The Niagara Bible Conference (officially called the "Believers' Meeting for Bible Study") was held annually from 1875 to 1897, with the exception of 1884.

History

The Conference was founded as the Believers' Meeting for Bible Study in 1875 by evangelical pastors in the United States. The driving force behind the meeting was James H. Brookes, a

Presbyterian Presbyterianism is a historically Reformed Protestant tradition named for its form of church government by representative assemblies of elders, known as "presbyters". Though other Reformed churches are structurally similar, the word ''Pr ...

minister from

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. Brookes publicized the meeting through his magazine ''Truth'', and devoted substantial space to summaries of the speeches. Most of the speakers were dispensationalists, and the Niagara Conference introduced many evangelical Protestants to dispensationalist teaching. The messages generally centered on the doctrines of

Christ Jesus ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ, Jesus of Nazareth, and many other names and titles, was a 1st-century Jewish preacher and religious leader. He is the Jesus in Christianity, central figure of Christianity, the M ...

, the

Holy Spirit The Holy Spirit, otherwise known as the Holy Ghost, is a concept within the Abrahamic religions. In Judaism, the Holy Spirit is understood as the divine quality or force of God manifesting in the world, particularly in acts of prophecy, creati ...

, the Bible, missions and

prophecy In religion, mythology, and fiction, a prophecy is a message that has been communicated to a person (typically called a ''prophet'') by a supernatural entity. Prophecies are a feature of many cultures and belief systems and usually contain di ...

Premillennialism Premillennialism, in Christian eschatology, is the belief that Jesus will physically return to the Earth (the Second Coming) before the Millennium, heralding a literal thousand-year messianic age of peace. Premillennialism is based upon a liter ...

and

dispensationalism Dispensationalism is a Christian theology, theological framework for Biblical hermeneutics, interpreting the Bible which maintains that history is divided into multiple ages called "dispensations" in which God the Father, God interacts with h ...

were defended and taught. In 1878, 14 fundamental creeds were established by evangelical pastors. The Niagara Creed does not explicitly affirm dispensationalism, but it refers to several key dispensationalist beliefs, including the reality of the millennium, the restoration of Israel, and the distinction between the judgment of the saved and the damned. Starting in 1883, it was held in

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at the Queen's Royal Hotel and its pavilion. In 1890, the Niagara Creed was officially adopted. Frances FitzGerald, ''The Evangelicals: The Struggle to Shape America'', Simon and Schuster, USA, 2017, p. 82

History

References

Further reading