Day 24 – John Stewart

This devotional is part of the Black Missionary Heroes Past and Present Series.

John Stewart (1786–1823)

Missionary to Native Americans

Read Habakkuk 2:1–3

Born free in Virginia, Stewart was a Baptist of mixed European and African descent. He heard the voice of a woman and a man calling him to preach to the Native Americans in Ohio. He began to sing and to preach to them in 1816. Despite opposition, he warned the Wyandot people to “flee the wrath to come.” His singing and preaching resulted in the conversion of the chiefs, the leading women, and others within the tribes. Rival missionaries appeared and accused him of exercising ministering without a license. Supported by native converts, Stewart requested recognition by the Methodist Episcopal Church and was accordingly licensed in 1819.

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