The Uganda Martyrs: the young converts burned at Namugongo in 1886
Between 1885 and 1887, Kabaka Mwanga II of Buganda ordered the killing of Christian converts at his court. On 3 June 1886, many were burned alive…
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Feature Articles
“Softly and Tenderly Jesus Is Calling”: Will Thompson’s invitation hymn
Will Lamartine Thompson, an Ohio songwriter, published "Softly and Tenderly Jesus Is Calling" in 1880. It became one of the most famous invitation hymns, sung at…
“Tell Me the Old, Old Story”: the hymn Katherine Hankey wrote while recovering from illness
Katherine Hankey, an English evangelical and Bible teacher, wrote a long poem about the life of Jesus in 1866 while recovering from a serious illness. Two…
Isaiah Shembe and the Nazareth Baptist Church: South Africa’s prophet of Ekuphakameni
Isaiah Shembe founded the Nazareth Baptist Church, known as ibandla lamaNazaretha, in KwaZulu-Natal around 1910. Blending Christian faith with Zulu culture, his church grew into one…
Simon Kimbangu: the Congolese prophet jailed for 30 years after five months of ministry
Simon Kimbangu, a Baptist catechist in the Belgian Congo, began a healing ministry in April 1921 that drew huge crowds. Within months the colonial authorities arrested…
“Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing”: Robert Robinson’s hymn about a wandering heart
Robert Robinson wrote "Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing" in 1758, three years after his conversion under the preaching of George Whitefield. Its line about a…
“In Christ Alone”: the 2001 hymn by Keith Getty and Stuart Townend
"In Christ Alone", written in 2001 by Northern Irish composer Keith Getty and English songwriter Stuart Townend, became one of the most popular modern hymns in…
Cardinal Peter Turkson: from a Wassa mining town to the Vatican’s top offices
Peter Kodwo Appiah Turkson, born in 1948 in Nsuta in Ghana's Western Region, became Archbishop of Cape Coast in 1992 and Ghana's first cardinal in 2003.…
Garrick Sokari Braide: the Niger Delta prophet who led a mass revival in 1915
Garrick Sokari Braide, a Kalabari evangelist from the Niger Delta, led a mass revival from about 1915 in which thousands abandoned traditional shrines. Called Elijah II…
“The Church’s One Foundation”: the hymn born from a South African church dispute
Samuel John Stone wrote "The Church's One Foundation" in 1866 in response to the controversy surrounding John William Colenso, Bishop of Natal in South Africa. Sung…