John Wesley is the founder of Methodism - the Methodist church. Until the age of 35 John Wesley was a 'normal' Christian. He had grown up in a Christian family and had become a clergyman but something was missing. On May 24th 1738 he had his 'spiritual birthday'. Today we talk about being 'born again'. His outlook on life changed dramatically. His sermons were no longer ordinary, congregations found them disturbing and he, along with others, were banned from preaching in church. He became a field preacher and his statue outside the New Room sees him astride his horse. For nearly fifty years he was out in the open, in all weathers, preaching the Good News. He kept a Journal, preached many sermons, wrote many books and even a dictionary. He brought the message that 'love casts out fear' to his listeners. I have created time line and written about his life in brief using Wikipedia and a Ladybird book. The book is called John Wesley, Founder of Methodism ISBN 0946550654. It is published by Methodist Publishing House, 4 John Wesley Road, Peterborough price £2. It is a typical ladybird book - writing with a very full text and well illustrated - see examples included.

St. Augustine of Canterbury I think is the ' forgotten' saint of England. He is not to be confused with St. Augustine of Hippo. He is sometimes called' the Apostle of England' or' St. Augustine the less'. He was chosen by Pope Gregory to lead a mission to Britain. His task was to Christianize King Ethelbert and his kingdom of Kent from Anglo Saxon Paganism. In the short time he was in England (597- 604 AD) he laid the foundations for the Church of England. He was the first Archbishop of Canterbury. I have put together some information about Augustine with a 'gap' sheet, a simple crossword and word search, plus an answer sheet.

Mary Slessor was a Christian missionary in Nigeria. She started life, at 11, as a 'half timer' - school for six hours/ working for six hours for the Baxter Brother's Mill with her mother and father to become the 'white queen of Okoyong' in Nigeria. When she died in 1915 she was given a state funeral in Nigeria in recognition of her life time given to helping others. She is an inspiration for any girl, or boy, who is thinking becoming a missionary. We celebrated the centenary of her death two years ago and there is a lot of material to find on the internet about her.

A few sheets which could be used on Pancake day/Shrove Tuesday.

The news of James Hannington being martyrdom, on his way to Uganda, resulted in 50 men immediately coming forward to follow in his steps. He kept an illustrated diary which some how was 'saved', brought back to the UK and published in 1886 the year after his death. The book was called ' Peril and Adventure in Central Africa. ' I have included several articles looking at his life including 'Last Journey', a timeline, two of his illustrations and a short crossword and word search. October 29th, the day he died, is his saints day.

David Tsutada and his son Joshua are both Japanese missionaries. David is probably the least well known of the two but he is referred to as being the 'John Wesley' of Japan. He studied law at Cambridge and King's College London and at one stage envisioned himself as one day becoming Japan's prime minister. He also felt a calling to the church. He wrote a 14 page letter to his father who took his letter to an all night prayer meeting.The following day he received a cable with just two words' Obey God'. Joshua, his son, is referred to being the 'voice of emerging evangelical leaders'. He followed his father into the ministry and spent seventeen years working in India. Both David and Joshua had held high posts in several Christian organisations. Joshua has been chairman of the Japan Evangelical Association and the Evangelical Fellowship Asia.

The simple youth from the hills may have seemed most unlikely material for an evangelist, but he probably won more people to Christ than anyone else in southern Ethiopia - during the time of tremendous persecution. The missionaries who had been forced out of the country in 1937 were allowed back into Ethiopia in 1942and feared what they would find. They had left a small 'community' of just 48 Christians. They were amazed to find it had multiplied to 10,000. Among them they found Wandaro - his body covered with scars but his face wreathed in a smile. Wandaro, the evangelist, whose father had been a witch doctor, had been made an 'example of' by the authorities .He had been flogged, in public, by 5 men continuously for 3 hours with a hippo hide whip. For several days they feared he would die but thanks to the prayer of family and friends he eventually recovered. He was imprisoned for a year. He was such a model prisoner that the guards left him in charge when they went off duty. For 55 years Wandaro preached the Christian message. 8,000 people, each carrying a flower in appreciation, attended his funeral in 1991.

William Carey is regarded by many as the founder of the modern missionary movement and as one of the most important church missionaries in world history. He believed in going to the heathen not waiting for God to do it. 'Expect Great Things- Attempt Great Things.' He began life as a cobbler. After he was converted he taught himself New Testament Greek. He spent 50 years as a pastor/minister. He founded the Baptist Missionary Society. He spent 40 whole years in India, not having a furlough. He was responsible for the Bible being translated into all the major languages of the Indian subcontinent and many dialects and wrote a number of books. In 1818 William Carey and the Marshmans founded Scrampore college - today it offers theological and liberal arts education for some 2,500 students. The powerful, and now famous book , 'An Enquiry into the obligations of Christians to Use Means for the Conversion of Heathens' - along with many others, can be found, in full, on the internet. I have found several pieces of useful information. There is a chronology of his life, a short, readable, history of his life, plus a short crossword and word search. A 'typical day' reveals he must have used at least SIX different languages on that one day!! There is a vast amount of information about William Carey on the internet. God's extraordinary 'plodder' changed the course of history.

Looking for interesting missionaries and evangelists to write about I came across this lady. Incredible, as it might seem, Amanda Berry Smith started life as a slave but ended up becoming an evangelist going to both India and then to Africa. Later in life she ended up funding and opening up a children's orphanage.

This is the story of how Gladys Aylward, a missionary in China during the second World War, helped Chinese orphans safely across a mountain. When she returned to England she realised a film had been written showing her life and a book called The Small Woman had been published. On Google, and Youtube there is a great deal of information about how from her humble beginnings as a housemaid/domestic help became a successful missionary.

