Collection 582 Oral History Interviews with Michael A. Cassidy
Scope and Contents
Oral history interview with Michael A. Cassidy, South African evangelist and founder of African Enterprise, in which he describes his family background and childhood in Basutoland, apartheid, his friendship with Patrick Baker Duncan, the development of his faith and prayer life, leading up to his conversion while attending Cambridge University; the Cambridge Inter-Collegiate College Union (CICCU); comparison of his education at Cambridge and Fuller Theological Seminary; the influence on his ministry of J. I. Packer, Billy Graham, and John Stott; the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association’s Cambridge Mission of 1955. The events described in the interviews cover the time period 1936-1955.
Dates
- Created: 2002
Creator
- Cassidy, Michael, 1936- (Person)
Conditions Governing Access
There are no restrictions on the use of this collection.
Conditions Governing Use
The copyright to the oral history interviews in this collection is held by the Billy Graham Center Archives.
Biographical Information
Full name: Charles Michael Ardagh Cassidy. Commonly called Michael.
Birth: September 24, 1936, in Johannesburg, South Africa. Raised in Lesotho
Family:
Parents: Charles Stewart and Mary Crawford Cassidy
Siblings: 2 sisters, Olive and Judy
Marital Status: Carol Barn on December 16, 1969
Children: Catherine, Deborah, Martin
Conversion: October 23, 1955, while a student at Cambridge University
Education:
1950-1954: Attended and graduated from Michaelhouse, a private boarding school for boys in Natal
1955-1958: MA in Modern and Mediaeval Languages from Cambridge University, England
1959-1963: BD in Theology from Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, USA
Career:
1957: Received a call to evangelistic work during the 1957 Billy Graham New York City evangelistic meetings
Spring and Summer 1960: Began to develop the idea of an African evangelistic ministry and received a calling to this work
Summer 1961: Part of a two-person evangelistic survey team that traveled through Libya, Tunisia, Morocco, Senegal, Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Ghana, Nigeria, South Africa, Rhodesia, Malawi, Ethiopia, and Egypt
August 1962: Founded African Enterprise, an interdenominational, interracial, international evangelistic mission team working primarily in the cities of Africa
March 1973: One of the prime organizers of the South African Congress on Missions and Evangelism held in Durban
December 9-19, 1976: One of the planners of the Pan African Christian leadership Assembly (PACLA)
1979: One of the planners of South African Christian Leadership Assembly
September 10-12, 1985: One of the organizers of The National Initiative for Reconciliation
April 22-23, 2008: One of the organizers of The National Initiative for the Reformation of South Africa
Other Significant Information:
1993: Honorary Doctorate in Human Letters from Azusa Pacific University in Azusa, California.
Extent
4 Audio Tapes
229 Minutes
Language of Materials
English
Additions and Accruals
The materials in this collection were given to the Billy Graham Center Archives by Michael Cassidy in October 2002.
Accession: 02-58
August 28, 2019
Bob Shuster
- African Enterprise.
- Anglicans.
- Apartheid.
- Atkinson, Basil Ferris Campbell.
- Belief and doubt.
- Billy Graham Cambridge Mission (1955)
- Bullying in schools.
- Cambridge Inter-Collegiate Christian Union.
- Carnell, Edward John, 1919-1967.
- Children -- Religious life.
- Church work with students.
- College students -- Religious life.
- Conversion -- Christianity.
- Conversion -- Personal narratives. -- Christianity.
- Duncan, Patrick, 1918-1967.
- Fuller Theological Seminary.
- Fundamentalism.
- Graham, Billy, 1918-2018.
- Lewis, C. S. (Clive Staples), 1898-1963.
- Liberalism -- Religious Aspects -- Christianity
- Neill, Stephen, 1900-1984.
- Packer, J. I. (James Innell)
- Prayer.
- South Africa -- Race relations.
- South Africa.
- Stott, John R. W.
- University of Cambridge.
Creator
- Cassidy, Michael, 1936- (Person)
- Title
- Collection 584 Oral History Interviews with Michael A. Cassidy
- Author
- Bob Shuster
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description
- Undetermined
- Script of description
- Code for undetermined script
- Language of description note
- English
Repository Details
Part of the Evangelism & Missions Archives Repository