Arthur T. Pierson

Arthur Tappan Pierson was born on March 6, 1837, in New York City. He grew up in a devout family and was converted as a young man. He studied at Hamilton College and then at Union Theological Seminary, and he was ordained as a Presbyterian minister in 1860. He served as pastor in several churches, in Binghamton and Waterford in New York, then at Fort Street Presbyterian Church in Detroit, and finally at Bethany Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia, a large church with a thriving mission program.

He was a gifted preacher and writer, with a mind that loved to organize and explain. He was drawn into the world of the great evangelists. He was close to D. L. Moody and spoke at his conferences at Northfield. He was also a friend of George Müller and traveled to Bristol to see the orphan work. His time with Müller left a lasting impression, and he later wrote the best-known biography of that man of faith.

His greatest influence came through his work for missions. In 1886 Moody called a conference of college students at Mount Hermon, in Massachusetts. Pierson was one of the speakers. He gave an address on the theme that all should go and all should send, and he pressed on the students the great command to carry the gospel to every nation. It was a turning point. A hundred young men volunteered for the foreign field that summer, and from that gathering the Student Volunteer Movement was born. Over the next decades it sent thousands of missionaries to the nations. The watchword was the evangelization of the world in this generation.

In 1888 he took over the editing of the Missionary Review of the World, a magazine that reported on missions around the globe, and he edited it until his death. He also wrote many books, including The Crisis of Missions, which urged churches to wake up to the unfinished task, and a study of the Acts of the Holy Spirit. He traveled widely in Britain and America to speak on missions.

In 1891, after the death of Charles Spurgeon, he was asked to serve as acting pastor of the Metropolitan Tabernacle in London, and he stayed for two years. It was a delicate task, filling the pulpit of such a man. He preached with warmth and kept the church together. While in London he studied the subject of baptism and decided that believers should be baptized by immersion. In 1896 he was baptized and joined the Baptist ranks. This was a costly decision for a Presbyterian minister, and he lost the respect of some of his old friends.

He also supported the Keswick teaching about the deeper life and the Spirit-filled walk. He was a man of strong conviction and wide sympathy, and he worked with believers from many denominations. His life was one of constant labor. He traveled, wrote and preached at a pace that wore him down. In his last years he was often weary.

He died on June 3, 1911, in Brooklyn. He is remembered as one of the great architects of the missionary movement of his day. He was never the man in the front of the field, but he stirred many who went. His life shows the importance of those who send, pray and call others to go.