Born in Cape Town, South Africa, Andrew Murray became a renowned missionary leader (Dutch Reformed) and exerted wide influence with his devotional writings. His father was a Scottish Presbyterian minister serving the Dutch Reformed Church. His mother’s connections were Huguenot and Lutheran. No doubt their influence encouraged him to be ecumenical in outlook.

Educated in Scotland and the Netherlands and ordained in 1848, Murray pastored several South African churches, then helped to found two institutions of higher learning. Moderator of Cape Synod of the Dutch Reformed Church, he was also president of the YMCA (1865) and the South Africa General Mission (1888-1917).

Murray vigorously promoted the call to missions, especially Dutch Reformed missions to blacks in the Transvaal and Malawi. He made large evangelistic tours in South Africa; he also spoke at the Keswick and Northfield Conventions in 1895, greatly impressing British and American audiences. He received honorary doctorates from the Universities of Aberdeen (1898) and Cape of Good Hope (1907).

He is best remembered for his extensive devotional writings (240 volumes in all), which continue to be widely read today.