This historical timeline of the C&MA brilliantly displays God’s hand in shaping the organization through the service of humble individuals willing to be faithful to God’s calling.
HISTORICAL TIMELINE
The Christian and Missionary Alliance has a rich heritage. The historical timeline of the C&MA brilliantly displays God’s hand in shaping the organization through the service of humble individuals willing to be faithful to God’s calling.
The 1840s
The 1840s brought: anesthetics, Oregon Trail, California gold rush; U.S. population 17.1 million
C&MA Events
| 1843 | Dr. Albert Benjamin Simpson born December 15 on Prince Edward Island, Canada |
| 1844 | Simpson dedicated to the Lord by missionary John Geddie |
| 1847 | Simpson family moves to Chatham, Ontario |
Evangelical Events
| 1841 | David Livingstone opens Africa to Christian missions |
| 1844 | YMCA founded in London by Sir George Williams |
| 1846 | World Evangelical Alliance formed in London |
| 1849 | Charles G. Finney holds evangelistic campaigns in England |
U.S. & World Events
| 1844 | First message over telegraph line sent by inventor Samuel F. B. Morse |
| 1848 | Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels publish The Communist Manifesto in Germany |
| 1849 | Mexican-American War, Texas and California ceded to United States |
The 1850s
The 1850s brought: Republican Party, Melville’s Moby Dick, California statehood; U.S. population 23.2 million, World population 1.2 billion
C&MA Events
| 1852 | Simpson believes he is called by God to preach |
| 1858 | Simpson receives divine assurance of his salvation |
Evangelical Events
| 1851 | YMCA comes to Montreal and Boston |
| 1854 | International Missionary Conference in New York: “Converting the World to Christ;” Illinois Institute (Wheaton College) founded by Jonathan Blanchard |
| 1857 | NYC Fulton Street Revival grows from 6 to 10,000 laymen in six months |
| 1859 | Second Evangelical Awakening in England, more than 1 million converts |
U.S. & World Events
| 1852 | Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin published |
| 1855 | East Africa: 20,000 slaves exported annually by Arabs |
| 1857 | Dred Scott decision by Supreme Court denies slaves’ right to U.S. citizenship |
| 1859 | Charles Darwin’s On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selectionpublished |
The 1860s
The 1860s brought: women’s suffrage in Wyoming, dynamite, Transcontinental Railroad; U.S. population 31.4 million
C&MA Events
| 1861 | Simpson writes “A Solemn Covenant” to confirm his salvation experience |
| 1861-65 | Simpson attends Knox College, Toronto |
| 1865 | Simpson ordained on September 12, marries Margaret Henry the next day; Simpson pastors Knox Presbyterian Church, Ontario, 750 new members added |
Evangelical Events
U.S. & World Events
| 1861-65 | 620,000 killed during U.S. Civil War |
| 1863 | President Abraham Lincoln issues Emancipation Proclamation, freeing all slaves |
| 1865 | General Robert E. Lee surrenders, ending Civil War; President Abraham Lincoln assassinated by John Wilkes Booth |
The 1870s
The 1870s brought: typewriter, telephone, phonograph, light bulb; U.S. population 38.6 million
C&MA Events
| 1874 | Simpson filled with the Holy Spirit |
| 1874-79 | Simpson pastors Chestnut Street Presbyterian Church, Louisville, Kentucky |
| 1875 | Whittle/Bliss Campaign radically alters Simpson’s view of ministry; Simpson begins evangelistic services in public halls |
| 1879 | Simpson resigns Kentucky pastorate and moves to NYC |
Evangelical Events
| 1873-74 | Moody/Sankey revivals reach more than 3 million people in Scotland and England |
| 1874 | Oxford Convention of Higher Christian Life, 1,500 ministers attend |
| 1875 | Keswick Convention for higher spiritual life begins |
U.S. & World Events
| 1872 | Yellowstone established by Congress as first national park in United States |
| 1876 | Colorado is the 38th state admitted to the Union |
| 1877 | Colonel George A. Custer’s “last stand” in Battle of Little Bighorn in Montana |
The 1880s
The 1880s brought: Sears & Roebuck, post-impressionist art, Geronimo’s surrender; U.S. population 50.2 million
C&MA Events
| 1880 | Simpson produces first U.S. illustrated missionary magazine, The Gospel in All Lands |
