This week in Christian history: Methodist preacher dies, Eritrean Orthodox patriarch under house arrest attends first service
Howell Harris dies – July 21, 1777
This week marks the anniversary of when Howell Harris, a lay preacher who was an important figure in the 18th century Methodist movement in Wales, died at the age of 63.
A native of the Welsh city of Trevacca, Harris began holding worship services at his mother’s home, being a lay leader because the Anglican Church denied him ordination on three occasions.
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“Harris was encouraged in his work by George Whitefield and later in his life he preached in Whitefield's chapel in London. When Whitefield broke with John Wesley over the issue of predestination Harris sided with Whitefield's Calvinistic concepts,” explained Encyclopedia.com.
“In 1752 Harris founded a Protestant ‘monastery’ that by 1755 contained some 120 disciples. He ministered to this group and to other families that settled in the area to be near him.”
In a 2015 opinion piece for The Christian Post, Westside Christian Fellowship Pastor Shane Idleman asked, “Where are the Howell Harris', Daniel Rowlands', and Griffith Jones' who preached with such passion during the Welsh revivals of the 18th century that we still honor them today?”
