Generation to Generation: 125 Years of Gordon College

“Tradition is not the dead hand of the past for followers of Jesus.”

On the 125-year anniversary of Gordon’s first day of classes, theologian and author Dr. Os Guinness issued a stirring charge to the large audience gathered in the A. J. Gordon Memorial Chapel: “May our faithfulness today be found worthy of being handed on, and may it be handed on well, into the safekeeping of the coming generations. And as you seek to do that, may God be with you.”

The author or editor of more than 30 books—including, most recently, Renaissance: The Power of the Gospel However Dark the Times (IVP Books, 2014)—Dr. Guinness is the great-grandson of H. Grattan Guinness, the Irish evangelist whose friendship with A. J. Gordon was a prime reason for the founding of the Boston Missionary Training Institute, which became Gordon College.

Dr. Guinness has spoken at Gordon College and Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary many times in past decades. He received his undergraduate degree from the University of London and his D.Phil. in the social sciences from Oriel College, Oxford.

“Rely on the enduring truths of God,” Dr. Guinness concluded. “He was, is, and is to come; the same yesterday, today and forever; the Alpha and the Omega. He is outside time. We can have a sense of deep time—the past, the present and the future. They all live before our Lord. And we should be richly aware of all of them together. His character never changes. His covenant never changes. His promises never change. And that is what we rely on as we move forward.”

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