John Berridge

As vicar (i.e. ‘Pastor’) of the Anglican church in Everton, a district of Liverpool, England, in the mid-18^th Century, John Berridge was known as “the old devil” by clergymen in the area.  They despised him because he preached to the people they were unwilling to reach.

Initially, Berridge desired to enter the ministry because it presented, to his mind, an easier living than farming.  At his first pastorate (or ‘vicarage’, in the Anglican tradition), a position he held for 6 years, he could not point to a single changed life.

Moving to Everton and a new congregation, he heard around the Christmas season of 1757 a voice speak to him clearly saying “Cease from your own works, only believe.”  This had a profound impact on him.  He burned his old sermons entirely and began to preach a simple Gospel of faith in Christ.  Almost immediately, he saw people come to faith in Christ, repent of long-held sin, and grow closer to Jesus in many ways.

When neighboring clergymen banned him from speaking in their churches, he held open-air meetings.  He was known for his sharp wit and no-nonsense, simple Gospel message.

John Berridge passed away from an asthmatic illness in January of 1793, age 76.  John Wesley commented of him, “…one of the most simple as well as most sensible of all whom it pleased God to employ in reviving primitive Christianity.”  A generation later, Charles Spurgeon labeled him an ‘Eccentric Preacher’ saying, “…what a power he was to stir the souls of men and lead them to the Savior’s feet.”

John Berridge composed his own epitaph, unusual in its length, as well as the story it tells:

Here lay the earthly remains of John Berridge
Late Vicar of Everton and an itinerant servant
Of Jesus Christ who loved his Master and his Work
And after running on his Errands many years was called
Up to wait on Him above.  Reader art thou born again
No salvation without a new Birth.
  I was born in Sin  Feb 1716
  Remained ignorant of my fallen state till 1730
  Lived proudly on faith & works for salvation till 1754
  Admitted to Everton Vicarage  1755
  Fled to Jesus alone for refuge  1756
  Fell asleep in Christ  Jan 22^nd 1793

Christian History e-mail: 22 Jan 2023
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Berridge
https://daveboden.substack.com/p/the-curious-gravestone-of-john-berridge

Communion on the moon

On July 20^th, 1969, the Apollo 11 Lunar module Eagle landed on the Sea of Tranquility for mankind’s first-ever crewed landing on the moon.  Astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin faced an hours-long downtime before taking those first steps on the moon while Astronaut Michael Collins orbited overhead.

Buzz Aldrin, an Elder of Webster Presbyterian Church in Houston, requested and received permission from the Presbyterian General Assembly to serve Communion to himself on the moon.  Stowed in with his personal effects was a small chalice, some wine, and bread.  His home church arranged to observe the Lord’s Supper at the same time.  Two weeks prior to launch, Buzz and his family observed a private Communion ceremony with their pastor

At the designated time, just before the planned meal period prior to exiting the Lunar module, Aldrin placed the elements in front of him and spoke into the radio, “Houston, this is Eagle.  This is the LM Pilot speaking.   I would like to request a few moments of silence.  I would like to invite each person listening in, wherever and whomever he may be, to contemplate for a moment the events of the past few hours and to give thanks in his own individual way.”  It had been published before that he would use this time of silence to observe the Lord’s Supper.  After taking the elements, he recited John 15:5 (TEV), “I am the vine, you are the branches.  Whoever remains in me, and I in him, will bear much fruit; for you can do nothing without Me.”

NASA leadership requested a “general” statement rather than something more explicit.  Months before, Apollo 8 Astronauts, when circling the moon for the first time, read from the book of Genesis which was broadcast globally.  This resulted in a lawsuit from Madalyn Murray O’Hair which, though dismissed, spooked NASA enough to request the generality.

Aldrin later commented on his memory of the service noting that the wine, in the moon’s gravity which is one sixth of the Earth’s gravity, curled gracefully and slowly up the side of the cup.  He noted in Guideposts magazine, “It was interesting to think that the very first liquid ever poured on the moon, and the first food eaten there, were communion elements.”

Christian History e-mail, 20 Jul 2022.

https://guideposts.org/positive-living/health-and-wellness/life-advice/finding-life-purpose/guideposts-classics-when-buzz-aldrin-took-communion-on-the-moon/

https://www.history.com/articles/buzz-aldrin-communion-apollo-11-nasa

Dr. Paul Carlson

Paul Carlson received his M.D. degree from George Washington University in 1956.  He settled down to a potentially lucrative practice in Redondo Beach, California, and was persuaded to spend six months on a mission trip to the Christian Medical and Dental Society in Congo.  The experience moved this young doctor and within two years of his return to southern California, he told a friend “I’m going back.  I can’t stand doing hernias and hemorrhoids any more.” 

