.
Richard. In 1787 they purchased a plot of land but it was years before they had a building- now the Mother Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church.
Richard wanted to continue in the Methodist practice. on 29th July 1794 the leaders opened the doors of Bethel AME Church. White ministers still had to administer communion. Richard was ordained the first black Methodist minister by Bishop Francis Asbury in 1799. By 1809 it had 457 members, by 1813 it had 1,272.
In 1816 Richard united 5 African-American congregations and founded the African Methodist Episcopal Church (AME). 10th April 1816 Richard was elected their first bishop.
September 1830 saw black representatives from 7 states convene in Philadelphia at the Bethel AME church for the first Negro Convention. Richard presided over the meeting. The 1830 meeting was the beginning of an organizational effort known as the Negro Convention Movement.
From 1787 until his death in 1831 Richard, and his second wife Sarah, operated a station on the Underground Railroad for fugitive slaves.
His preaching style was rarely expository or written down.
Richard died at home on 26th March 1831. He was buried in the church he founded.
In 2002 Molefi Kete Asante named Richard as one of the top 100 Greatest African-Americans.
The AME church today (2020) has 2.5 and 3 million members.
Sources used
Britannica Online Encyclopedia
New Georgia Encyclopedia
wikipedia
George was an Americcan clergyman who was pastor of the First CHurch of Dallas , Texas from 1897- 1944 - nearly half a century. He was the president of both the Southern Baptist Convention ( 1927-9) and the Baptist World Alliance (1934-9) .
He had a sudden conversion at a revival camp meeting in 1886. His dream was to be a lawyer
In 1887, aged just 20, he founded the Hiawassee Academy - a rural mountain school where he served as principal. In 1889 he moved with his parents to Whitewright in Texas. He joined the Baptist church there and attended Grayson College.
George began to get involved - he taught Sunday School and ‘filled in’ when the pastor was away. The church recognized his talent and made the decision for him. (Read * I was thrown into the stream and just had to swim. )
What over welling support from the congregation!
By 1890 he had already gained a reputation for being able to speak like the famous preacher Charles Spurgeon according to the Reverend Fernando C. McConnell. His remarkable voice made him audible to large crowds without the aid of an amplifying system.
1890 he was ordained into the Baptist ministry at Whitewright. In nearby Sherman he preached his first sermon.
In 1891 Baylor University were looking for a financial agent to help correct a debt. George’s pastor, R.F. Jenkins, wrote a letter recommending him to B.H.Carroll - a Baylor trustee- and George was called for an interview.
The trustees thought he was too young. Before they could dismiss him George stood up and demanded that they at least let him make his case. They listened; the job was his. (Read A preacher on the Rise)
In 1893 he enrolled as a freshman at Baylor. He served as a student-pastor of the East Waco Baptist church to pay for his tuition. He graduated in June 1897 with an A.B. degree and became pastor at First Baptist Church in Dallas. He stayed for 47 years - until he death . His preaching made him famous. The church rebuilt 3 times - membership rose from 715 to 7,804.
George was 1 of 20 preachers chosen by President Woodrow-Wilson to go to Europe for 6 months during WW1. He delivered as many as 6 sermons a day.
During his 47 year pastorate he published 10 volumes of sermons, 2 volumes of addresses and 2 Volumes of Christmas messages.
George’s famous sermons* Baptists and Religious Liberty* were delivered on the steps of Washington May 16, 1920.
For 37 years he made trips to preach to cattle drives in the Davis Mountains- concerned cowboys were too isolated.
He was involved with the Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. He chaired the committee seeking to find a location. Fort Worth, Texas was chosen.
1910 - 1944 he remained on the board of trustees and president from 1931-1944.
There is a biography to buy-see Amazon advert.
The George W. Truett Theological Seminary was founded in his memory in 1993.
He was one of the most famous Southern baptist preacher and writer of his era.
Sources
wikipedia
SBTS
Margaret’ s maiden name was Askew.
She married Thomas Fell , a barrister, Justice of the peace and member of Parliament in 1632. He died in 1658.
11 years later she then married George Fox, the founder of the Quakers, in 1669.
Margaret was a founder of the Religious Society of Friends. She is popularly remembered as the mother of Quakerism. She was one of the ‘Valiant Sixty’ of the early quaker preachers and missionaries.
