In recent years a model of open-air preaching has developed that is controversial in nature, harsh in tone and disruptive. It will no doubt attract a large social media viewing and voluminous discussion, but I am not sure how beneficial it is to the cause of Christ. In the May 1909 issue of the Irish [...]
“The sun was beaming down in all his tropical power and splendour on that glorious morning in 1893 when we landed at the Arab town of Mombasa, on the eastern shore of the continent of Africa,” wrote Rachel Watt as she, her husband Stuart, and 4 children arrived in Kenya for the second time.[1] Their [...]
In 1544 John Calvin wrote a letter to Emperor Charles V to be presented at the Imperial Diet at Spires. In that letter, he defended the work of Luther and the Reformation and identified a number of corruptions that necessitated reform “without delay.” This was a call for reform in both “doctrine and the Church.” [...]
It has often been claimed that the Protestant Reformation did not stimulate missions and that the Reformers had no missionary vision. One Italian Jesuit, Robert Bellarmine (1542-1621), claimed that the Protestant Church lacked evangelistic zeal which, he said, is a key characteristic of the true Church. Bellarmine may be forgiven for this claim, judging it by Martin Luther's teaching on the [...]
Eva Stuart Watt (center) with her sister and mother Evangelical Christians living in Ireland in the early to mid-twentieth century would have been well acquainted with the name of Eva Stuart Watt (b. 1891). Eva grew up in Kenya and later moved to Ireland where she became a prolific author, artist, missionary advocate, [...]
Dr. John Crawford "No one made a greater sacrifice for Baptist education [in Western Canada] than Rev. John Crawford, D.D. His name is loved and honored by many, despite his apparent failure." —C.C. McLaurin[1] John Crawford was born around the year 1819 in Castledawson, Northern Ireland, about thirty-five miles east of Omagh, where [...]
This decade marks the one-hundredth anniversary of the rise of militant Fundamentalism and the beginning of the “battle royal for the fundamentals.”[1] Although the struggle continued for a number of decades, these years (particularly between 1920 and 1927) were marked with denominational struggle and eventual splits, an explosion in fundamentalist publications, and the establishment of [...]
Introduction On October 21, 2023, the Fellowship of Evangelical Baptist Churches in Canada (hence Fellowship or FEB) will celebrate seventy years of united gospel witness. The formation of the Fellowship in 1953, had a unique Ontario context in the merger between the Fellowship of Independent Baptist Churches of Canada and the Union of Regular Baptist [...]
Two related issues formed the impetus of Shields’ fight with Roman Catholicism in Canada. The first was the theological and spiritual danger of Roman Catholicism which we have previously considered. The second was the Roman Catholic monopoly that separated Quebec from the rest of Canada and obstructed national unity. Donald Wicks presented the issue very [...]
On June 15, 1949, an article appeared in Maclean’s Magazine featuring Dr. T.T. Shields of Toronto; the title was “The Battling Baptist.” This perception of Shields as a controversialist, rightly or wrongly, has become the most defining feature of his life and ministry. In some respects, it is understandable how this perception has developed; there [...]