| 1880 | Simpson pastors 13th Street Presbyterian Church, New York City |
| 1881 | Simpson resigns NYC pastorate to reach “the unchurched and neglected masses” |
| 1882 | First issue of The Word, The Work, and The World(Alliance Life) published; New York Gospel Tabernacle and Missionary Training Institute (MTI) organized |
| 1883 | The Missionary Union for the Evangelization of the World formed |
| 1884 | C&MA begins ministry in Democratic Republic of the Congo |
| 1886 | A.B. Simpson’s first convention held at Old Orchard Beach, Maine |
| 1887 | Two societies formed: The Christian Alliance and The Evangelical Missionary Alliance (later known as The International Missionary Alliance) |
| 1888 | C&MA begins ministry in China |
Evangelical Events
| 1881 | Christian Endeavor Movement, first interdenominational youth ministry, spreads nationwide |
| 1886 | Chicago Evangelization Society (Moody Bible Institute) founded |
| 1888 | Student Volunteer Movement for foreign missions coins slogan: “The Evangelization of the World in this Generation;” Centenary Conference on Foreign Missions in London, 1,576 missionaries from 140 agencies attend |
U.S. & World Events
| 1881 | President James A. Garfield shot, dies later of complications |
| 1884 | Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finnpublished |
| 1886 | Statue of Liberty dedicated |
| 1887 | Hunan, China: 900,000 drowned in Yellow River |
The 1890s
The 1890s brought: kinetoscope (motion picture) camera, radio; U.S. population 63.0 million
C&MA Events
| 1890 | Dedication of The Gospel Tabernacle, Christian Publications, and Berachah Home complex at Eighth Avenue and W 44th Street in NYC; C&MA begins ministry in Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria; Eighth Avenue Mission opened by May Agnew; Stephen Merritt feeds 2,000 homeless people daily |
| 1890-91 | First black C&MA missionaries, James A. Trice and Robert Page, begin work |
| 1891 | C&MA begins ministry in Japan; First edition of Hymns of the Christian Life published |
| 1893 | C&MA begins ministry in India |
| 1895 | C&MA begins ministry in Venezuela |
| 1897 | The two societies merge to become The Christian and Missionary Alliance; A.B. Simpson becomes first president; C&MA begins ministry in Argentina, Chile, and Ecuador; Missionary Training Institute and Berachah Home move to Nyack, New York |
Evangelical Events
U.S. & World Events
| 1892 | Ellis Island opens in New York to receive immigrants |
| 1897 | Sir Ronald Ross discovers cause of malaria, brings decline in fatalities in Africa |
| 1898 | U.S. blockades Cuba after battleship Maine sinks; U.S. declares war on Spain |
The 1900s
The 1900s brought: 9 million U.S. immigrants, teddy bears, ice cream cones; U.S. population 76.2 million; World population 1.6 billion
C&MA Events
| 1900 | China’s Boxer Rebellion, 19 Swedish C&MA missionaries and 13 children massacred; C&MA begins ministry in Puerto Rico |
| 1901 | Sudan Interior Mission (SIM) founded by Rowland S. Bingham, MTI alumnus |
| 1902 | Simpson edits religious monthly, Living Truths; C&MA begins ministry in Philippines |
| 1906 | Wilson Academy founded by Henry Wilson, famous alumni Charles and John D. MacArthur; Lovejoy Bible Training School for African-Americans founded in Mill Spring, North Carolina |
| 1907 | Toccoa Falls Bible Institute(Toccoa Falls College) founded by Dr. and Mrs. R.A. Forrest |
Evangelical Events
| 1900 | NYC World Missionary Conference, 200,000 attendees |
| 1904 | Welsh Revival, ministry of Evan Roberts, 100,000 converts in six months |
| 1906 | Azusa Street meetings in Los Angeles, California, led by William Seymour, launches Pentecostal movement |
| 1908 | Billy Sunday begins citywide campaigns, 1 million converts by 1930 |
U.S. & World Events
| 1903 | First successful airplane flight by the Wright brothers in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina |
| 1906 | Earthquake and subsequent fire in San Francisco destroy most of the city |
| 1908 | Henry Ford introduces the Model T car, priced at $850 |
| 1909 | Admiral Robert E. Peary claims to be the first to reach the North Pole |
The 1910s
The 1910s brought: Boy/Girl Scouts, Panama Canal, sinking of Titanic, Prohibition; U.S. population 92.3 million
C&MA Events