Bringing his young family to Congo in 1963, Dr Carlson traded his practice for missionary pay at less than one-quarter his previous income.  They settled in a remote town named Wasolo, in the northern part of the country, with a people-group called the Ubangi.  There, Paul served an understaffed hospital and his family lived in a house with a grass roof which had bugs and snakes falling from the ceiling. 

Dr. Carlson served an 80-bed hospital with a constituency of 100,000 people.  The family had a dense rain forest in their back yard with crocodiles that occasionally wandered into their yard, and they had to walk a half mile to get fresh water.

For the next year, Dr. Carlson and his young family lived the missionary life.  He was devoted to his patients and was anxious to spread the Word of God to those under his charge.  At times, he also played the role of plumber, mechanic, or handyman for those in need.  The natives called him “Monganga Paulo” (i.e. “My Doctor Paul”).

In 1964, the political climate in Congo worsened.  Having recently been given their independence from Belgium, roving gangs, unrestrained by the new government, began to wreak havoc on the countryside.  Dr Carlson sent his family to a place of safety but returned to Wasolo to minister to his patients, gambling that the gangs would not harm a doctor.

Unfortunately, Paul calculated wrong.  In the month of September, in the middle of surgery, armed gunmen broke into the hospital and executed the two nurses assisting him.  Capturing him, he was moved 300 miles north to the city of Stanleyville where he was beaten numerous times and made into a political pawn along with other foreign prisoners to try to extract concessions from the American and Belgian governments.  During his imprisonment, survivors told of his self-sacrificial care in ministering to others.  He was constantly threatened with execution and came to anticipate his own death, writing:

“For me to live and die is gain – this becomes more real each day.  I’ve had beatings and known what it means not to know the future for tomorrow.  Where I go from here I know not, only that it will be with Him.  If by God’s grace I live, which I doubt, it will be to His glory…I can only realize when I see such difficulties as we have seen that we need to work harder for our Lord.  I’m praying that through this we might see revival in our churches in the Ubangi, in the hearts of all of us, and our Congolese brothers too.”

On November 24^th, 1964, combined American and Belgian forces launched a rescue mission.  In the confusion, the rebels herded all the prisoners into a city street and began spraying them with machine gun fire.  Some prisoners, including Dr. Carlson, ran to a wall.  Paul helped another missionary over it before attempting to scale it himself.  As he tried to climb over the wall, he was hit with gunfire and died instantly.  Within moments, Belgian troops arrived and secured the scene.  A picture of the clean-cut missionary taken minutes after his death was circulated around the world as emblematic of the massacre that took place.  In subsequent weeks, his picture graced the covers of both Time and Life magazines and became testimonies to the world of a man faithful to his calling.

Today, a medical foundation formed in Carlson’s name supports the mission hospital where he worked, along with other projects in the Wasolo region.  Congolese Christians remember him fondly, and visit his grave often.  His simple ministry of obedience and healing shine a light to many considering entering the Mission field.

In the New Testament he carried with him, Carlson has written the date and a single word the day before he died.  The word: Peace.

https://www.paulcarlson.org/about-us/paulcarlson/

https://kingdomharbor.com/2019/04/18/martyrdom-of-paul-carlson-covenant-missionary/

Ida Scudder - medical missionary

Ida Scudder

Born to a missionary couple in India, Ida Scudder couldn’t wait to leave the country.  As a child, she had supported her parents in feeding hungry children and saw many of them die – memories she couldn’t wait to flee from.  She went home to college, returning in 1892 for a brief visit with her parents.

One night during that visit, a man from a high caste came calling.  He asked her to attend to his wife, who was in labor.  Ida insisted she did not have the skills to help, but offered to take her father, a doctor, to her when he returned from his visit.  The man refused, saying he would rather have her die than have a man come into the house.  Later that night, a Muslim man approached her asking her to help his wife who was dying in labor.  Again she offered to send her father as soon as she could and again she received the response that a man could not tend to her – he would rather she die.  Even later that night, a high-caste Hindu man approached her with the same request, asking for Ida specifically since only a woman could tend his wife.