The Fell’s lived at Swarthmoor Hall. June, 1652, George Fox visited the hall. Over the next few weeks he convinced the household to become Quakers. For the next 6 years the hall became a centre of Quaker activity. Margaret became the unofficial secretary, wrote many epistles, and collected and distributed funds for those on missions.
On her husband’s death she retained control of the Hall. It remained a meeting place and haven from persecution, though sometimes raided by government forces in th 1660s.
After the Stuart Restoration, as a member of the gentry, she sought to get freedom of conscience in religious matters (1660 and 1662).
In 1664 she was arrested for failing to take an oath. She was sentenced to life imprisonment(?) and loss of Swarthmoor Hall. While in prison in Lancaster Castle she wrote religious pamphlets and epistles.* Women’s Speaking Justified’ was her most famous work. In total she wrote, or co-authored - at least 23 works
Released in 1668 she married George Fox in 1669. She is then imprisoned for breaking Conventicle Act. George went to USA and on returning in 1673 imprisoned for 2 years. 1975 spent a year together at Swarthmoor Hall.
George then spent most of the next 16 years abroad or in London. He died in 1691. Margaret spent her time at the Hall. She died aged 87 on the 23rd April 1702. She lived to see partial tolerance of Quakers in the 1690s.
The first part of the novel * The Peaceable Kingdom* by Jan de Hartog looks at Margaret’s meeting with George Fox and her conversion
Sources used
wikipedia
Quaker Tapestry
Elizabeth Hooton was an English dissenter and one of the earliest preachers in the Religious Society of Friends - the Quakers. She was the first woman to become a Quaker minister. Elizabeth was born in Ollerton, Nottingham, her maiden name was Elizabeth Carrier.
She married Oliver Hooten in 1628 and moved to Skegby. By 1646, when George Fox came to Skegby, she had become part of the baptist community. Meeting George was to change her whole life.
Initially against the wishes of her husband, she began to organize meetings at their house where the remnants of her Baptist group could hear George’s ministry. This group became known as the Children of Light.
She was one of the first to be convinced by the teachings of George Fox. Some sources suggest that Fox actually clarified some of his beliefs by being mentored by Elizabeth. She was one of the original Valiant Sixty.
For her beliefs she was beaten, imprisoned, assaulted, whipped and abandoned. In 1651 she was imprisoned for reproving - talking disrespectfully about - a priest. 1652 she ended in York Castle prison for preaching to a congregation at the end of a service. Assaulted in Selston by a church minister who knew she was a Quaker.
In the USA she travelled to Boston and Massachusetts. In both places she was abandoned.
She petitioned King Charles 11. He gave her a letter authorizing her to settle anywhere in the American colonies and to set up a safe house for Quakers. In Boston she was expelled; in Cambridge she was whipped.
Back in England she spent 5 months in jail for disturbing a congregation.
Her final voyage was to the West Indies and the USA with George Fox in 1670. In 1672, a week after arriving in Jamaica she died peacefully.
*Elizabeth Hooton, a woman of great age, who had travelled much in Truth’s service, and suffered much for it, departed this life. She was well the day before she died, and departed in peace, like a lamb, bearing testimony to Truth at her departure George Fox
Sources used
wikipedia
Quakers of the World
Gardner was the grandson of emancipated slaves. His father Rev. Washington M. Taylor was a Baptist pastor. He grew up in the segregated South of the early 20th century. He was admired for his eloquence of speech -hence his nickname ‘dean’.
Gardner wanted to be a lawyer. He received a football scholarship to Leland College. He served as as a chauffeur for the president of Leland, Dr. James A. Bacoats, a friend of his father’s. At the time he was struggling with the call to the ministry - he just received an acceptance to the University of Michigan Law School.
A car accident changed his mind. He was driving Dr. Bacoats car when another car veered across the highway. He slammed on the brakes and steered towards a ditch. One man was dead or dying. At the inquest two white witnesses said Gardner was not responsible for the fatal accident.
This near brush with death turned Gardner’s mind. That summer he acknowledged his call to the ministry.
Before going to college he had already been the pastor of Bethany Baptist Church in Elyria, Ohio (1938-41). He graduated from Oberlin College School of Theology in 1940 and began a lifetime of preaching and civil rights activism. He was only the third, of African- American decent, to graduate from Oberlin. In May he married laura Bell Scott.
He ministered at two more churches ,Beulah Baptist(1943) and his father’s former congregation at Mount Zion Baptist Church, before becoming the pastor at Concord Baptist Church of Christ (CBCC) in March,1948. He was just 29. It had the second largest membership in America- 5,000 ; under Gardner’s leadership it grew to 10,000.
