This list of significant evangelistic events in the history of the Church has been prepared in view of the World Congress on Evangelism, whichCHRISTIANITY TODAYwill sponsor in Berlin as a tenth-anniversary project in 1966. Space limits forced difficult choices upon the specialists who aided in compiling the list of events, and readers no doubt will wish to add to or delete from the compilation. Nearly all missionary agencies are excluded for reasons of space.—ED.
I. BEFORE THE TIME OF JESUS CHRIST
A. Prior to the Exodus
Enoch: spokesman for God
Noah: preacher of righteousness
Abraham: God’s messenger to the surrounding tribes
Joseph: God’s representative to the Egyptians
B. From Moses to Jesus Christ: Old Testament Revivals
Moses and the people of Israel at Sinai
Joshua in the closing days of his life
Period of the Judges: recurring apostasy, repentance, and revival
Samuel: Israel revived and the Philistines defeated
Elijah: revival victory over the priests of Baal
Jonah: the evangelization of Nineveh
Asa and the great revival (2 Chron. 14–16)
Hezekiah and the revival in Judah
Josiah: a time of reformation in Judah
The post-captivity revival
II. THE FULLNESS OF TIME
The Lord Jesus Christ: his evangelistic ministry
The death and resurrection of Jesus Christ
The Great Commission after the Resurrection
III. THE FIRST TEN CENTURIES A.D.
Pentecost (A.D. 30): the descent of the Holy Spirit and Peter’s first evangelistic sermon (3,000 converts)
Stoning of Stephen
The Apostle Paul: his worldwide missionary ministry; his apostolate to the Gentiles
Origen (186–253): teacher-scholar who preached every day for thirty years and who never divorced gospel preaching from scholarship
Gregory Thaumaturgus (213–c. 270): evangelist in Pontus of whom it was said that there were only seventeen Christians when he came and only seventeen pagans when he died
Gregory the Illuminator (c. 240–332): the conversion of Armenia through the conversion of the king, Tradt (Tiridates), c. 250
Ulfilas (311–388): evangelist to the Goths; inventor of an alphabet and translator of the Bible into the Gothic tongue
St. John Chrysostom (347–407): “silver-tongued” preacher who wrote more sermons than any other man before Spurgeon
Ambrose of Milan (c. 339–397): last of the early great preachers; contemporary of Chrysostom
Martin, Bishop of Tours (320?–397?): evangelist to Gaul
Augustine of Hippo (354–430): his conversion and extensive ministry
Patrick (389?–461?): a native of Roman Britain who was the “Apostle of the Irish”
Augustine of Canterbury (505?–605): evangelist to the people of Britain
Columba (c. 521–597): evangelist to the Scots
Columbanus (550–615): evangelist to the Burgundians and the Swabians (Swiss)
Willibrord (658–739): “Apostle of Frisia”—Holland and Denmark
Boniface (Wynfrith) (680–754): the “Apostle of Germany”
Anskar (801–865): the “Apostle of the North”—Denmark and Sweden
Cyril (826–869) and Methodius (c. 815–885): the “Apostles of the Slavs”—Bulgaria, Moravia, and Bohemia
IV. THE ELEVENTH CENTURY TO THE REFORMATION
Otto, Bishop of Bamberg (1062/3–1139): the “Apostle to the Pomeranians”
Peter de Bruys (died c. 1140): founder of the Petrobrusians
Bernard of Clairvaux (1090–1153): mystic who preached like an existentialist; probably the only Crusader who could be considered evangelistic
Peter Waldo (?–1217): evangelistic founder of the Waldensians; his ministry and that of others like him precipitated the Fourth Lateran Council and the Inquisition
Anthony of Padua (1195–1231): Franciscan who was first to use a sermon outline and who often preached to 20,000 people
Cathari (meaning “pure”) (11 th–13th centuries): radical evangelistic sect
Brethren of the Free Spirit (13th century): mystical sects claiming freedom from ecclesiastical authority Raymond Lull (1235–1315): evangelist to North Africa and the Muslims
John de Montecorvino (?–1328/9): evangelist to China who built a church and orphanage and translated the New Testament and Psalms into Chinese
John Wycliffe (c. 1329–1384): “The Morning Star of the Reformation,” translator of the Bible into the English vernacular, and founder of the Lollard Revival