Ida had a troubled night.  In the morning, she heard a drumbeat – the cultural sound for a death in the home.  She sent her parent’s servant around to see the fate of the women whose husbands had approached her and to her horror she found that all three had died in the night.  After spending time in prayer, she informed her parents she had to return home to study medicine so she could come back and help Indian women.

Recently, women had won the right to attend medical school, and a few female medical missionaries were already on the field.  Attending school, Doctor Ida Scudder was set to return to Vellore, India, in 1900.  One week prior to her departure, she was asked by her Mission leaders to raise funds for a hospital there before she left.  In that final week, she threw herself into speaking engagements and any opportunity to raise money she could find.  A significant portion of the $50,000 that was needed was raised prior to her departure.

Arriving in Vellore, while waiting for the hospital to be built, Ida turned her little room into a medical clinic.  Her first call was to a desperate case for which nothing could be done.  When word spread that her first patient had died, suspicion increased.

Some time later, a high-caste Hindu woman arrived.  Dr Scudder successfully treated her for a severe case of conjunctivitis, a disease of the eyes.  After this, patients poured in like a flood – so much so that she had to conscript her kitchen maid to assist.  Seeing as many as 500 patients in a day, as well as overseeing the building of the hospital, Ida began teaching as well as treating.  Her first seven nurses graduated in 1905.  By 1922, her first class of doctors had graduated – most of them women.  In 1928, the hospital in Vellore officially became a medical college.

Ida Scudder tied in 1959, after spending the day holding patient’s hands and quieting babies as they were being treated.  To this day, Vellore Hospital continues to operate – a testimony to her vision and faith.

Christian History e-mail, 07 Sep 2021.

The Haystack Prayer Meeting

Samuel Mills was born in Connecticut on April 21^st, 1783.  Coming to faith at the age of seventeen, a part of the Great Awakening, he committed himself to missions work in a day when the idea of an American church sending missionaries was unheard of.  Missions-minded churches were few and far between, and missions societies dedicated to sending missionaries were nonexistent.

Attending Williams College in Massachusetts, Samuel was in the habit of spending Wednesday and Saturday afternoons in prayer.  Returning from one of these prayer meetings, Samuel and four of his friends were caught in a sudden downpour.  Taking shelter in a nearby haystack, they discussed a booklet by missionary William Carey, An Inquiry into the Obligation of Christians to Use means for the Conversion of the Heathen.  The five students committed themselves to the cause of world evangelism, inspired by Samuel’s words to them, “We can do this if we will.”

The five continued to meet and pray.  Others joined them in prayer, seeking direction from God on how they could meet the needs of evangelism in Asia.  In 1810, their members formed the American Board for Commissioners for Foreign Missions (ABCFM).  Within two years, they sent their first five missionaries to the subcontinent of India.  Many church historians mark this as the beginning of the American Protestant missionary movement.

During its first fifty years, the ABCFM sent out more than 1,200 foreign missionaries, mostly students from New England.  They were deeply involved in Bible translation, establishing schools and hospitals in remote areas, and training local converts to continue the work of evangelism among their own people.

Samuel Mills was very active in the service of Christ through ABCFM.  Besides foreign missions, he preached everywhere in the young United States, from the Mississippi Valley to working with the destitute in New York City.  A trip to New Orleans revealed to him there were many families in the South who had no access to a Bible.  He started a Bible publisher and distribution ministry which was one of the precursors to the American Bible Society.  Finally, active in the effort to repatriate slaves to Africa, he helped found the American Colonization Society.  Returning from a short trip to Africa to scout settlement sites, he died at sea in 1818 at the young age of 35.

The significance of the impromptu Haystack Prayer meeting cannot be understated.  First, it was the seedbed of the North American foreign missions movement.  Many missions organizations today trace their roots to the ABCFM, including InterVarsity Christian Fellowship, the Student Volunteer Movement-2, and the Luke 18 Project.  Secondly, it reminds us of our need for prayer – this entire movement began with the prayers of five young men seeking shelter from a storm.  Third, it shows the human cost of missions.  Samuel Mills’ words “We can do this if we will” shows us what these young men experienced: that God working through his tireless servants can do great things.

Footnote: a ‘haystack’ in this day consisted of a small platform of stone or wood upon which cut hay was stacked ten to twelve feet high.  It was neatly combed on the outside so rain would sheet off.  It was kept hollow on the inside to prevent rot and fermentation.  This would have been the perfect size for five young met to sit closely together and have an intimate discussion.