In 1952 the beloved edifice of Concorde fire. They were without a facility for 4 years. ** 13** years later, 1965 they entered their new 2,200 sanctuary at a cost of 1,7 million $.
Gardner retired as pastor of CBCC in 1990 after 42 years, The congregation gave him the title of senior pastor emeritus, He lived for another 15 years. He died on 5th April, 2015 , aged 96, he ‘crossed the Jordan’.
In 1958 he became only the second black member of the New York City Board of education -on board for 3 years - he attacked segregation in the city schools.
Gardner was a close friend and mentor of Martin Luther King Jr. and played a prominent role in the Civil rights Movement in the 1960s. In 1961 he founded the Progressive National Baptist Convention (PNBC) - a new national fellowship for Black baptists., with Martin L.K.Jr… He was president for (1967/9).
Gardner gave lectures and sermons at universities and churches all over the USA. as well as in the U.K. Denmark , Australia , China and Japan. During his life time he received 15 honorary degrees. On August 9th, 2000 he received from Bill Clinton the Presidential medal of Freedom.
(To understand Garner’s method of preaching you need to read* *Preaching **-
the last page and a half of the notes I have included).
Sources used
wikipedia
Martin Luther King research
Jerry Laymon Falwell Sr. was an American religious leader, televangelist and founder of the Moral Majority.
He accepted Jesus in 1952. He was a good athlete and entered Lynchburg College but transfered to Baptist Bible College in Springfield, Missouri,and graduated in 1956.
In the same year he founded and stayed at Thomas Road Baptist Church in Lynchburg. The congregation grew from a modest 35 members to 20,000 by his death. He also started to broadcast his sermons on the Old Time Gospel Hour- a radio and television programme . This quickly moved from local, to national, to international and claimed 50 million viewers.
He founded the Lynchburg Christian Academy in 1967. In 1971 he founded and led Liberty Baptist College - later Liberty University - a fundamentalist Christian University, until his death.
Jerry created a Christian media empire. In 1995 he started the monthly National Liberty Journal for evangelical Christians. In 2002 he created the Liberty Channel a satellite based network which offers a variety of content all from a Christian perspective.
He also wrote more than 12 books. He shared his faith and ideas in Champion of the Gods (1985) and The New American Family (1992).
Throughout his career he engendered controversy on a number of topics and was perceived as intolerant or bigoted. This included his thought on abortion, feminism, gay and lesbian rights,homosexuality/ AIDS and other causes.
Jerry is perhaps best known for his political activism. He founded in 1979 the Moral Majority organization which mobilized religious voters… It grew to have millions of supporters and was credited in helping Republican Ronald Reagan become president in 1980. He disbanded it in 1989 - Jerry said it had accomplished its mission. In 2004 however, buoyed by George W. Bush’s success he founded the Faith and Values Coalition- which became the Moral Majority Coalition. He wanted to keep the evangelical movement as a strong force in politics.
Jerry had health problems in 2005 and was hospitalized twice. On 15th May, 2007 he died, having been discovered unconscious in his office at the school.
He had a marked impact, sometimes controversially , on both American religious and political life, in the late 20th century.
Sources used
Britannia Online Encyclopedia
Biography.com/personality/jerry-falwell
Dr. D. James Kennedy. an American evangelist, was dedicated to spreading conservative Christianity through his broadcasts on radio and the outreach programs he established.
On Sunday, 5th September, 1953, he began his Christian life. He heard , on the radio this question from a preacher - *Suppose you were to die today and stand before God and he was to ask you, What right do you have to enter M y heaven?
He was converted to Christ and shortly later into the Gospel ministry.
Dr. Kenny served 47 years as Senior Minister of Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church (CRPC) in Fort Lauderdale. When he arrived in 1959 his congregation was about 40, it grew to more than 10,000. For 15 years the rocketing growth made it the fastest growing Presbyterian church in America. Decision magazine said it was one of the 5 Great Churches in North America.
Why did it happen? Dr. Kenny in 1960 had a vision for making a global impact after reading Jeremiah 33v3 to a small congregation of 15-20 people.
Call unto me and I will answer thee, and show thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not.
He said, You know, I believe we can change the world.
He founded 5 organizations.
It began with Evangelism Explosion (EE) in 1962 - a ministry for training Christians to share their personal faith and lead others to Christ.
