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Posted On: December 5th 2025, 08:00 pm
As we celebrate the birth of our Savior Jesus Christ this Advent Season, my heart is filled with gratitude for the way God used my own family to bring the Gospel to these shores 4 centuries ago. 🎄
This season I honor my great Uncle, Rev. John Eliot—the first American prophet, apostle and missionary to the Native people of America, known as the “Apostle to the Indians.” In the 1600s he learned the Massachusett language, preached Christ in their villages, established praying towns, trained Native pastors, and gave this land its very first Bible by translating the entire Scriptures so the people could read of the Savior’s birth in their own tongue.
Because of his faithfulness, thousands heard for the first time that “unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given.” This Christmas, as we rejoice in Emmanuel—God with us—I’m especially thankful for the heritage of faith that began proclaiming that same Good News on American soil nearly 400 years ago.
Merry Christmas, and glory to the Newborn King! ✝️🎄
—
John Eliot established the foundations of Christendom for America. The Company for Propagating the Gospel in New England and Parts Adjacent in North America (1649) was the first genuine missionary society and set the directions for subsequent “Indian missions” for almost two centuries.
Civilization and colonization, he believed, was closely bound with evangelization.
His converts were gathered into Christian towns, governed by a biblical code of laws, and gradually introduced to the English manner of life. Each village had a school where the Indians were taught English and the handicrafts by which they could support themselves. After testing, believers were organized by covenant into a Puritan “church-state,” and native teachers and evangelists were trained. Eliot himself, called the “Apostle to the Indians,” produced the needed literature in the MA Algonquian language, beginning with his primer or catechism of 1654. the New Testament appeared in 1661, the Old Testament in 1663. Among his other works are The Christian Commonwealth (1659) and The Harmony of the Gospels (1678). Also, the earliest Bay Book of Psalms, the first book ever printed in 🇺🇸✝️
This season I honor my great Uncle, Rev. John Eliot—the first American prophet, apostle and missionary to the Native people of America, known as the “Apostle to the Indians.” In the 1600s he learned the Massachusett language, preached Christ in their villages, established praying towns, trained Native pastors, and gave this land its very first Bible by translating the entire Scriptures so the people could read of the Savior’s birth in their own tongue.
Because of his faithfulness, thousands heard for the first time that “unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given.” This Christmas, as we rejoice in Emmanuel—God with us—I’m especially thankful for the heritage of faith that began proclaiming that same Good News on American soil nearly 400 years ago.
Merry Christmas, and glory to the Newborn King! ✝️🎄
—
John Eliot established the foundations of Christendom for America. The Company for Propagating the Gospel in New England and Parts Adjacent in North America (1649) was the first genuine missionary society and set the directions for subsequent “Indian missions” for almost two centuries.
Civilization and colonization, he believed, was closely bound with evangelization.
His converts were gathered into Christian towns, governed by a biblical code of laws, and gradually introduced to the English manner of life. Each village had a school where the Indians were taught English and the handicrafts by which they could support themselves. After testing, believers were organized by covenant into a Puritan “church-state,” and native teachers and evangelists were trained. Eliot himself, called the “Apostle to the Indians,” produced the needed literature in the MA Algonquian language, beginning with his primer or catechism of 1654. the New Testament appeared in 1661, the Old Testament in 1663. Among his other works are The Christian Commonwealth (1659) and The Harmony of the Gospels (1678). Also, the earliest Bay Book of Psalms, the first book ever printed in 🇺🇸✝️
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