This week in Christian history: English pope dies, Charles Finney born

By Michael Gryboski, Mainline Church Editor Sunday, August 27, 2023

Samuel Occom ordained – Aug. 30, 1759

Samuel Occom (1723-1792), a Native American preacher who was active in the First Great Awakening. | Wikimedia Commons

This week marks the anniversary of when Samuel Occom, a member of the Mohegan tribe of North America who became a prominent preacher, was ordained a Presbyterian minister.

Drawn to Christianity by the First Great Awakening and through the work of Congregational minister Eleazar Wheelock, Occom was ordained by the Presbytery of Suffolk.

Occom preached extensively to the Six Nations of the Iroquois in upstate New York and his Mohegan tribe in Connecticut, while also serving as a teacher and judge.

“Occum was the first Native American to publish his writings in English, and also helped found several settlements, including what ultimately became known as the Brothertown Indians,” noted the Native Heritage Project.

“Together with the missionary John Eliot, Occom became one of the foremost missionaries who cross-fertilized Native American communities with Christianized European culture.”