Followed by Westminster Academy (1971), D James Kennedy Ministries (1974) and Knox Theological Seminary (1989) Center for Christian Statemanship (1994) (See notes for more data on each)
Evangelist Billy Graham spoke at the dedication of the new CRPC building in 1974. ( Read Dr. Kenny’s dedication prayer - Founding of CRPC)
Dr. Kenny may have died 13 years ago bur he still remains one of the most listened to Christian ministers in the USA. His forthright and rational presentation of the Gospel is heard via television, radio and the Internet throughout the USA and the world.
Tommy was born on 23rd December 1923 on a farm in Grady County, Oklahoma. He was the 7th and youngest son of 13 children.
Aged 13, in 1937, he experienced a Christian conversion at Pentecostal church in Mannford. Aged 15, while milking the cows he began to cry. He fell on his knees praying and asking God what was happening. He said the Lord called him to be an evangelist- overwhelmed he did not know whether to cry or laugh.
Aged about 16 he met future televangelist Oral Roberts - they stayed friends for 70 years.
He dropped out of school and hit the road with E. M. Dillard , a travelling evangelist.In 1941 he met Daisy Washburn and married her on Easter Day, 5th April 1942.
Mr. and Mrs Osborn worked as evangelists for the Pentecostal Church of God denomination in rural Oklahoma . They returned to California as itinerant pastors and evangelists. In 1944 (?) they started Montaville Tabernacle and became pastors. The superintendent came and spoke about his time as a missionary in India -aged 21 & 20 they were hooked. Their trip to India lasted less than a year - they both became ill.
On their return they took over the pastorate at Full Gospel Church in McMinnville (FGCM), Oregano. They prayed and they read the scriptures. In March 1947 they attended a meeting - the subject was ‘Seeing Jesus’. At 6 am Tommy had a vision. He testified that Jesus stood in front of him and his senses overwhelmed. The experience drove home one point home- Jesus was the Lord of his life. Tommy wanted only one thing- ‘the glory of Jesus’.
They first gained public notice as evangelists on the Big Tent Revival circuit in the USA and Canada.
They returned to FGCM. William Branham, Jack Moore and Gordon Lindsay were holding healing meeting. The Osborn’s with the a new vision of the love of Jesus. Branham was a humble man simply doing what Jesus asked him to do - heal the blind, give ears to the deaf, heal the cripple.
They began to hold healing meetings at their church. Miracles began to happen. The missionary flame in the Osborns rose again. They felt they now had the key to reach the lost in foreign lands. They joined Voice of Healing Organization
Between 1950-1964 the couple held large crusades in 40 countries. 10s of 1000s attended the meetings and the ministry was marked by dramatic miracles and healings.
The Osborns used the media- books, media recordings and a magazine called
Faith Digest. They created a vast amount of evangelistic and training material. The couple were very active and by the 1980s had visited 70 nations holding large crusades and reaching millions of people
Tommy and Daisy were married for 53 years.
Daisy died 27th May, 1995, aged 70. Tommy continued to travel/conduct crusades for 15 more years, if his health allowed, and died on 14th February 2013, aged 89, after many years of faithful service.
Tommy and Daisy are interred together at the memorial Park Cemetery in Tulsa.
Sources
Healing & Revival
wikipedia
James was an American Reformed Christian theologian, Bible teacher, author and speaker known for his writing on the authority of scripture and the defence of Biblical inerrancy. He was the Senior Minister of Tenth Presbyterian Church (TBC) in Philadelphia from 1968-2000 - 32 years. He was a prodigious world traveller and visited over 30 countries teaching the Bible…
He was a graduate of Harvard University (1960) and Princeton Theological Seminary (1963) and received his doctorate in Theology from the University of Basel in Switzerland (1966).While there he started a Bible study group which eventually developed into the Basel Christian fellowship.
James was an assistant editor of* Christianity Today* before starting at TBC
Under James leadership TBC became a model for ministry in America’s northeastern inner cities. The church offered a range of classes, fellowship groups and specialised outreach ministries to the physically sick, women in crisis and the homeless.Plus a school - City Center Academy. Attendance grew from 350 to 1,200.
He was founder and chairmen of the International Council of Biblical Inerrancy (ICBI) (1977-87). They completed 3 classic,creedal documents
The Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy
" " " " Biblical Hermeneutics
" " " " the Application of theBible to Contemporary issues
He also served on the Board of Bible Study Fellowship. In 1996 he helped develop the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals which brought a number of groups together including Bible Study Hour, God’s World Today Magazine and Philadelphia Conference of Reformation Theology. It is an organization to encourage Christians to rediscover their protestant Reformation roots.