| 1911 | C&MA begins ministry in Vietnam, Robert A. Jaffray leads initiative |
| 1916 | St. Paul Bible Institute (Crown College) founded by J.D. Williams |
| 1919 | A.B. Simpson suffers a stroke and dies; Paul Rader becomes second president of the C&MA; C&MA begins ministry in Guinea |
Evangelical Events
| 1910 | Edinburgh World Missions Conference begins 20th century ecumenical movement; Sunday School Council of Evangelical Denominations established |
| 1917 | Interdenominational Foreign Missions Association (IFMA) founded |
U.S. & World Events
| 1911 | South Pole first reached by Roald Amundsen |
| 1914 | World War I begins after assassination of Austria’s Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife |
| 1917 | U.S. enters World War I; Charlie Chaplin becomes first actor to sign a $1 million contract |
| 1918 | World War I ends after Germany surrenders; Influenza outbreak kills 20 million worldwide |
The 1920s
The 1920s brought: British-mandated Palestine, Babe Ruth, TV, Reader’s Digest; U.S. population 108 million
C&MA Events
| 1921 | Simpson Bible Institute (Simpson University) founded by W.W. Newberry |
| 1923 | Pittsburgh Bible Training School for African-Americans founded by E.M. Burgess; C&MA begins ministry in Burkina Faso, Cambodia, Colombia and Mali |
| 1924 | Margaret Henry Simpson dies at 82; Frederic H. Senft becomes third president of the C&MA, dies during first year in office |
| 1925 | C&MA begins ministry in Peru; Harry M. Shuman becomes fourth president of the C&MA |
| 1926 | Cleveland Coloured Gospel Quintet entertains C&MA audiences in U.S. and Canada |
| 1929 | C&MA begins ministry in Indonesia, Laos and Thailand |
Evangelical Events
| 1921 | International Missionary Council formed to maintain cooperation among missions |
| 1922 | Pandita Ramabai, founder of Mukti Mission in India, dies; C&MA becomes legal trustee of mission |
| 1925 | Scopes Monkey Trial: John T. Scopes convicted of teaching evolution in a public school |
| 1927 | Russian communist government destroys thousands of churches and kills Christians; Anti-Christian movement in China forces 5,000 Protestant missionaries to leave |
U.S. & World Events
| 1920 | 19th Amendment gives women the right to vote |
| 1926 | Congress establishes the Army Air Corp (Air Force) |
| 1927 | Charles Lindbergh flies Spirit of St. Louis nonstop from New York to Paris in 33 hours |
| 1929 | U.S. Stock Market crashes on “Black Tuesday;” the Great Depression begins |
The 1930s
The 1930s brought: Prohibition ends, Empire State Building, Social Security; U.S. population 123.2 million
C&MA Events
| 1930 | C&MA begins ministry in Côte d’Ivoire |
| 1931 | First major international Protestant radio station, HCJB “Voice of the Andies,” founded by Reuben Larson (C&MA) and Clarence Jones |
| 1933 | Missionary Training Institute (Nyack College) celebrates its 50th anniversary; Great Depression forces the Board of Managers to slash missionary allowances by one-third; C&MA begins ministry in Gabon |
| 1935 | President Shuman says Depression years most trying in history of Alliance; C&MA giving increases 11.15 percent over previous year, highest since 1931 |
| 1936 | Hymns of the Christian Life, 5th edition “blue hymnal” published |
Evangelical Events
U.S. & World Events
| 1933 | President Roosevelt’s New Deal puts millions of Americans back to work |
| 1935 | Nuremberg Laws strip German Jews of citizenship |
| 1938 | Orson Welle’s radio drama War of the Worlds causes scare; Atomic fission of uranium discovered |
| 1939 | Germany invades Poland; The Wizard of Oz and Gone With the Wind in movie theaters |
The 1940s
The 1940s brought: Israel statehood, NATO, Jackie Robinson, Ghandi’s assassination; U.S. population 132.2 million
C&MA Events
| 1941 | Canadian Bible Institute founded |
| 1942 | China, Indonesia, Philippines and Vietnam closed to missions work; 35 C&MA men, 42 women, and 44 children placed in internment camps; missionary Ethel Bell and her two children survive 20 days in a raft on the Atlantic Ocean after their ship is torpedoed |
| 1944 | C&MA missionary effort holds steady during war years; of 476 missionaries, 252 remain overseas |
| 1945 | Robert A. Jaffray dies in Japanese internment camp in Indonesia |