James Hudson Taylor was the founder of the interdenominational China Inland Mission. He dreamed as a child of going to China as a missionary. He fulfilled his dream but he had to set up his own mission to make it successful. He was frustrated the first time he went out because he had little support from the mission which sent him out. He did such a good job setting up his own mission for China that other faith missions followed his methods. His chief emphases were to identify with the local people by dressing 'native', direction to come from the mission field not home, efficient administration and wanting a deepening of Christian life in the home churches to encourage more to go into the mission field. He was happily married twice and both his wives Maria and Jane supported him in his endeavours to evangelise China. He spent 50 years as a missionary and went 11 times to China. Through a lifetime of ministry he fulfilled his calling.

Caroline Chisholm is a woman spent a great deal of her time trying to help others get on in life -especially other women. With her husband Archibald she spent time in both India and Australia. In India where she opened a school. In Australia she wanted to help emigrants settle successfully there- she set up the Female Immigration Home and also helped set up a safe route for the gold pioneers to follow. She also helped migrants wanting to go to Australia from the UK. It has been suggested that Charles Dickens, in his book Hard Times, wrote his character Mrs. Jellyby as a criticism of female activists like Caroline Chisholm.

Albert Schweitzer was undoubtedly one of the most gifted men of his generation. His strong faith took him to Africa. His 1931 autobiography, 'Out of My Life and Thought' described much of his work in Africa. His musical talent as an organist, giving benefit concerts, paid largely for the founding and running of the hospital. He wrote many books in his lifetime on different themes - theological, the organ works of J.S. Bach, how an organ works and anti nuclear. Unfortunately, in today's culture, the comments he made then about those he treated are seen as racist and having a colonialistic view of Africans. In the 50 years he worked there he positively influenced the lives of those he cared for as a doctor, surgeon and pastor. The hospital continues to be the primary source of healthcare for the surrounding region and in 2011 an African, for the first time, leads the hospital..

I have put together 10 New Testament profiles which I hope should prove of use. I have included all/many of the biblical references for all of them. Mary and Joseph the parents of Jesus, and Zechariah and John the Baptist are related. Zechariah's wife, Elizabeth, is a cousin of Mary and John the Baptist is their son. I have included a statement explaining what happened normally to illegitimate babies in Israel 2000 years ago. Andrew, Simon Peter and Matthew are three of the disciples of Jesus. Mary Magdalene, according to the gospels, only had seven demons removed by Jesus. There is actually nothing to say what she did before she became a follower of Jesus. Lazarus was raised from the dead and Stephen was the first Christian martyr.

Classes often have a 'starter' for the day. This can be How many words can you find in _________ On a special Christian festival why not take the name(s) as the starter. This could be looked at 4 ways:- 1. Creating a list. 2. Placing the words in a 3x3 or 4x4 square. 3. Creating a simple crossword with clues. 4. The teacher/parent creating a crossword for the children to solve using the answers given. The starter would be a combining of R.E. with an English spelling exercise.

John Newton loved to go to sea. He had a very eventful early life. He went to sea with his father aged only 11. Aged 18 he was press ganged by the Royal Navy. He became the ‘slave’ of Princess Peye. He eventually became a captain of three slave ships. Whilst a slave trader, on 10th March, 1745, following a very sever storm where his boat nearly sank ,he had a spiritual conversion.He started to read his Bible. He left the slave trade behind in 1755 and became the tide surveyor (tax collector) for the Port of Liverpool. He began to study to become a clergyman. Persistence paid off and eventually in 1764 to become a deacon. William Cowper, the poet, attended his church and together they wrote many hymns - Amazing Grace was one of them. He encouraged the young William Wilberforce to stay in politics. He waited 34 years before he wrote a pamphlet ‘Thoughts Upon the Slave Trade’. He sent a copy to every MP He died in 1807 knowing the British Passage of the Slave Trade act had been passed by parliament. I have included a copy of Amazing Grace, a list of the books he wrote and a word search (answers provided) . The slave trader who became the slave abolitionist and hymn writer. He was also the author of many Christian books.

William Wilberforce, although small in stature (5ft. 3 in,) and suffering from poor health, was the GIANT against the Slave Trade and Slavery. Whilst still a student at Cambridge he paid the 'customary ’ amount of £8,000 ( a fortune in those days) to become the member of Parliament for Kingston on Hull, his home town. Early on he became an evangelical Christian and wondered whether to stay a MP. John Newman, his mentor, persuaded him to ‘serve God where he was’. In his late 30’s he married Barbara Spooner and they had 6 children over a 10 year period. Barbara nursed William after he resigned from his parliamentary seat, in 1824 . For 50 years he fought,supported by his friends, for the banning of the slave trade and slavery. Persistence finally paid off. His bills originally were turned down or ‘watered down’ so they were of little effect. It was only on his death bed did he succeed. In 1833 he wrote his last petition. The Abolition of Slavery Bill had its third and final reading, on 26th July 1833, after three months of debate. William was immediately told and he died three days later. I have included two brief history, some gap work and a word search (answers given).

We celebrate St. Luke, the evangelist, on October 18th. I have found a picture and written a a brief history of St. Luke. I have included the collect for the day. There is also a short crossword and word search -answers provided.

Saint Frithuswith is remembered on October 19th. Saint Frithuswith is known under 6 different names. She is the patron saint of both Oxford and Oxford University. I have used the Wikipedia notes. I found in my research, using Google, The Legend of Fridewide of Oxford. It gives the full story of her life but I was unable to download the story. Saint Frithuswith has been depicted in a stained glass window, by Edward Burne-Jones, In Christ Church Catherdral, In Oxford, where her shrine can alsobe located.

St.Crispin and St. Crispinian’s Feast Day is October 25th. I have some pictures and information about these twin brothers who were martyred towards the end on the third century. I have included a short word search.