Many of his writings are publicly available or online, and translated into other languages. (See Writings & Expositional commentaries).
James was diagnosed with liver cancer in the spring of 2000 and died on June 15th aged 61.
Theologian, R. C. Sproul, said at James funeral, *No one can possible measure the loss that this represents to those who survive him. Here we had a valiant warrior for the church militant in our age *
Sources
wikipedia
Alliance of Confessing evangelicals ' website
Sister Simone is an American Roman Catholic Religious Sister, lawyer, lobbyist and executive director of NETWORK.She belongs to the Sisters Social Service (SSS). She is known as as an outspoken advocate for social justice.
Sister Simone was born in Santa Monica, California. She was given the first name of Mary after her paternal grandmother. She was the eldest of 4 siblings.
Sister Simone took her religious vows in 1967 (first) and 1973 (final) after joining the SSS in 1964 and adopted the name Simone.
In 1969 she received a B.A from Mount St. Mary’s College, Los Angeles and a doctorate in law from the University of California, Davis in 1977 where she was editor of the UC Davis Law Review.
Positions held
Founder and lead attorney for the Community Law Center in Oakland, California (1978-95) . She practiced family law and worked on the needs of the working poor of her county in Probate Court.
General director of SSS (1995-2000) and saw activities in the USA, Mexico, Taiwan and the Philippines
Executive director of Jericho (2002-4)
Network (2004- )
Informal role with Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR)
Took part in religious delegations in Mexico, Iraq, Syria and Lebanon
2010 saw the healthcare reform debate. Sister Simone wrote the ‘nuns’ letter. She was invited by President Obama to the signing ceremony of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. The Network group were credited for helping to get the law passed. (Read paragraph which starts with* In 2010*)
In 2012 she became one of the main public figures to disagree with the Roman Catholic Church (RCC) hierarchy on the issues of same-sex marriages and abortion. ( Read paragraph which starts * In 2012*)
Pope Francis brought to an abrupt end the Vatican investigation.
The summer of 2012 saw her lead Nuns on the Bus. a 2 week tour across the USA. A small group of nuns travelled on a dedicated bus inside the USA publicizing different issues. The aim was to draw attention to nuns’ work with the poor and to protest against planned cuts.
2013 NETWORK partnered with ‘Faith in Public Life’ to promote the theme of immigration reform.
In 2014 she was the recipient of the Pacem in Terris Peace and Freedom award in recognition of her advocacy work.
2017 she spoke out against the Republican tax plan , arguing that it would cause wealth inequality to widen.
For over 40 years Sister Simone Campbell has been a champion of those seeking social justice.
Sister Simone Campbell memoir * A Nun on the Bus* was published in 2014.
Sources used
Britannica Online Encyclopedia
wikipedia
James Innell Packer is known by his initials and surname across the world -
J.I. Packer. He must be the most influential English evangelical theologian of the 20th century.
J.I. Packer was born in Twyning, Gloucestershire, England. He went up to Oxford in 1944 and the same year became a Christian following a Oxford Christian Union Meeting at the college.
He won a scholarship to Corpus Christi College at Oxford - B.A. (1948), M.A. (1952) Dr Ph (!955). C.S.Lewis ,of Narnia fame was one of his professors.
Martyn Lloyd-Jones treated me like in the way that I imagine Paul treated Timothy.
In 1949 he entered Wycliffe Hall, Oxford to study theology. He was ordained a deacon (1952), and a priest (1953) in the Church of England, in which he became recognized as a leader in the evangelical movement. He started off as a curate in Birmingham but he soon became the Librarian of Latimer House, Oxford (1961/2) and then principal (1962-9). In 1970 he became principal at Tyndale Hall Bristol and then Associate Principle of Trinity College, Bristol (1971-9).
In 1978 he signed the Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy, which affirmed a conservative position on Biblical Inerrancy.
!979 he moved to Vancouver, Canada. where he eventually became at Regent College the first Sangoo Youtong Chee Professor of Theology. In 1996 he was named as Regent College Board of Governor’s Professor of Theology until his retirement.
He served as the general editor of the * Revised Standard Version of the Bible* RSVB) and theological editor of the study Bible version.
