Spotlight on Upcoming Events
Easter Eggstravaganza
Join us on April 12th from 1pm to 2:30pm at the church for our annual Easter Egg hunt. There will be egg hunts, games, and cookie decorating. To pre-register with the church, contact the church office at (716) 433-3571. We hope to see you there!
From the Alliance...
Who Was A.B. Simpson? (Alliance History 101)
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Albert Benjamin Simpson, founder of The Christian and Missionary Alliance was born December 15, 1843 in Bayview, Prince Edward Island, Canada. At an early age he felt the call of God on his life to preach and later experienced a dramatic conversion to faith in Jesus Christ. After discovering a line in Walter Marshall’s Gospel Mystery of Salvation, “The first good work you will ever perform is to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ,” Simpson committed his life to “Jesus Only”—the anthem that also ignited an unquenchable passion in his heart to reach the lost. He went on to enroll at Knox College (Toronto) for theological training. After graduation in 1865, Simpson accepted a pastorate at Knox Presbyterian Church in Hamilton, Ontario, marrying Margaret Henry the same weekend. In 1873, at age 30, Simpson left Canada to pastor the Chestnut Street Presbyterian Church in Louisville, Kentucky, and later the Thirteenth Street Presbyterian Church in New York City (NYC). |
His desire to minister to the flood of immigrants pouring into NYC met with great opposition from the leadership of his church. He eventually resigned his prestigious pastorate and set out to establish the Gospel Tabernacle, a church in the heart of the city, where all—the poor, homeless, sick, and displaced—would be welcome.
Simpson’s ministry to New York’s immigrants caused him to wonder about the unreached masses throughout the world. It was then that he developed an insatiable burden for the worldwide evangelization of lost souls. Single-mindedly focused on this burden, Simpson began assembling like-minded people with a passion for taking the Gospel to the ends of the earth. He proceeded to hold evangelistic meetings on Sunday afternoons.
These gatherings, which then grew to camp meetings and revivals in other locations along the East coast, were essentially the beginnings of The Christian and Missionary Alliance—a society fully devoted to experiencing the “deeper life” in Christ and completing the Great Commission (Matthew 28:18-20). Having also personally experienced a miraculous physical healing, Simpson would go on to coin the foundation of the Alliance’s doctrine—The Fourfold Gospel: Christ our Savior, Sanctifier, Healer, and Coming King.
Simpson was a prolific writer from the start of his ministry, having authored 101 books and countless hymns, periodicals, booklets, articles, and curriculums over his lifetime. His influence went on to move the hearts of missionaries, pastors, and people of all denominations towards spreading the gospel in all lands.
Spotlight on Missions...
Super Typhoon Haiyan
November 8 saw the strongest reported cyclone ever to make landfall slam the central part of the Philippines just north of Bohol—with higher winds and a swath area three times the size of Hurricane Katrina.
Residents of Tacloban, Leyte, and surrounding areas experienced rain and winds exceeding 200 miles per hour, along with a storm surge that drowned many and swept countless others out to sea.
Stunned and injured survivors are doing what they can to bury the dead. Food and water have been so scarce that people are taking whatever they can find in abandoned stores out of sheer desperation. The devastation is huge, and the number of those affected—in the millions—is staggering.
More than 15 Alliance church buildings were leveled during the typhoon. Also, around 200 C&MA families lost their homes. Damage assessment is ongoing.
Photo Credit: WFP/Praveen Agrawal; Source: European Commission DG ECHO