| 1946 | General Council reports ten missionaries and one child died in captivity during World War II |
| 1948 | C&MA exceeds goal of 1,000 U.S. organized branches, membership surpasses 50,000 mark |
| 1949 | C&MA missionaries forced to leave China as communism takes over; A.W. Tozer’s The Pursuit of God achieves wide recognition, in 1950 he become editor of The Alliance Weekly |
Evangelical Events
U.S. & World Events
| 1941 | U.S. enters World War II after Japan’s surprise attack on pearl Harbor |
| 1941-45 | Holocaust: 6 million Jews annihilated (3 million killed in German concentration camps) |
| 1944 | D-Day: U.S. and Allied forces invade Normandy, France, in largest amphibious assault in history |
| 1945 | U.S. drops atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, forcing Japanese surrender, ending World War II |
The 1950s
The 1950s brought: NASA, polio vaccine, Mr. Potato Head, UNIVAC computer; U.S. population 151.2 million; World population 2.6
C&MA Events
| 1950 | First C&MA missionary doctor, Dean F. Kroh, sent to Democratic Republic of the Congo |
| 1954 | Numerous C&MA churches in Vietnam are destroyed, Christians executed; C&MA begins ministry in Mexico; C&MA’s Sealand plane, Gospel Messenger, arrives in Papua, Indonesia; Harry M. Shuman retires after serving 28 years as C&MA president; Harry L. Turner becomes fifth president of the C&MA |
| 1955 | General Council affirms principles of self-support, self-government, and self-propagation for indigenous national churches; First Asia Conference convenes in Thailand |
| 1958 | The Alliance Weekly renamed The Alliance Witness |
| 1959 | Church Extension Loan Fund established to provide loans to Alliance churches |
Evangelical Events
U.S. & World Events
| 1950 | North Korea invades South Korea |
| 1955 | Rosa Parks refuses to give up bus seat to white man in Montgomery, Alabama |
| 1957 | Space Age begins; Soviet Union launches Sputnik I, world’s first artificial satellite |
| 1959 | Alaska and Hawaii are admitted as the 49th and 50th states |
The 1960s
The 1960s brought: Berlin Wall, Civil Rights Act, Beatles, heart transplants; U.S. population 179.3 million
C&MA Events
Evangelical Events
| 1960 | Christian Broadcasting Network(CBN) begun by Pat Robertson; Youth With A Mission (YWAM) founded by Loren Cunningham |
| 1962 | Evangelism Explosion International organized by D. James Kennedy |
| 1963 | Theological Education Extension (TEE) begins in Guatemala; author C.S. Lewis dies at 64; wrote Mere Christianity and The Chronicles of Narnia |
| 1966 | “Wheaton Declaration” Congress on Worldwide Missions, attended by 1,000 delegates |
| 1967 | Catholic Charismatic Movement born when Duquesne University students speak in tongues; Guinea: all missionaries, except 26 C&MA workers, expelled |
U.S. & World Events
| 1963 | March on Washington by civil rights supporters; Martin Luther King Jr. delivers “I have a dream” speech; President John F. Kennedy assassinated; prayer in public schools outlawed by U.S. Supreme Court |
| 1965 | U.S. combat troops land at China Beach, Vietnam, to defend air base in Da Nang |
| 1968 | Martin Luther King Jr. assassinated |
| 1969 | Neil Armstrong becomes the first man to step on the moon |
The 1970s
The 1970s brought: Hank Aaron HR record, Iran hostage crisis, oil embargo; U.S. population 203.3 million
C&MA Events
| 1970 | C&MA begins ministry in Great Britain; Canadian Theological College established |
| 1971 | C&MA begins ministry in New Zealand |
| 1972 | Missionary Training Institute becomes Nyack College |
| 1974 | CAMA Services, relief and development ministry, established; National Office moves from New York City to Nyack, New York; C&MA officially declared a denomination |
| 1975 | C&MA begin ministry in Costa Rica and Germany; missionaries leave Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam when communists take over government; the Alliance World Fellowship (AWF) established |
| 1977 | Thirty-nine (majority students and faculty) die in flood at Toccoa Falls College |
| 1978 | Louis L. King becomes seventh president of the C&MA; C&MA begins ministry in Spain |
| 1979 | C&MA begins ministry in Suriname; former C&MA President Nathan Bailey dies in auto accident |
Evangelical Events
U.S. & World Events