Knowing God (1973) was a Christian best seller considered by many as the definitive classic evangelical book of the 20th century -sold over 1 million copies in North America alone.
In Finishing Our Course with Joy (2013) he offers us a model of what it means to grow in grace and grow older gracefully.
Over the years he trained, face to face, and continues to train through his many books, countless leaders of the church.
J.I.Packer is associated with St. John’s Vancouver Anglican church and since 2009 has been the theologian emeritus of the Anglican Church in North America, He was involved with Texts for Common Prayer (2013) and
general editor of the task force which wrote *To be a Christian: An Anglican Catechism *(2014)
He is in favour of the ecumenical movement but not at the cost of abandoning orthodox Protestant doctrine i.
On 27th June 2014 he was awarded the St. Cuthbert’s Cross for his* unparalleled contribution to Anglican and Global Christianity * by retiring Archbishop Robert Duncan.
Aged 89 he was diagnosed with macular degeneration which meant he could no longer preach, write or travel - a disease which had started in his left eye 10 years earlier.
J.I. Packer is England’s and Canada’s greatest living theologian.
On 26th July 2020 he will be 94.
Sources used
wikipedia
Christianity - interview with Krish Kandish in 2015
monergism.com
Christian News
Merrill Unger was a Biblical commentator, scholar, archaeologist and theologian.
He was well known as a Biblical archaeologist and encyclopedist.
( See notes for definitions)
Early in his career he was identified as a Baptist, but later attended the Independent Fundamentalist Churches of America.
Education
He began his college education at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky bu transfered to the Evangelical Theological College - later Dallas Seminary. His Th. D dissertation was published as Biblical Demonology (1952) . His Th.M thesis was published as The Baptizing of the Holy Spirit (1953). His Ph.D dissertation was published as Israel and the Arameans of Damascus (1957)
Professional Life
He served at Buffalo and New York as a pastor. He taught for a year at Gordon college. From 1948-1967 he was professor of O.T. Studies at Dallas Theological Seminary. He then became professor emeritus.
In retirement he led Bible conferences and wrote on O.T. , theological and practical topics. He published Demonology in the World Today (1971. Merrill in his life time wrote more than 40 books.
Personal Life
On retiring due to health concerns and loss of his first wife he returned to Maryland. With Pearl, his second wife, they bought ’ Birdhaven’. Merrill died in 1980.
I have included information about Biblical archaeologist and encyclopedism.
Sources
wikipedia
Biblio.co.uk
William was born in Kentucky near Burksville. His family were so poor he wore his winter coat in the classroom because he had no shirt.
At an early age he heard a voice say Do not drink or smoke or defile your body in any way, for when you are older I’ll have work for you to do. This frightened him so much he ran away as fast as he could.
He struggled with what to do. His brother Edward died and he began to seek Him. He was seriously ill in hospital when he heard the same voice say 3 times I called you would not go. William replied, if you let me live I’ll preach the gospel.
The next day he felt better. After he left hospital he looked for a church. He found a disciple church which believed in the baptism of the Spirit. He was anointed and instantly healed.
He was now on fire. For 6 months he cried out for baptism of the Holy Spirit. God’s presence came upon him in a mighty way. He felt called to preach and to heal. Aged 24 he began to hold tent meetings. Many people were converted.
He had visions about the rise of Nazism, Facism and Communism.
He built an independent Baptist church in Jeffersonville, Indiana. These were happy years, he got married and they had 2 children
Things started to go wrong. He turned down the chance to become a travelling evangelist withe Pentecostals. The church began to fail. Tragically his wife and one of their daughters were killed in the Ohio River flood of 1937.
He worked as a game warden and a logger and occasionally preached. He married Meda and they had 3 children.
7th May, 1946 he had a visitation from an angel . He was told he was a seer prophet in 2 ways - he would be able to detect illness and to see sins in their life they need to repent of.
William immediately started his healing ministry. He started in St. Louis and it would eventually spread all over the USA. Jack Moore took William to several churches across the USA. Gordon Lindsay became his campaign manager. The meetings were so dramatic they began the magazine and organization named The Voice of Healing. F.F. Bosworth joined them.
These meetings kicked off the healing revival that began in 1947 and continued throughout the 1950s. William was the first and best known but A.A. Allen, Jack Coe and Oral Roberts played their part. William took international trips abroad.
In 1955 things started to go wrong again. William lived an extremely simple life but the IRS settlement showed he owed $40,000 in back taxes.