Perspectives on the World Christian Movement: A Reader (Fourth Edition); Winter, Ralph, Ed, 2009.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haystack_Prayer_Meeting

https://www.gotquestions.org/Haystack-Prayer-Meeting.html

https://missionexus.org/missiologically-aware/haystack-prayer-meeting-matters-today/

https://www.globalministries.org/the_history_of_the_haystack_pray_10_10_2014_112/

https://www.globalministries.org/haystack_samuel_j_mills_10_10_2014_116/

 

 

Benjamin Keach

Benjamin Keach

On an October day in 1664, 24-year-old English pastor Benjamin Keach stood on trial.  The charge was “schismaticall factions and hereticall matter.”  The subject: infant baptism.  The text in question: a primer Reverend Keach wrote for children. 

As a Baptist, Reverend Keach believed and taught the practice was for those mature enough to profess faith in Christ, a conviction he came to after much study.  He was saved at age 15 and began his pastorate at age 18 – in the church that would in later times become known as the Metropolitan Tabernacle – pastored in the 19^th century by Charles Spurgeon.

A prolific author, he received a lot of unwanted attention from the Church of England, resulting in the trial mentioned above.  His books were burned in front of him, he was sentenced to two weeks in jail, then two hours in the ‘pillory’ (i.e. – ‘stocks’) with the written charge to be displayed prominently, “For writing and publishing a schismatical book…” 

Normally in a pillory, the accused would be pelted with objects or stones and be subject to jeering from the crowd.  Keach’s response was to use the time there as a preaching opportunity.  With his wife by his side, he spoke clearly to the crowds, holding their attention.  An Episcopal minister was brought to shout him down but the crowd, knowing the preacher himself lived an ungodly life, was drowned out with laughter.

Through his life, Benjamin Keach found himself fighting the fight for Baptist doctrine in a then-unfriendly situation.  He was noted as a staunch defender who always brought the discussion back to Scripture.  He was fined and threatened numerous other times.  Spurgeon, later writing about him, said that to people like Benjamin Keach, “we as Baptists owe our very existence.” 

Reverend Keach as a reformer as well.  It was common practice then in English churches that, if singing was to be done at all, it was limited to the Psalms.  Studying Scripture, Keach became convicted that music should be a part of the church’s service.  Introducing music he wrote at the observance of the Lord’s Supper, he won both friends and detractors.

Benjamin Keach is an example of a godly man who based his doctrine on the Word of God, and ensured his own life and his congregation followed suit.

Christian History e-mail, 08 Oct 2022

https://digitalpuritan.net/benjamin-keach/

Remegius of Reims

Remegius of Reims

Born to nobility in the city of Leon in Gaul (France) around the year 437, Remegius grew to be noted for his intellect and eloquence.  Having come to faith at an early age, he became the bishop of Reims at the age of 22 – a position he was given even though he had never even been a priest.

Gaul was ruled at this time by Clovis, the Germanic king who had united the warring tribes of Gaul.  Following the polytheistic warlike faith of his ancestors, Clovis married a believer named Clotilde.  Because of his wife, Clovis supported the church but feared that converting would weaken him politically and undermine the morale of his army.  However, during a crucial battle when things were going poorly Clovis cried out to Christ in desperation and imminent lost turned into a decisive victory.

Clovis immediately came to faith and asked Remigius for baptism.  In addition to the king, more than 3,000 of his soldiers were converted and baptized as well, on Christmas day, 496 AD.

Clovis, true to his new faith, deeded large tracts of land to the church throughout his kingdom and asked Remegius to oversee the establishment of dozens of churches.  He encouraged the churches to reach out to the barbarians on the frontier, converting many.  Remegius proved very efficient in the administration of these churches, and ensured the Arian heresy which was then plaguing the church was kept out of the churches he oversaw.  Remegius' efforts resulted in planting the church in large areas of what today is France, individual churches lasting centuries.

Over the years, a number of legends have sprung up around Remegius, mostly concerning miraculous healings.  A contemporary of his, Gregory of Tours, referred to Remegius as “a man of great learning, fond of rhetorical studies, and equal in his holiness to St Silvester.”  Remegius died in the year 533, at approximately age 93.

Christian History e-mail: 13 January 2022

https://www.britannica.com/biography/Saint-Remigius-of-Reims

https://www.episcopalchurch.org/glossary/remigius-of-reims/

https://historymedieval.com/clovis-i-the-first-king-of-the-franks/

https://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=376