January 8 in Christian History

Jan 08, 2009 08:01 AM EST

1800 - In London, the first soup kitchens were opened for the relief of the poor.


1954 - The State Convention of Baptists in Ohio was formed, representing 39 Southern Baptist churches in that state.


1956 - In Ecuador, Plymouth Brethren missionaries Jim Elliot, Nate Saint, Roger Youderian, Ed McCully and Pete Fleming were killed by the Auca Indians, while attempting to evangelize their tribe. Elliot's widow Elisabeth later published the story of their work and martyrdom in her book "Through Gates of Splendor" (1963).


1966 - Stephen Cardinal Wyszynski, the primate of Poland, was barred by the Polish government from attending the Vatican celebration of the 1,000th anniversary of Christianity in Poland.


1979 - American Presbyterian apologist Francis Schaeffer wrote in a letter: 'A Christian is a person who has the possibility of innumerable new starts.'


© 1987-2009, William D. Blake. Used by permission of the author, from

Almanac of the Christian Church