By 1957 an exhausted William refused to do large meetings. Some of his teaching was being regarded as heretical., In the last years of his life he ministered in Arizona to support his family
In 1965 William died 5 days after a fatal, head on collision, on 24th December.
I have included a definition of Voice of Healing Revival
Sources used
A Man Sent by God
Healing and Revival Press
Evangelical times
Believe the Sign
wikipedia
Gregory K. Beale, also known as G.K. Beale was born in Dallas, Texas, USA
He studied at Southern Methodist University, Dallas Theological Seminary and the University of Cambridge.
He worked at Grove City College (1980-4), Gordon- Conewll Theological Seminary (1984- 2000), Wheaton College (2000-10). Currently he is Professor of New Testament and Biblical Theology at Westminster Theological Seminary (2010+).
He is an ordained minister in the Orthodox Presbyterian Church.
Gregory has made a number of contributions to conservative biblical hermeneutics especially in the use of the Old Testament in the New Testament.
He served as the president of the evangelical Theological Society in 2004.
2013 he was elected to be the first occupant of the J. Gresham Machen Chair of New Testament by the Westminster Theological Society.
Definitions
hermeneutics -the science of interpretation, especially of scripture
the branch of theology that deals with the principles and methodology of exegesis
exegesis - explanation or critical interpretation of the text
Maria Buelah Woodworth- Etter was an American healing evangelist . Her ministry style was a model for Pentecostalism.
Her parents were not Christians until they joined the Disciple church in 1854. Her father died of sunstroke in 1857 leaving his wife Matilda with 8 children no support .This meant Matilda, and the children old enough to work,had to support the family.
Aged 13 she heard the call of God and immediately dedicated a life to the Lord.
*I heard the voice of Jesus calling me to go out in the highways and hedges and gather in the lost sheep.
This confused her because the Disciple church did not allow women . She thought if she married a Christian man they could do missions work together.
In 1863 she married Philo Horace Woodworth.They had 6 children, 5 died young.
The farm they bought failed.
She still felt called to preach to the lost. She spoke at a Friend’s meeting where she had a vision of a pit of hell and people not knowing the danger. She wanted to study but had a vision where souls were perishing and she had to get started.
She finally started in her local area and began to see many conversions. The power of God would fall and sinners would run to the front in repentance. She held 9 revival meetings and started 2 churches.
Maria and Philo decided to start a travelling ministry.
In 1885 she began to pray for the sick believing that those with sufficient faith would be healed. The Holy Ghost would ’ fall’ on the people and they would lay on the floor in a trance like state - on recovering they reported of having profound spiritual experiences. Evangelism and healing went hand in hand as 1000s were won for Christ as a result of seeing others healed. She preached throughout the USA, her reputation grew, leading to her buying an 8,000 seat tent.
1890-1900 were tough years. In Framingham she was arrested for claiming people were being healed - testimonies from those healed saw her released.
Local psychiatrists filed charges of insanity. A person called Ericson prophesied a tidal and earthquake would shortly happen -it happened in 1906. In 1891 she divorced Philo for infidelity. He remarried and died within a year of typhoid fever.
In 1902 married her second husband Samuel Etter. They worked together until he died in1914.
In 1912 she joined the young Pentecostal movement and preached widely in Pentecostal circle until her death in 1924, having founded the Assemblies of God in 1914
In 1918 Maria founded Lakeview Church (Temple) of Indianapolis, Indiana.
Maria, the Mother of Pentecost, died on September 16th, 1924. Her inscription reads Thou showest thousands lovingkindness
Definition
Pentecostal churches emphasis the need to be baptized in the Holy Spirit like the disciples were on the Day of Pentecost, 50 days after Christ’s resurrection. Those baptized are said to be ‘born again’. Acts ch 2 v 1-4 )
Sources
wikipedia
Revival Library
Healing and Revival
Francis Jane Crosby caught a cold when she was just 6 weeks old, she had inflamed eyes. Their usual doctor was unavailable. The stand-in doctor unwittingly prescribed a hot mustard poultice - Fanny was blinded for life. Sometime later she said she had forgiven the man and that on her death the first person she would be see would be her saviour, Jesus.
Fanny’s father died when she was 10 months old. Her mother , Mercy, remarried.
Her grandmother Eunice became Fanny’s eyes, she described to her the wonderful colours of nature and everything she was missing. She patiently taught how to memorize parts of both the O.T. and N.T. of the Bible.
