Lithuanian Pentecostal History

Lietuvos Sekmininkų Bažnyčia: Istorine Apybraiza (The Pentecostal Church of Lithuania: Historical Sketch), edited by Rimantas Kupstys, et al. Vilnius, Lithuania: Apyausris, 2002.

Lietuvos Sekmininkų Bažnyčia: Istorine Apybraiza, published in 2002 upon the 90th anniversary of the founding of the Pentecostal church in Lithuania, provides a detailed grassroots account in the Lithuanian language of the development of Pentecostalism across the Baltic nation. The volume was assembled by an editorial committee headed by Rimantas Kupstys, Bishop of the Union of Pentecostal Churches of Lithuania.

The publisher notes the volume is not an exhaustive scientific study. However, this historical sketch is a valuable written account of a national history that, until now, was largely available only in scattered documents or in oral form. The work was based on archival materials, memories of eyewitnesses, published articles, and government documents.

Lietuvos Sekmininkų Bažnyčia begins by tracing Pentecostalism’s roots in the trans-Atlantic revivals of the 18th and 19th centuries, resulting in a significant evangelical and Holiness movement in England and America. The traditional version of Pentecostal origins is retold, identifying Charles Parham and the Azusa Street revival as central to the emerging movement. Thomas Ball Barratt, the Methodist minister from Oslo who received the Pentecostal message while visiting New York in 1906, is commended for, upon his return to Norway, helping to nurture Pentecostal leaders across Europe.

Pentecostalism in Germany

Freikirchliche Pfingstbewegung in Deutschland: Innenansichten 1945-1985 (Pentecostal Free Churches in Germany: Inside Story, 1945-1985), by Ludwig David Eisenlöffel. Kirche–Konfession–Religion Band 50. Göttingen, Germany: V&R Unipress, 2006.

Freikirchliche Pfingstbewegung in Deutschland: Innenansichten 1945-1985, an important study of the evolution of the Pentecostal movement in Germany, is one of the latest additions to the prestigious Kirche-Konfession-Religion series produced by Konfessionskundliches Institut des Evangelischen Bundes and Evangelischer Zentralstelle für Weltanschauungsfragen. Portions of the publication originally were submitted as the author’s doctoral work at Life Christian University in Tampa, Florida, which was completed in 2004.

The author, Ludwig Eisenlöffel, served as longtime director of the Beröa Bible School and Theological Seminary (an institution associated with the Bund Freikirchlicher Pfingstgemeinden, a German denomination which works with the Assemblies of God) and also was managing director of the Forums Freikirchlicher Pfingstgemeinden (FFP). Furthermore, he has a considerable history with the Arbeitsgemeinschaft der Christengemeinden (ACD), which was renamed Bund Freikirchlicher Pfingstgemeinden (BFP) in 1982.

Northern Harvest: Pentecostalism in North Dakota

Northern Harvest: Pentecostalism in North Dakota, by Darrin J. Rodgers. Bismarck, North Dakota: North Dakota District Council of the Assemblies of God, 2003.

Northern Harvest documents the rise of Pentecostalism in North Dakota from a few scattered congregations at the turn of the twentieth-century to its present status as the state’s fourth largest religious group. While many historians contend that revivals in Topeka, Kansas (1901) and Los Angeles, California (1906-09) became the focal point of the emerging worldwide Pentecostal movement, Rodgers unearthed evidence that earlier revivals in Minnesota and the Dakotas provided it with precedents and leaders. North Dakotans, Pentecostals, and historians will be intrigued that a network of Scandinavian immigrant churches on the northern Great Plains practiced tongues-speech and healing before the better-known Topeka and Azusa Street revivals. This is the first significant study of Pentecostal origins in Scandinavian pietism in Minnesota and the Dakotas, exploring the movement’s roots outside the American Wesleyan and Holiness traditions.

From Oslo to Berlin

From Oslo to Berlin! : European Pentecostalism, by Paul Schmidgall. Erzhausen, Germany: Leuchter Publishing, 2003.