| 1970 | Four students killed at Kent State during Vietnam War protest; first Earth Day celebrated |
| 1973 | Vietnam Peace pacts signed, ending war; abortion legalized in U.S. after Roe v. Wade decision |
| 1974 | Watergate scandal; President Richard Nixon resigns |
| 1976 | President Jimmy Carter popularizes term “born again;” U.S. celebrates its bicentennial |
The 1980s
The 1980s brought: AIDS epidemic, Madonna, Rubik’s Cube, MTV; U.S. population 226.5 million
C&MA Events
| 1980 | International Fellowship of Alliance Professionals (IFAP) established; C&MA begins ministry in South Korea |
| 1981 | Canada becomes autonomous from U.S. C&MA, Melvin P. Sylvester becomes first president |
| 1986 | All for Jesus, centennial history of C&MA published |
| 1987 | “Easter 100” goal reached, 101 churches started; first edition of Alliance Video Magazine produced; Centennial Celebration of The Christian and Missionary Alliance in St. Paul, Minnesota; David L. Rambo becomes eighth president of the C&MA; The Alliance Witnessrenamed Alliance Life |
| 1989 | C&MA National Office moves to Colorado Springs, Colorado |
Evangelical Events
| 1980 | World Consultation on Frontier Missions in Edinburgh, Scotland |
| 1983 | Amsterdam ’83 International Conference, 3,800 from 133 nations attend |
| 1984 | Author and theologian Francis Schaeffer dies at 72, founded L’Abri Fellowship international in 1955 |
| 1986 | Amsterdam ’86 International Conference, 8,000 from 173 countries attend |
| 1989 | Lausanne II International Congress on World Evangelism in Manila; Christian Coalition of America founded by Pat Robertson |
U.S. & World Events
| 1980 | U.S. boycott of Moscow Olympics; John Lennon murdered; Mount St. Helens erupts |
| 1981 | President Ronald Reagan survives assassination attempt by John Hinckley Jr. |
| 1986 | Space shuttle Challenger explodes, killing all seven crew members |
| 1989 | Fall of Berlin Wall; Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska; Tiananmen Square massacre in China |
The 1990s
The 1990s brought: Seinfeld, World Wide Web, cloned sheep “Dolly,” L.A. riots; U.S. population 248.7 million
C&MA Events
| 1992 | C&MA begins ministry in Republic of the Congo |
| 1993 | C&MA begins ministry in Hungary, Poland and Russia; Lampados Bible College (Kuban Evangelical Christian University) founded in Krasnador, Russia |
| 1994 | India closed to missionaries, C&MA missionaries officially leave |
| 1995 | 7,400 youth attend LIFE ’95 in Orlando, Florida |
| 1996 | Paul F. Bubna becomes ninth president of the C&MA; C&MA begins ministry in Cuba |
| 1997 | C&MA begins ministry in Bolivia; Nyack College Manhattan Center opens |
| 1998 | C&MA Web site launched; President Paul Bubna dies of a heart attack; C&MA begins ministry in Balkans, Mongolia and Panama; Peter N. Nanfelt becomes tenth president of the C&MA |
| 1999 | The Orchard Foundationestablished |
Evangelical Events
| 1990 | Texas high school students start See You at the Pole prayer rally |
| 1991 | Promise Keepers first conference draws 4,200 men to University of Colorado in Boulder |
| 1993 | Samaritan’s Purse launches Operation Christmas Child |
| 1997 | Mother Teresa dies at 87 |
U.S. & World Events
| 1991 | Persian Gulf War: Operation Desert Shield and Operation Desert Storm |
| 1995 | Oklahoma City bombing kills 168 people |
| 1997 | Diana, Princess of Wales, dies at 36 in Paris auto accident |
| 1998 | President Bill Clinton impeached after Monica Lewinsky and Whitewater scandals |
| 1999 | Fifteen dead after Columbine High School shootings in Littleton, Colorado |
The 2000s
The 2000s brought: Department of Homeland Security, map of the human genome; U.S. population 281.4 million, World population 6.1 billion
C&MA Events
| 2000 | Alliance Life published in Spanish for the first time: Vida Alliancista; thousands make decisions for Christ in Vietnam, estimated number of believers more than 700,000 |
| 2002 | Staff and students at International Christian Academy in Côte d’Ivoire evacuated due to rebel fighting; C&MA begins ministry in Turkey; C&MA national church in Philippines celebrates centennial |
| 2003 | General Council ratifies transition to a biennial event; C&MA church opens in war-torn Baghdad, Iraq |