At the age of 8 she wrote her a poem about her blindness (See notes)
Aged 15 she entered the New York Institute for the Blind (NYIB. She was there for 7 years as a pupil and 11 as a teacher. She learned to sing and play a number of musical instruments. She became a noted harpist.
Fanny was the first woman to speak before the Senate and the House of Representatives. Her poetry and winning personality resulted in her becoming friends with presidents and staying at the White House. her poems appeared in the Saturday Evening Post and other newspapers and magazines.
She wrote 3 volumes of poetry and 2 of autobiography.
In 1958, aged 38 she married Alexander Van Alstyne, a blind scholarly accomplished musician. He insisted she kept her maiden name; for legal documents she used her husband’s surname. The baby they had died.
20 years after her first poem she wrote Rosalie,the Prairie Flower.
George Frederick Root set it to music. It sold in 10s of 1000s and she earned $3,000 dollars in royalties - a lot of money in those days.
In 1864 William Bradbury suggested she should devote her talent to writing hymns. She never wrote another secular song. She eventually wrote between 5,500 and 9,000 hymns. using many pseudonyms -( as many as 200, according to some sources) these were employed to preserve her modesty . Her husband wrote many of the tunes to accompany her words…
In 1868 musician Doane knocked on her door - in 45 minutes he was to catch a train. He hummed a tune - the result - Safe in the arms of Jesus.
Fanny began a second career in her 40s. She worked in the Bowery distict slums of New York City.
In 1875 she visited William Doane. Enjoying the sunset the hymn *I am thine o Lord *was born.
Fanny and Alexander became estranged, apart, but stayed married.
Alexander died in 1902. Fanny died in 1915 aged 94 in Bridgeport. Near her grave is Bing Crosby’s -one of descendants.
When Fanny had a session of writing she always started with a prayer. It seemed that without a prayer the words would not flow. A hymnal without her hymns is considered incomplete.
Her blindness the good Lord, in his infinite mercy, by this means consecrated me to the work that I am permitted to do
Sources used
Christianity Today
Britannia Online Encyclopedia
Henry was an Anglican clergyman who is recognized as one of the foremost Protestant missions strategists of the 19th century. He was an outstanding administrator who served as the honorary secretary of the Church Missionary Society (CMS) (1841-73) for 32 years
Henry was born into a leading evangelical Anglican family. His grandfather Henry Venn (1725-97) was an outstanding pastor evangelist. His father John Venn (1759-1813) was also a pastor who presided over the formation of the CMS (1799) and helped found the *Christian Observer * (1802).
Education
He matriculated at Queen’s College, Cambridge (1796). He graduated with a B,A. (1818). He was elected a Fellow of his college (1819) . He graduated with an M.A, (1821) and B,D. (1828)
He was ordained deacon of Ely (1819) and priest (1820). He became curate of St. Dunstan- in -the-West (1820-4). He became a proctor, a lecturer, a teacher. In 1826 he moved o Kingston upon Hull.
In 1829 he married Martha. They had 11 unusually happy years together. She died in 1839 leaving Henry to look after their 3 young children.
He then accepted the living of St. John’s, Holloway and was here for 12 years.
He became a canon at St. Paul’s Cathedral. He resigned from St. John’s in 1846 and devoted himself, now aged 45, to CMS. He had become a member in 1820.
In 1838/9 he had suffered a near fatal heart disease. He spurned medical advice to lead a quiet life, he learned to pace himself. His 6,000 official letters in the CMS archives and the 230 items in his biography bare testimony to his capacity for disciplined work.
Henry was a mission theorist. He expound the basic principles of indigenous Christian missions. A church was seen as indigenous when it was self-propagating, self-financing and self governing. Henry developed his theory of missions in a series of pamphlets and policy statements written in the years 1846-65.
He saw the CMS grow. In 1841 there were 107 European and 9 African and Asian missionaries. By 1873 there were 230 European and 148 African and Asian missionaries. During those 32 years 498 were clergy.
Henry was twice appointed to Royal commissions to represent this tradition (1864 and 1867).
Henry’s father had founded Christian Observer . He had regularly contributed
articles. In 1869 he 'temporarily assumed editorship. Through the magazine he pronounce vigorously on various theological issues before the church.
Henry Venn, at his funeral, was remember for his warm hospitality and irrepressible humour.
Brief History of CMS included
Sources used
Dictionary of African Christian Biography
CMS
wikipedia