From Oslo to Berlin! : European Pentecostalism made its appearance just in time for the Pentecostal European Conference in Berlin during June 2003. As Director of the Church of God’s theological seminary in Germany and as an active participant in the European Pentecostal Fellowship, Paul Schmidgall has insight into past events and present happenings in European Pentecostalism. Due to his personal interaction with European Pentecostal leadership, Schmidgall’s work reflects much depth.

Schmidgall provides a scholarly overview of the historical developments of the Pentecostal movement in Europe on a country by country basis. He also presents current information on contemporary developments that effect Pentecostalism in a very diverse European setting. This book includes important bibliographical and statistical data that will greatly assist those who have a keen interest in Pentecostalism in the European context. At the end of the book there are helpful color maps showing the strength (or weakness) of Evangelicalism and Pentecostalism in Europe. Schmidgall’s book is a good starting point for those who desire a deeper understanding of the Pentecostal movement in any given European country.

Reviewed by Paul Clark, Assemblies of God missionary to Germany

Paperback, 204 pages, illustrated. Also published in German. To order, contact Leuchter Edition.

Technorati Tags:
European Pentecostalism, Book Review, History, Paul Schmidgall
Add to: | Technorati | Digg | del.icio.us | Furl |

The Sparkling Fountain

The Sparkling Fountain, by Fred T. Corum and Hazel E. Bakewell. Windsor, OH: Corum & Associates, Inc., 1989, c1983.

The Sparkling Fountain is a 278-page book with eyewitness accounts of the beginning of Pentecostalism in the Ozarks. The book was started by Fred T. Corum and his sister Hazel E. Bakewell. Then James and Kenneth Corum, sons of Fred Corum, helped to preserve this slice of history and see it through to production. First marketed in 1983, it is offered again on the 100th anniversary of Central Assembly in Springfield, Missouri.

The Azusa Street Mission story is recapped in beginning chapters, but for our purpose here the story begins in 1905 when Fred and Hazel moved to the Ozarks from Oklahoma with their parents, James and Lillie Harper Corum.

James and Lillie were never credentialed ministers but are considered the pioneers of Pentecost in Springfield — holding together a nucleus for several years until a church was set in order. I have an idea many other lay people throughout our history deserve special recognition for beginning and/or keeping local congregations together (including unfortunate splits) until a pastor assumed the leadership.

The Corums soon became active in a Baptist church where Mr. Corum served as Sunday school superintendent. But in the fall of 1906 they heard about the Pentecostal outpouring and became interested. Then in May 1907 they were introduced to this new experience which would dramatically put their lives on a new course.

Prosperity Gospel in Norway

Det guddommeliggjorte menneske og den menneskeliggjorte Gud (The Deification of Humanity and the Humanization of Deity), by Kjell Olav Sannes. Oslo, Norway: REFLEKS-Publishing, 2005.

Den nye reformasjonen (The New Reformation), by Lars Olav Gjøra. Oslo, Norway: REFLEKS-Publishing, 2006.

While positive confession theology (also known by the monikers “prosperity gospel” or “word-faith”) originated in America, it has made significant inroads into many segments of the worldwide Christian church. Numerous American authors have attempted theological and historical assessments of this phenomenon. Now, two new books by Norwegian scholars offer critiques of the theologies and personalities involved in the prosperity gospel movement in their own context.

Kjell Olav Sannes, a professor at the Norwegian Lutheran School of Theology in Oslo, Norway, presents and discusses the views of Kenneth E. Hagin in his book, Det guddommeliggjorte menneske og den menneskeliggjorte Gud. Sannes offers a critical theological analysis of the interrelationship between humanity and God in the writings of Kenneth E. Hagin. The title, which in English translates as “The Deification of Humanity and the Humanization of Deity,” reflects the theological issue at hand. The volume’s central thesis is that Hagin “deifies” humanity and “humanizes” God. This confusion of identities, the author avers, leads to two errors: (1) humanity, in particular the “born again believer,” is given status, authority and possibilities which, according to scripture, are reserved for God; and (2) God is viewed as limited in His power and authority in a way that reflects humanity’s own limitations. Hagin’s God looks a lot like Hagin. Ironically, something similar happened when the Jesus Seminar, a group of liberal scholars, determined that Jesus was essentially a twentieth-century western liberal.

