Acre, the last territory in Palestine taken by the first Crusaders, fell to invading Moslem armies. It signalled the end of a Christian "military presence" in the Near East. (Afterwards, friars sought to spread the gospel by preaching instead.)

The General Court of the Massachusetts Bay Colony decreed that 'no man shall be admitted to the body politic but such as are members of some of the churches within the limits' of the colony. (Separation of church and state was an unthinkable concept in early American colonialism.)

The Church of the United Brethren in Christ was organized in Lancaster, PA, under the leadership of Martin Boehm, 41, and Philip William Otterbein, 39. (It became a branch of the Evangelical United Brethren in 1946.)

In Philadelphia, the General Missionary Convention of the Baptist Denomination in the United States of America for Foreign Missions was established -- the first national organization of Baptists in the U.S. It was later called the Triennial Convention because it met every three years.

Popular evangelist Aimee Semple McPherson, 34, disappeared while on a beach outing. Turning up five weeks later, she claimed to have been kidnapped and held prisoner, before escaping from her abductors.

In the 19th century, rich patrons were allowed to appoint ministers for local congregations. Many parishes protested having ministers forced on them. On this day, 18 May 1843, Dr. David Welsh, the moderator of the General Assembly of the established church, read a statement of protest against the situation in the Parliament. Over four hundred and seventy ministers renounced the established church with him and united in forming the Free Church of Scotland. The Free Church became a success that it even impacted the Church of Scotland.

Funeral in Hong Kong for the Catholic priest Leong Chi Hing, long active in the care of China’s Christian community as well as its missionary and linguistic work.

Missionary nurse Amy Wilkes and missionary Samuel Zwemer are wed at the British Consulate in Baghdad. The Church Missionary Society, which had paid Amy’s passage to the field, will require them to reimburse the cost of her journey because she had left their work. When Zwemer raises the funds it will be said he purchased his bride in true Arab fashion.

Death of Cesar Malan, near Geneva. He had been a Swiss Reformed pastor, evangelist, and author of more than one thousand hymns.

Death of Orthodox monk Macarius Glukharyov who had founded a successful mission among the Altai people of Siberia. Unlike most traditional Orthodox missions, he had recruited female missionaries. The Russian Orthodox Church eventually declares him a saint.

Death of Jacob Albright who had founded the “Dutch Methodists” of Pennsylvania, later known as the Evangelical Association.

Death of Jacques Marquette, Jesuit missionary to Michigan and midwestern North America.

Death of Pope St. John I, having been imprisoned by an Arian emperor for not pressing the case of the Arians.

Traditional date on which seven elderly Christian women at Ancyra (in modern Turkey) were drowned when they refused to apostasize.

On this day, pastor Lattanzio Ragnone drew up the Italian Church of Geneva Confession of Faith and presented it to the congregation on May 18, 1558. It was followed by a free discussion of the confession, and in the end the church agreed to the confession with seven refusing to sign.

On this day, Jacob Albright died. He had founded the "Dutch Methodists" which was named the Evangelical Association. Later, it became the Evangelical Church and in 1946 it merged with the United Brethren to become the United Evangelical Brethren. By 1890, however, there were about 150,000 members in the Evangelical Association he had founded.

Sheldon Jackson, Presbyterian missionary to the frontier West and Alaska, is born in Minaville, New York. Jackson's reputation for ministering to the spiritual, physical, and social needs of both natives and settlers earned him the nicknames " Bishop of All Beyond " and " Apostle to Alaska "

Karol Wojtyla (who would take the name John Paul II when elected pope) is born in Wadowice, Poland