Albert Benjamin Simpson


Albert Benjamin Simpson, also known as A. B. Simpson, was a Canadian preacher, theologian, author, and founder of the Christian and Missionary Alliance, an evangelical denomination with an emphasis on global evangelism.

Early life and ministry

Simpson was born in Bayview, near Cavendish, Prince Edward Island, Canada, as the third son and fourth child of James Simpson, Jr. and Janet Clark. Author Harold H. Simpson has gathered an extensive genealogy of Cavendish families in Cavendish: Its History, Its People. His research establishes the Clark family as one of the founding families of Cavendish in 1790, along with the Simpson family, and he traces common ancestors between Albert B. Simpson and Lucy Maud Montgomery, the author of Anne of Green Gables.
The young Albert was raised in a strict Calvinistic Scottish Presbyterian and Puritan tradition. His conversion of faith began under the ministry of Henry Grattan Guinness, a visiting evangelist from Ireland during the revival of 1859. Simpson spent some time in the Chatham, Ontario area, and received his theological training in Toronto at Knox College, University of Toronto. After graduating in 1865, Simpson was subsequently ordained in the Canada Presbyterian Church, the largest of the Presbyterian groups in Canada that merged after his departure for the United States. At age 21, he accepted a call to the large Knox Presbyterian Church in nearby Hamilton, Ontario.
In December 1873, at age 30, Simpson left Canada and assumed the pulpit of the largest Presbyterian church in Louisville, Kentucky, the Chestnut Street Presbyterian Church. It was in Louisville that he first conceived of preaching the gospel to the common man by building a simple tabernacle for that purpose. Despite his success at the Chestnut Street Church, Simpson was frustrated by their reluctance to embrace this burden for wider evangelistic endeavor.
In 1880, Simpson was called to the Thirteenth Street Presbyterian Church in New York City where he immediately began reaching out to the world with the gospel. By 1881, after only two fruitful years at Thirteenth Presbyterian, he resigned in order to begin an independent gospel ministry to the many new immigrants and the neglected masses of New York City. Beside active evangelistic work in the church, he published in 1882 a missionary journal, The Gospel in All Lands, the first missionary journal with pictures. Simpson also founded and began publishing an illustrated magazine entitled The Word, Work, and World. By 1911, this magazine became known as The Alliance Weekly, then Alliance Life. It is the official publication of The Christian and Missionary Alliance, in the US and Canada.
In 1882, Simpson began informal training classes in order to reach "the neglected peoples of the world with the neglected resources of the church". By 1883, a formal program was in place and ministers and missionaries were being trained in a multi-cultural context. In 1889, Simpson and his church family moved into their new home at the corner of 44th St. and 8th Av. called the New York Tabernacle. This became the base not only of his ministry of evangelism in the city but also of his growing work of worldwide missions.

Teaching

Simpson's disciplined upbringing and his natural genius made him a most effective communicator of the Word of God. He preached a unique gospel of Jesus which became known as the Fourfold Gospel: "Jesus our Savior, Sanctifier, Healer, and Coming King". The Fourfold Gospel is symbolized in the logo of the C&MA : the Cross, the Laver, the Pitcher and the Crown. He came to his special emphasis in ministry through his absolute Christ-centeredness in doctrine and experience.
Plagued by illness for much of his life since childhood, Simpson believed he experienced divine healing after understanding it to be part of the blessing of abiding in Christ as Life and healing. He emphasized healing in his Fourfold Gospel and usually devoted one meeting a week for teaching, testimonies and prayer on these lines. Although such teaching isolated him from the mainline churches that either did not emphasize or outright rejected healing, Simpson was uncompromising in his beliefs.
Simpson's heart for evangelism was to become the driving force behind the creation of the C&MA. Initially, the Christian and Missionary Alliance was not founded as a denomination, but as an organized movement of world evangelism. Today, the C&MA plays a leadership role in global evangelism.
In his 1890 book, A Larger Christian Life, Simpson discussed his vision for the church:
Simpson composed the lyrics of over 120 hymns, 77 of which appear in the C&MA's 1962 hymnal, Hymns of the Christian Life, co-edited with R. Kelso Carter.
His missionary vision is illustrated by these words of his hymn, "The Missionary Cry":