| 2004 | Strategic efforts in Central and Southeast Asia with tentmakers as well as relief and development workers; new C&MA Web site design, 135,000 users monthly, Tozer devotionals lead in popularity; missionary resources redeployed from Alliance Academy, Ecuador, Gabon, Peru, and Philippines to allow transfer of work to respective national churches; C&MA leaders visit President Thanh of Vietnam’s Tin Lanh Church; Celebrate 2004 conference in Nashville, Tennessee, Alliance Womencelebrate 75 years of ministry |
| 2005 | Gary M. Benedict is elected eleventh president of the U.S. C&MA; Peter Nanfelt retires from ministry after 40 years of service with The Alliance; IFAP personnel surpass 100 for the first time in C&MA history; transition of missionaries from Peru; Alliance Academy in Ecuador becomes an independent, international school |
| 2006 | Grand opening of the Women and Children’s Hospital in Koutiala, Mali; Senegal field opening |
| 2007 | Dr. Joe Weninger retires after more than 60 years of service with the C&MA, including Archives director since 1991; Ecuador, Peru, and Gabon Alliance missionaries pass baton of leadership to national church, begin transitioning to other assignments. National churches send missionaries |
| 2011 | 100-year anniversary of the Tin Lanh (“Good News”) Church of Vietnam |
| 2012 | C&MA and CAMA workers partner with Alliance churches in the Middle East to care for Syrian Refugees |
| 2012 | C&MA enters Italy and Portugal |
| 2013 | C&MA enters South Asia |
| 2013 | John P. Stumbo elected 12th president of the U.S. C&MA |
| 2013 | Michael A. Sohm becomes president of Compassion and Mercy Associates (CAMA) |
| 2013 | Nyack College secures new property for lower Manhattan campus in Battery Park |
| 2013 | U.S. Arabic-Speaking Association of churches organized |
Evangelical Events
| 2000 | Amsterdam 2000 International Conference, 10,000 from 209 countries attend |
| 2002 | Campus Crusade for Christ sponsors moving King’s College to NYC’s Empire State Building, 15th floor; missionary Bonnie Witherall shot and killed in Sidon, Lebanon while working at C&MA prenatal clinic |
| 2004 | Mel Gibson’s movie The Passion of the Christ soars to success amid controversy |
| 2006 | Canadian Alliance church member, Stephen Harper, elected Prime Minister of Canada |
| 2007 | Renowned U.S. evangelists/preachers D. James Kennedy, Jerry Falwell die |
| 2008 | Billy Graham turns 90 |
| 2011 | Harold Camping, an American evangelical broadcaster, prophesied a rapture whereby 200 million of God’s faithful would ascend to heaven. He further asserted that the world would be destroyed by fire on October 21 |
| 2012 | “Tebowing” polarizes U.S. views on religious expression in sports |
| 2012 | Southern Baptist Convention elects its first black president, the Rev. Fred Luter of New Orleans |
| 2013 | “The Bible” becomes the fastest-selling miniseries in history, selling more than half a million copies in its first week of release |
U.S. & World Events
| 2000 | Y2K millennium computer “bug” disaster averted |
| 2001 | Terrorists hijack planes and destroy World Trade Center, damage Pentagon and crash in rural Pennsylvania, more than 2,800 die |
| 2002 | Coalition forces put down Taliban regime in Afghanistan |
| 2003 | War with Iraq drives out Saddam Hussein and his regime |
| 2004 | A 9.0 earthquake off the island of Sumatra generated an Indian Ocean tsunami that claimed the lives of nearly 300,000 people in 11 countries; George W Bush is officially sworn in for his second term as president |
| 2005 | Pope Benedict XVI, the first pope from a German-speaking land in a thousand years, was elected as head of the Catholic Church; Hurricane Katrina decimates the U.S. Gulf Coast, leaving thousands dead and millions homeless |
| 2008 | Philadelphia Phillies win the World Series, October 29, 2008; Barack Obama elected first African-American U.S. president, November 4, 2008 |
| 2011 | Steve Jobs, Apple CEO and innovator, dies of cancer |
| 2011 | Osama bin Laden killed by U.S. troops and CIA operatives in Abbottabad, Pakistan |
| 2012 | Vladimir Putin wins the presidential election in Russia, claiming 64% of the vote |
| 2012 | Michael Phelps wins his 19th Olympic medal, becoming the winningest Olympic athlete of all time |
