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