Michael Cassidy, is a South African Christian leader, evangelist, [1] writer [2] [3] and founder of Africa Enterprise, known for his initiatives at ecumenism, and reconciliation on personal, church and political levels. [4]
He was born on 24 September 1936 in Johannesburg, South Africa, the son of Charles Stewart Cassidy and Mary Reading.[ citation needed ]. Michael Cassidy converted to Christianity in 1954 at the Harringay Arena in the United Kingdom during a Billy Graham crusade. [5] [6] Michael Cassidy cites Billy Graham as one of two dominant influences in his life. [6] The other influence in his life was John Stott who is noted as the leader of the worldwide evangelical movement. [6]
Cassidy went to school at Michaelhouse in Natal, he attended Cambridge University where he studied Modern and Medieval Languages and was a awarded a bachelor's degree and a Master of Arts degree in 1958. He attended Fuller Theological Seminary in 1963 completing a Bachelor of Divinity and the Azusa Pacific University in California in 1993. [7]
Cassidy founded and led African Enterprise in Pietermaritzburg, Kwazulu-Natal since 1961. Charles E. Fuller who was the founder of Fuller Theological Seminary helped Michael Cassidy get started on African Enterprise by identifying the first three Board Members for him (Bruce Bare, James Gorton and his secretary, Rose Baessler). He made his secretarial staff available to Michael plus a small loan of seed money and he provided five tickets for the first African Enterprise Team to travel to Pietermaritzburg, South Africa for the Pietermaritzburg Mission in 1961. [8]
In 1992 Billy Graham asked Michael Cassidy to visit Nelson Mandela after Graham had received a letter from Mandela. [9] Cassidy presented Mandela with a signed copy of Billy Graham's book Peace with God [9] . At Nelson Mandela's request Michael Cassidy networked with other religious leaders to press for reconciliation before South Africa's election in 1994 and after. [9]
In 1974 Michael Cassidy was part of the First International Congress on World Evangelization and was part of the initial planning meeting for the Congress. [10] He was instrumental in bringing the Conference to Cape Town, South Africa in 2010. [10] In 2012 he was made the Honorary Chairman of the Lausanne Movement for World Evangelisation. [11] He was also recognised as Fuller Theological Seminary's Distinguished Alumnus of 2012. [12]
Evangelicalism, also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide interdenominational movement within Protestant Christianity that affirms the centrality of being "born again", in which an individual experiences personal conversion; the authority of the Bible as God's revelation to humanity ; and spreading the Christian message. The word evangelical comes from the Greek (euangelion) word for "good news".
In Christianity, evangelism or witnessing is the act of preaching the gospel with the intention of sharing the message and teachings of Jesus Christ.
Gordon–Conwell Theological Seminary (GCTS) is an evangelical seminary with its main campus in Hamilton, Massachusetts, and three other campuses in Boston, Massachusetts; Charlotte, North Carolina; and Jacksonville, Florida. According to the Association of Theological Schools, Gordon-Conwell ranks as one of the largest evangelical seminaries in North America in terms of total number of full-time students enrolled.
William R. Bright was an American evangelist. In 1951 at the University of California, Los Angeles he founded Campus Crusade for Christ as a ministry for university students. In 1952 he wrote The Four Spiritual Laws. In 1979 he produced the film Jesus.
Pietermaritzburg is the capital and second-largest city in the province of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. It was founded in 1838 and is currently governed by the Msunduzi Local Municipality. Its Zulu name umGungundlovu is the name used for the district municipality. Pietermaritzburg is popularly called Maritzburg in Afrikaans, English and Zulu alike, and often informally abbreviated to PMB. It is a regionally important industrial hub, producing aluminium, timber and dairy products, as well as the main economic hub of Umgungundlovu District Municipality. The public sector is a major employer in the city due to local, district and provincial governments located here.
Carl Ferdinand Howard Henry was an American evangelical Christian theologian who provided intellectual and institutional leadership to the neo-evangelical movement in the mid-to-late 20th century. His early book, The Uneasy Conscience of Modern Fundamentalism (1947), was influential in calling evangelicals to differentiate themselves from separatist fundamentalism and claim a role in influencing the wider American culture. He was involved in the creation of numerous major evangelical organizations, including the National Association of Evangelicals, Fuller Theological Seminary, Evangelical Theological Society, Christianity Today magazine, and the Institute for Advanced Christian Studies. The Carl F. H. Henry Institute for Evangelical Engagement at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and the Carl F. H. Henry Center for Theological Understanding at Trinity International University seek to carry on his legacy.
Fuller Theological Seminary is an interdenominational Evangelical Christian seminary in Pasadena, California, with regional campuses in the western United States. It is egalitarian in nature.
William Franklin Graham Jr. was an American evangelist and an ordained Southern Baptist minister who became well known internationally in the late 1940s. He was a prominent evangelical Christian figure, and according to a biographer, was "among the most influential Christian leaders" of the 20th century.
The Lausanne Covenant is a July 1974 religious manifesto promoting active worldwide Christian evangelism. One of the most influential documents in modern evangelicalism, it was written at the First International Congress on World Evangelization in Lausanne, Switzerland, where it was adopted by 2,300 evangelicals in attendance.
The First International Congress on World Evangelization (ICOWE), also sometimes called the Lausanne Congress or Lausanne '74, was held from 16 to 25 July 1974.
Edward John Carnell was a prominent Christian theologian and apologist, was an ordained Baptist pastor, and served as President of Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, California. He was the author of nine major books, several of which attempted to develop a fresh outlook in Christian apologetics. He also wrote essays that were published in several other books, and was a contributor of articles to periodicals such as The Christian Century and Christianity Today.
Harold John Ockenga was a leading figure of mid-20th-century American Evangelicalism, part of the reform movement known as "Neo-Evangelicalism". A Congregational minister, Ockenga served for many years as pastor of Park Street Church in Boston, Massachusetts. He was also a prolific author on biblical, theological, and devotional topics. Ockenga helped to found the Fuller Theological Seminary and Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, as well as the National Association of Evangelicals (NAE).
Alan Michael Lapsley, SSM is a South African Anglican priest and social justice activist.
Themba Harry Gwala was a revolutionary leader in the African National Congress (ANC) and South African Communist Party (SACP) in South Africa.
Ralph Dana Winter was an American missiologist and Presbyterian missionary who helped pioneer Theological Education by Extension, raised the debate about the role of the church and mission structures and became well known as the advocate for pioneer outreach among unreached people groups. He was the founder of the U.S. Center for World Mission, William Carey International University, and the International Society for Frontier Missiology.
The Lausanne Committee for World Evangelization, more commonly known as the Lausanne Movement, is a global movement that mobilizes Christian leaders to collaborate for world evangelization. The movement's fourfold vision is to see 'the gospel for every person, disciple-making churches for every people and place, Christ-like leaders for every church and sector, and kingdom impact in every sphere of society'.
In the United States, evangelicalism is a movement among Protestant Christians who believe in the necessity of being born again, emphasize the importance of evangelism, and affirm traditional Protestant teachings on the authority as well as the historicity of the Bible. Comprising nearly a quarter of the U.S. population, evangelicals are a diverse group drawn from a variety of denominational backgrounds, including Baptist, Mennonite, Methodist, Pentecostal, Plymouth Brethren, Quaker, Reformed and nondenominational churches.
Charles Peter Wagner was an American missionary, writer, teacher and founder of several Christian organizations. In his earlier years, Wagner was known as a key leader of the Church Growth Movement and later for his writings on spiritual warfare.