Hist Pen final Flashcards
(41 cards)
Some important values of early Pentecostals
- Personal experience
- Oral communication
- Spontaneity
- Other worldliness
- Spiritual authority
Some early issues in the Pentecostal Church Movement
- A tendency to minimize organization problems
- Lacked a mechanism for corporate discernment
- False Dichotomy between spontaneous and systematic theology
- Training for leaders. Rejection by popular evangelical training institutes
- Theological disputes
- Unity/conflict resolution- not always one accord
A push towards organization
Early in the 2nd decade of the 20th century, the growth and survival of this burgeoning movement necessitated some kind of structure
5 key issues served for the motivation for organization
- The need for some level of consistency in doctrine
- Need to establish a credentialing body to dovetail with the legal requirements of the movement faced- @ home and the mission field
- Consistency in stewardship for missions endeavour
- Uniformity of church structure
- Education and training of clergy and church leadership
An example of early organization- PAOC
4 key individuals from Azusa that took the message to Canada:
- James and Ellen Hebden (Toronto)
- Andrew H. Argue (Winnepeg)
- R.E. McAlister
1909- Pentecostal missionary union formed- mixed reception
May 1917- (AG founded in 1914)- Dominion charter applied for a fraternal rather than denominational organization
September 1917- Montreal- Eastern pastors meet and propose calling in PAOC
By 1919 there were…
… 27 affiliated assemblies with the PAOC
- 18 in Ontario
- 9 in the 4 western provinces
The oneness controversy
Followers of Durham met at world camp meeting in Arroyo Seco, 1913.
R.E. McAlister preached on the mode of baptism, including with examples out of the book of Acts to emphasize NT baptism should be “In the name of Jesus”
John Scheppe, who was in attendance at the camp, received a new revelation in a dream that this form of baptism was a “new thing” that God was revealing. He ran through the camp sharing his experience.
4 Key leaders influenced in the oneness controversy teaching
Frank Ewart, G.T Hayward, Glenn Cook and Franklin Small
- Both Cook and Ewart became leading proponents of this new movement
- 1 Year later they baptized each other in the Name of Jesus- felt that Matt 28 baptism nullified their salvation
- Salvation through baptism, using the correct formula
- The group moved through the Pentecostal work, sharing their message, and re-baptizing Christians.
In 1913- 1920…
Small and McAlister travelled throughout Canada preaching the oneness “revelation”
Why a knowledge of history is important
The oneness controversy was a resurgence on an ancient heresy known by several names.
1920
AG= Statement of faith= Trinitarian
1/2 versions on oneness
A modalism that saw God revealing himself differently during “dispensations”: God was father, then became Son, and later the HS
2/2 versions of oneness
3 manifestations of one deity (different modes of God’s existence)
Oneness…
… Denies that the distinctions are real. Simply roles that God plays
Oneness groups
- Third and most isolated strain of the Pentecostal movement
- 2.3 million Oneness Pentecostals worldwide, about 620,000 in the NA
- 1916- General Assemblies of the world
- 1918- Pentecostal Assemblies of the world
- 1945- Combined to form the United Pentecostal Church
- 1921- Apostolic church of pentecost
Distinctive practices and beliefs and practices of the “oneness peeps”
- Non-Trinitarian
- Baptismal formula “In Jesus Name”
- Insist on re-baptism
- Baptism in Jesus name seen as pre-requisite for salvation
- In some cases, they feel speaking in tongues is as well
- Camp meeting services, running, dancing, look like early pentecostal frozen in time
Concerns over oneness practices
- Isolationism
- Legalism (performance focused)
- Elitism (have the whole gospel)
- Judgementalism- often look for the slightest deviations to condemn
Establishing roots- 1920-1939
Pentecostals and Fundamentalism
- Relationships with other churches still was strained during this time period
- Pentecostals felt like they had a better grip on the NT Christianity than other churches
- In their alienation from culture, they developed a sense of spiritual warfare, and some of that conflict was with “unbelievers” within the church.
- While many pentecostal believers insist that the BOTHS was essential and the gifts of the Spirit were for today, fundamentalists disagreed.
- The fundamentalists perspective was that the miraculous in-breaking of the Spirit was for a former dispensation- The apostolic age
- With the closing of the canon scripture, they believed that the time for miraculous gifts had ceased. This perspective known as cessationism.
World Christian Fundamentals
The leaders of both PAOC and AG insisted that they were in agreement with the majority of the fundamentlists beliefs
Moderating of their exclusivist view that every believer needed to experience the BOTHS to know true biblical faith.
The dialogue between other denominations began to get more civil- pointing towards later acceptance by NAE
The role of women established in the movement
- During the AG conference in 1914, the issue of the role of women in the church was considered.
- Women were only given the right to vote in 1920 in the USA
- It was concluded by both men and women that women would be permitted to function in the following roles:
- Granted credentials as missionaries or evangelists
- Permitted to serve at a church under a “good brother”
- Welcomed as advisors at conferences, but they would not be permitted to vote
- Were not welcomed in any governance roles- felt best served by men.
Pentecostalism hit the lights…
- 1907, Robert Semple, a future missionary to China was filled with the HS at the Hebden Mission in Toronto
- His wife received the same experience not too long after
- In 1910, the Semples travelled to China to begin their ministry.
- Robert died in 1912 and Aimee returned to NA in 1913.
Aimee Semple MacPherson
- Most flamboyant pentecostal evangelist in these 2 decades
- First to make use of the radio
- Returned her credentials in 1922 and created the 4square gospel
- Held tent crusades along east coast of Canada and USA in 1920’s
- Her emphasis was on BOTHS and healing
Healing crusades begin
- MacPherson’s 1922 crusade- Lodi California- Pastor Charles S. Price was filled with the spirit.
- He took off and held crusades. Made his mark in Victoria BC in 1922
- In 1923, a 3 week crusade was held in Vancouver with over 250,000 total attendance
Seasons of unrest and re-building- 1940-1959
The war years
- 100’s of young men joined the armed forces- leaving an age gap in the local church
- Ministry to servicemen- Chaplaincy, fellowship centres
- Demand for accredited colleges to qualify for veterans benefits.