| 2013 | Margaret Thatcher, British prime minister from 1979-1990, dies |
| 2013 | The Affordable Health Care Act, or “Obamacare,” signed into law |
The 2010s
The 2010s brought: C&MA entry into new fields, “The Bible” miniseries, Typhoon Haiyan, U.S. population 309.3 million, World population 6.1 billion
C&MA Events
| 2011 | 100-year anniversary of the Tin Lanh (“Good News”) Church of Vietnam |
| 2012 | C&MA and CAMA workers partner with Alliance churches in the Middle East to care for Syrian refugees |
| 2012 | David Hearn elected president of C&MA Canada |
| 2012 | C&MA enters Italy and Portugal |
| 2013 | C&MA enters “The Highlands” in South Asia |
| 2013 | Michael A. Sohm becomes president of Compassion and Mercy Associates (CAMA) |
| 2013 | John P. Stumbo elected 12th president of the U.S. C&MA |
| 2013 | Nyack College secures new property for lower Manhattan campus in Battery Park |
| 2013 | U.S. Arabic-Speaking Association of churches organized |
| 2014 | Alliance responds to Ebola virus outbreak in West Africa with prevention education, Alliance national pastor murdered in the process |
| 2015 | After a strategic withdrawal from Guinea in 2014, a CAMA couple returns in January to lead the U.S. Alliance response to the Ebola epidemic that has decimated West Africa |
| 2015 | Three Alliance schools—Crown College, Toccoa Falls College, Simpson University—among Top 50 Christian Colleges and Universities in the United States for 2015–2016 academic year |
| 2016 | David Rambo, eighth president of U.S. C&MA, dies on March 11 |
| 2016 | C&MA celebrates the completion of 125 years of ministry in the Holy Land. |
| 2017 | John P. Stumbo reelected to second four–year term as U.S. C&MA president |
| 2017 | More than $1 million raised through CAMA’s Disaster Relief Fund to assist earthquake victims in Mexico and families devastated by major hurricanes in Texas, Florida, Cuba, and Puerto Rico |
Evangelical Events
| 2009 | Ralph Winter, legendary missionary strategist, dies |
| 2011 | Harold Camping, an American evangelical broadcaster, prophesied a rapture whereby 200 million of God’s faithful would ascend to heaven. He further asserted that the world would be destroyed by fire on October 21 |
| 2012 | Southern Baptist Convention elects its first black president, the Rev. Fred Luter of New Orleans |
| 2013 | “The Bible” becomes the fastest-selling miniseries in history, selling more than half a million copies in its first week of release |
| 2014 | Pope Francis shakes up Catholic Church, calls for humility and love to all |
| 2015 | In response to the U.S. Supreme Court decision to legalize same–sex marriage (Obergefell v. Hodges), the National Association of Evangelicals releases a statement affirming the biblical definition of marriage to be “between a man and a woman.” |
| 2016 | White evangelical support to elect Donald Trump as U.S. president voted top story of 2016 in Religion News Association’s annual poll |
| 2017 | The Protestant Reformation’s 500th anniversary |
U.S. & World Events
| 2011 | Steve Jobs, Apple CEO and innovator, dies of cancer |
| 2011 | Osama bin Laden killed by U.S. troops and CIA operatives in Abbottabad, Pakistan |
| 2013 | Typhoon Haiyan devastates Philippines, more than 2,000 dead |
| 2014 | Militant group declares Islamic caliphate; terrorizes Iraq |
| 2014 | Russia annexes Crimea, threatens Ukraine |
| 2015 | In wake of ISIS advance and Syrian war violence, tens of thousands flee the Middle East, creating a refugee crisis in Europe |
| 2015 | 130 killed and hundreds wounded in Paris terrorist attacks by religious extremists |
| 2015 | In Charleston, South Carolina, a white gunman is charged with a hate crime after opening fire during a prayer meeting in an historic black church, killing nine people |
| 2016 | Donald Trump becomes U.S. president |
| 2016 | Cuba’s Fidel Castro dies |
| 2017 | Three major hurricanes ravage Texas, Florida, Puerto Rico, Cuba, and other Caribbean islands within a four–week span |
| 2017 | Lone gunman opens fire on Las Vegas concertgoers, killing 58 and injuring more than 500 |
| 2017 | #MeToo movement ignites world’s attention to the widespread prevalence of sexual violence |
Source of Information: C&MA Historical Timeline
