Альберт Бенджамин Симпсон: Жизнь и деятельность канадского богослова.

Canadian theologian

Albert Benjamin Simpson (December 15, 1843 – October 29, 1919), also known as A. B. Simpson, was a Canadian preacher, theologian, author, and founder of the Christian and Missionary Alliance (C&MA), an evangelical denomination with an emphasis on global evangelism that has been characterized as being Keswickian in theology. Author Harold H. Simpson has gathered an extensive genealogy of Cavendish families in Cavendish: Its History, Its People. His research establishes the Clark family (A. B. Simpson's mother's side) 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 (closed in 1971) 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. In August 1881, he experienced divine healing of a heart problem. In October 1881, he adopted the vision of believer's baptism as a symbol of commitment and was baptized by immersion in a Baptist church. After discussing his change in beliefs at his church, he decided to leave it.

In 1881 he began 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 (This school was the beginning of Nyack College and Alliance Theological Seminary). In 1885, he was invited to the International Convention of Holiness and Divine Healing in London, by the American pastor William Boardman, author of The Higher Christian Life. He taught about holiness and especially a sermon known as "Himself", that describes the sanctification as a focus on Christ himself and on his work on the cross. 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.

A. B. Simpson died in 1919 and his wife, Margaret (née Margaret L. Henry) in 1924. They are buried on the Rockland County Campus of Nyack College in Nyack, New York.

A number of C&MA churches bear Simpson's name, including (i) Simpson University in Redding, California, (ii) the Albert B. Simpson school in Lima, Peru, (iii) the A. B. Simpson Alliance School in Zamboanga City, Philippines, (iv), Sekolah Tinggi Teologi Simpson (Simpson Theological College) in Ungaran, Indonesia and (v) The Simpson Memorial Church (established in 1923) in Jamalpur, Ahmedabad, India. In 2023 it has completed 100 years, so the "Centenary Celebration" is taking place from 1 May 2023 to 31 April 2024.

The Life of A. B. Simpson, by Albert E. Thompson, Brooklyn: The Christian Alliance Publishing Company (1920);
A. B. Simpson, His Life and Work (reprint of the 1920 edition), by Albert E. Thompson, Harrisburg: Christian Publications (1960);
A. B.: The Unlikely Founder of a Global Movement (1st ed. ), by David P. Jones, Colorado Springs: The Christian and Missionary Alliance (2019);
Simpson and the Making of Modern Evangelicalism. by Henry, James Daryn. A. B., Montreal ;: McGill Queen’s University Press, 2019.