John Huss (c. 1369–1415): Bohemian evangelistic reformer; precursor of the Reformation
Savonarola (1452–1498): preacher and reformer in Florence
V. THE REFORMATION TO THE NINETEENTH CENTURY
The Reformation (from 1517): Luther, Farel, Calvin, Knox, Zwingli, and others
Balthasar Hübmaier (1485?–1528): Anabaptist evangelist in Moravia
Menno Simons (1496–1561): founder of the Mennonites
Martyrdom of Latimer (c. 1485–1555) and of Ridley (c. 1500–1555) under “Bloody” Mary
Martyrdom of Thomas Cranmer (1489–1556)
Rise of Puritanism in England (from 1596)
Scottish revival at the General Assembly of 1596 under the preaching of Bruce of Edinburgh
Thomas Mayhew (1593–1682): evangelizer of the Indians of New England
John Eliot (1604–1690): evangelist to the American Indians
Jeremy Taylor (1613–1667): Anglican writer and revivalist
Roger Williams (1606–1690): founder of Rhode Island and establisher of religious liberty in America
Richard Baxter (1615–1691): Puritan writer and revivalist
Irish revival of 1628 ff. under Blair and Livingstone
The Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in New England founded in 1649
Spener (1635–1705) and Francke (1663–1727): founders of Pietism; rise of the missionary center at the University at Halle
The Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge founded in 1698
Hans Egede (1686–1758): evangelist to Greenland
Count von Zinzendorf (1700–1760): Moravian leader, evangelist, and missionary enthusiast
The Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts founded in 1701
William Tennent and the “Log College” evangelists Revivals in New Jersey under Frelinghuysen in the 1720s
Great Awakening in New England under Jonathan Edwards, 1734/35
Revival ministry of George Whitefield in England and America
Evangelical Revival in England, under John and Charles Wesley, from 1738
David Brainerd (1717–1747): evangelist to the American Indians
Great Awakening in Virginia, 1740–1790
Scottish revivals of 1742 at Cambusland, Kilsyth, Campsie, and Calder
Vosges Mountains revival beginning in 1765 under John Frederic Oberlin (1740–1826)
Francis Asbury (1745–1816): evangelist and first Methodist bishop in America
Revival at Lundie, Scotland, 1771, under Whitefield
Second Awakening in New England in the 1790s
William Carey (1761–1834): evangelist to India; father of modern missions
London Missionary Society founded in 1795
Scottish Missionary Society founded in 1796
Beginning of the Norwegian revival under Hans Nielsen Hauge in 1796
Netherlands Missionary Society founded in 1797
Beginning of the great revival in the U.S. West, 1797
Church Missionary Society and Religious Tract Society founded in 1799
Scottish revival from 1800: Holdane Brothers, evangelists
Awakening of 1800 in Canada
VI. THE NINETEENTH AND TWENTIETH CENTURIES
Yale and Hampden Sydney College revivals under Timothy Dwight and John Blair Smith
James McGready: Log College revivalist, father of the Second Awakening in the West, beginning in 1796; often preached to 20,000 people
British and Foreign Bible Society founded in 1805
Primitive Methodist Awakening began 1807 in England
Henry Martyn (1781–1812): evangelist to India and Arabia, translator of the Bible into other tongues
Robert Morrison (1782–1834): evangelist to China, translator of the Bible
Haystack Prayer Meeting in New England, 1810; beginning of American foreign missions
American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions established in 1810
Methodist camp meetings: 200,000 people gathered by 1816
Five decades of revival in the United States, 1792–1842
Conversion and baptism of Pomare II (1819) and the evangelization of all Tahiti
Adoniram Judson (1788–1850): evangelist and translator of the Bible; pioneer missionary to Burma
Revival all over Germany from 1815
American Bible Society founded in 1816
Le Reveil began in Geneva in 1816 under Robert Holdane, spread to France and Holland
Reginald Heber’s evangelistic ministry to India (Calcutta), 1822–1826
American Sunday School Union founded in 1824
American Tract Society founded in 1825
Johannes Gossner (1773–1858); German pastor, missionary leader, and founder of the Gossner Missionary Society (1842); father of faith missions
