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  • Christian woman faith heroes: Phillis Wheatley fought the horror of slavery

    Phillis Wheatley, an enslaved black woman who became one of the first published writers in North America, was a Christian who fought the horror of slavery. Phillis was born in West Africa in 1753 but as a young girl was sold by a local chief to a slave trader and, in 1761, transported to North […]

  • Faith heroes: Phoebe Palmer, whose influence continues today

    Phoebe Palmer was one of the foremost Christian leaders of the 19th century and someone whose influence continues to the present day. Born in New York in 1807, Phoebe Worrall grew up in a family with a passionate Christian faith. Her father was a ‘first generation’ Methodist, having come to Christ under John Wesley himself […]

  • Faith heroes: Mahalia Jackson, a pioneer in Christian music

    Mahalia Jackson was born in 1911 to poor, unmarried parents in New Orleans. The bitter memory of slavery still lingered amongst African-Americans: all Mahalia’s grandparents had been born slaves. Although brought up in a church where traditional hymns were sung with formality, Mahalia was also introduced to the heart-warming spirituals and the joyful music of […]

  • Faith heroes: Marie Durand, who spent most of life in jail for her faith

    The story of the eighteenth-century French Christian, Marie Durand, who spent almost all her life in jail for her faith, is challenging. To understand Marie’s imprisonment we need some background. The Reformation of the sixteenth century, with its emphasis on the Bible and faith in Christ as the only way of salvation, was not just […]

  • Faith heroes: Anne Bradstreet: achievement is what you attempt to achieve and how you attempt it

    Heroism isn’t about achievements; in my view it’s about what you attempt to achieve and how you attempt it. And that makes seventeenth-century Puritan poet Anne Bradstreet a hero. Anne was born in England in 1612 to a well-educated and religious family. Although she never attended school, Anne was educated by her father (who was […]

  • Faith heroes: Hannah More’s campaign against slavery

    Hannah More was born in 1745 near Bristol, the fourth of five daughters of a schoolmaster. At a time when only upper-class women had a formal education, her father ensured she and her sisters were well taught. She studied at her father’s school for girls and, while still a teenager, taught there. Hannah wrote her […]