Influence on Pentecostalism

During the beginning of the twentieth century, Simpson became closely involved with the growing Pentecostal movement, an offshoot of the Holiness movement. It was common for Pentecostal pastors and missionaries to receive their training at the Missionary Training Institute, now Nyack College, Nyack, New York, that Simpson founded. Because of this, Simpson and the C&MA had a great influence on Pentecostalism, in particular the Assemblies of God and the Church of the Foursquare Gospel. This influence included evangelistic emphasis, C&MA doctrine, and Simpson's hymns and books.
A severe division developed within the C&MA organization over "the initial evidence doctrine" within Pentecostalism. While Simpson and the C&MA wholeheartedly embraced the Filling of the Holy Spirit and the spiritual gifts, including speaking with tongues, they rejected the position that tongues was the only initial evidence for that Baptism experience; instead, they held that the primary evidence is the Fruit of the Holy Spirit and that "fruitful ministry" is another strong proof.

Legacy

A number of C&MA churches bear Simpson's name, including Simpson University in Redding, California, the Albert B. Simpson school in Lima, Peru, the A. B. Simpson Alliance School in Zamboanga City, Philippines, and the Simpson Memorial Church in Jamalpur, Ahmedabad, India. A. B. Simpson and his wife, Margaret '', are buried on the Rockland County Campus of Nyack College in Nyack, New York.

Works


  1. The Gospel of Healing, New York: Word, Work & World Publishing Company; London: John Snow & Co. ;
  2. The Self Life and the Christ Life, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: Christian Publications ;
  3. Divine Emblems in the Book of Genesis, New York: Word, Work and World Publishing Co. ;
  4. Divine Emblems in the Book of Exodus New York: Word, Work and World Publishing Co. ;
  5. The Four-Fold Gospel, New York: Word, Work & World Publishing Co. ;
  6. Hymns and Songs of the Four-Fold Gospel, and the Fullness of Jesus, New York: Christian Alliance Publishing Co.;
  7. Wholly Sanctified, New York: Christian Alliance Publishing Co. ;
  8. The Gospel of Healing, New York: Christian Alliance Publishing Co. ;
  9. , New York: Christian Alliance Publishing Co. ;
  10. The Life of Prayer
  11. The Christ of the Forty Days
  12. The Names of Jesus
  13. The Love Life of the Lord
  14. The Holy Spirit' or 'Power From on High, New York: Christian Alliance Publications ;
  15. Christ in the Tabernacle
  16. Days of Heaven Upon Earth: A Year Book of Scripture Texts and Living Truths
  17. Hymns of the Christian Life, Numbers One and Two
  18. Present Truths or the Supernatural
  19. Danger Lines in the Deeper Life
  20. But God: The Resources and Sufficiency of God
  21. Heart Messages for Sabbaths at Home
  22. Service for the King
  23. The Sweetest Christian Life
  24. The Apostolic Church
  25. The Cross of Christ
  26. When the Comforter came; thirty-one meditations on the Holy Spirit--one for each day in the month
  27. Life More Abundantly
  28. The Coming One
  29. Michele Nardi: The Italian Evangelist; His Life and Work
  30. The Gentle Love of the Holy Spirit

Posthumous compilations


  1. Songs of the Spirit: Hitherto Unpublished Poems and a Few Old Favorites
  2. Missionary Message
  3. Standing on Faith and Talks on the Self Life London: Marshall, Morgan & Scott ;
  4. Walking in the Spirit: A Series of Arresting Addresses on the Subject of the Holy Spirit in Christian Experience Harrisburg: Christian Publications ;

Works about A. B. Simpson