Educational evangelism of Alexander Duff in India, 1829–1863
Awakening in Sweden in 1837 under George Scott and Carl Rosenius
Awakening in Hawaii in 1837 under Titus Coan
Scottish revivals of 1838/39 under W. C. Burns
Martyrdom of John Williams in New Hebrides, 1839
David Livingstone (1813–1873): evangelist and explorer who opened Africa to the Gospel
Joseph Hardy Neesima (1843–1890): founder of Doshisha College and Theological School in Japan
Founding of the YMCA in 1844 by George Williams
Fijian revival beginning in 1845
Awakening among Germans in Russia, 1845; Stundist Movement began
English Methodist evangelism beginning in 1846 under James Caughey
John Geddie (1815–1872): evangelist to the South Seas island of Aneityum of whom it was said: “When he landed in 1848 there were no Christians here; when he left in 1872 there were no heathen”
Founding of the YWCA in Germany and Great Britain in 1854
John L. Nevius: evangelist to the Far East, 1854–1893; father of the Nevius method of establishing self-supporting, self-governing, self-propagating churches Charles G. Finney (1792–1875): American evangelist, 1824–1875
New York City revival of 1857/58 and the Fulton Street prayer meeting
The “Annus Mirabilis” in Ulster: 100,000 converts in a spontaneous movement
Revival in Scotland, 1859/60
Revival in Wales, 1859
Extended revival and evangelism in England, 1860–1865
Dwight Lyman Moody (1837–1899): evangelist to Britain and America
John G. Paton (1824–1907): evangelist to New Hebrides; at Aniwa (Oceania) from 1866
Conversion of King Khama of Bechuanaland, 1860; transformation of his country
Second “opening of China” to the Gospel following the Treaty of Tientsin
Work of the Salvation Army (William Booth, founder) from 1864
J. Hudson Taylor (1832–1905): faith mission leader; founder of the China Inland Mission; evangelist in China 1853–1905
Evangelization of Madagascar following the baptism of Queen Rànavàlona II in 1868
Martyrdom of Bishop Patteson (1827–1871) in Melanesia
British awakenings under Moody and Sankey in 1873/74
Kumamoto Band established in Japan in 1876
Evangelization of the Barotse in Africa from 1877 under Francois Coillard
Samuel Porter Jones, the D. L. Moody of the South, 1881–1906
Student Volunteer Movement founded in 1886
R. A. Torrey (1856–1928): successor to Moody; evangelist and author of soul-winning literature
John R. Mott (1865–1955): lay evangelist and world leader, YMCA, Student Volunteer Movement, from 1890
Samuel Zwemer (1867–1952): evangelist to the Muslims
Martyrdom of 189 Protestant missionaries in China in the Boxer Rebellion, 1900
Colonel Yamamuro, the “General Booth” of Japan: evangelistic ministry from 1900
Masahisa Uemura (Kimura): the twentieth-century Moody of Japan, from 1900
J. Wilbur Chapman (1859–1918): evangelist and developer of the simultaneous revival campaign
Billy Sunday (1862–1935): evangelistic ministry in America from 1900; developed basic revival organization
Martyrdom of James Chalmers (1841–1901) in New Guinea
Welsh revival under Evan Roberts and Seth Joshua
Madagascar revivals in 1905, 1927, 1946
Awakenings in Scandinavia, 1905
Revivals throughout India from 1905
Korean revival of 1907
Awakening in Chile in 1909, becoming Pentecostal and numbering 600,000
Manchurian revival of 1908 under Jonathan Goforth
Ecumenical Missionary Conference at Edinburgh, 1910
A. Earl Kernahan: emphasis on visitation evangelism in denominations
Pentecostal movement, front 1910
Awakening in Ireland from 1921 under W. P. Nicholson
Beginning of radio evangelism; e.g., “The Lutheran Hour” and “The Old-Fashioned Revival Hour”
Great Awakening in China from 1927: John Sung, Andrew GiH, and Bethel Bands
East African revival began in 1932
Summer Institute of Linguistics beginning in 1934 (L. L. Legters and W. Cameron Townsend); founding of Wycliffe Bible Translators in 1942
Youth for Christ Movement founded in 1942
Student revivals in the United States 1949–1951
Billy Graham: evangelist and pioneering television crusader; worldwide evangelistic ministry beginning in 1949
Awakening in Brazil in 1952
Evangelism-in-depth in Latin America
