Albert Benjamin Simpson (Bert) was the founder of The Christian and Missionary Alliance, of which New Life Alliance is a part. Simpson, was Canadian, born on Prince Edward Island. He was raised just outside of Chatham, Ontario, the “last stop” on the Ohio branch of the famed Underground Railroad. Brave, God-fearing citizens helped fugitive slaves fleeing the southern slave catchers cross over the broad borders into Western Ontario. There they found their way to the safe havens to begin a new life in a land where slavery was prohibited by British law.
Just outside of Chatham was a thriving settlement founded by a Presbyterian pastor. Rev. King had inherited fourteen slaves from a relative in the United States, but had no interest in being a slave owner. With the help of other churches, they bought a large tract of land on where they established the “Buxton Mission. “
By the time Bert Simpson was fourteen years old, 1857, the Buxton Mission had settled some two hundred former slave families, each on their own tract of land. They were given tools, seed and help to clear the land, to begin to plant and enjoy the fruits of their labors. Honest employment was one of the goals of the venture, and soon a thriving community sprang up. Education was seen as a top priority and Rev. King began a school, which soon gained notoriety for its excellence. Eventually, white families sent their children to study with children of former slaves. The mission workers evangelized the freedmen, telling them of Jesus who came to set them free from spiritual slavery
In this atmosphere, Simpson was raised. He later studied at Knox College with John R. Riley, a black man whose parents had fled the south to find freedom. Simpson’s leadership of the fledgling Alliance movement showed that he had learned well the lessons of his youth. At the Gospel Tabernacle in New York City, people, from the world over, black and white, Oriental and European, rich, poor and middle class worshiped together in his “free church.” He preached that all are created in the image and likeness of God and all need Christ as the Savior.
Simpson did not practice “P.C.;” he practiced what the Bible teaches. God doesn’t discriminate between class, caste, creed or color. Among the first five missionaries that Simpson sent out to the Portuguese Congo in 1885 was William Pearson, an African American and son of a freed family. Simpson understood that discrimination wasn’t “politically incorrect.” Rather, racial prejudice and bigotry are “Sin” with a capital S. And He came to save all sinners, the bigot and the abused. Jesus, a brown-eyed, olive-skinned Jew from Bethlehem, showed His true colors when He bled red and died on the cross for all race haters and baiters, to set them free from their slavery and to set them free to love all and live forever with everyone. That is the truth, and it will set you free.