Testimonies of Signs and Wonders

Testimonies of Signs and Wonders: Evangelistic Crusades of Maria Beulah Woodworth-Etter in Moline, Rock Island, Illinois and Davenport, Iowa in the Years 1902-1903-1907, or Redigging the Wells of Holy Spirit Renewal: Our Forgotten Heritage in the Quad Cities, compiled by Kenneth Richard Kline-Walczak. Revised version. Davenport, IA: The Author, 2006.

Maria Woodworth-Etter, among the most prominent of the healing evangelists in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, became one of the best known Holiness preachers to embrace Pentecostalism. Her popularity was due in large part to her practice of faith healing and other charismatic gifts, which began occuring in her meetings in about 1885. Her ministry attracted large crowds, fierce detractors and fervent supporters, as well as widespread coverage in newspapers from coast to coast. Newspaper editors, who often deemed the excitement and large crowds sparked by the woman evangelist to be worthy of critique, helped to spread her fame. The standard biography of Woodworth-Etter, Maria Woodworth-Etter, For Such a Time as This (Bridge-Logos, 2005), was authored by former Flower Pentecostal Heritage Center Director Wayne E. Warner.

Now Kenneth Kline-Walczak has cataloged Woodworth-Etter’s influence in one corner of the world — the Quad Cities on the Iowa-Illinois border. His book consists largely of an impressive collection of articles (1884-1907) about Woodworth-Etter from regional newspapers, assembled in chronological order and reprinted for the purpose of introducing the region’s readers to its Pentecostal past. The compiler also includes a helpful guide to the people and places mentioned in the articles. Kline-Walczak’s detailed research will aid not only historians, but also people in the Quad Cities as they seek to recover the sacred stories of God’s work among them in previous generations.

Reviewed by Darrin Rodgers

Paperback, xxvi, 194 pages, illustrated. $20, plus $4.00 shipping. Order from: Griggs Music, c/o Ken Kline, 3849 Brady Street, Davenport, IA 52806 (email: woodworth65@yahoo.com ; phone: 563-210-3282).

Technorati Tags:
Evangelists, Biography, History, Maria Woodworth-Etter, Pentecostal, Healing, Quad Cities, Book Review
Add to: | Technorati | Digg | del.icio.us | Furl |

The Azusa Street Papers

The Azusa Street Papers: A Reprint of The Apostolic Faith Mission Publications, Los Angeles, California (1906-1908), William J. Seymour, Editor. Foley, AL: Together in the Harvest Publications, 1997.

Have you ever wondered what the participants at the Azusa Street revival were thinking? Would you like to read their testimonies and discover for yourself what this interracial revival which promoted a restoration of Biblical spiritual gifts was all about?

You can do just that with The Azusa Street Papers, a reproduction of the tabloid papers used to herald the events of the phenomenal Azusa Street revival during its first two years (1906-1908). In this high quality reprint of 13 issues of The Apostolic Faith, you’ll read the same stories that early Pentecostals read one hundred years ago. As a result of the reports in The Apostolic Faith an amazing thing happened. Readers became hungry for the same Pentecostal experience. They believed that the promise Jesus made to his followers 1900 years earlier was also for them.

Who Else … But God!

Who Else … But God!, by Fred Smolchuck. Springfield, MO: The Author, 2006.

Almost eighty years ago, Fred Smolchuck felt God’s call to the ministry. Following that call led him around the world, and he became a leader within Slavic Pentecostalism, both in the United States and in eastern Europe. Smolchuck’s strong voice and mind, his smoldering passion for souls, and his leadership gifts continue to make their mark on the Pentecostal landscape.

Smolchuck, the son of Ukrainian immigrants to America, was a founding member of the Ukrainian Branch of the Assemblies of God (USA), he served as a pastor and district official in Michigan, and he authored sixteen books. Most of his books, published in the Ukrainian and Russian languages, offer practical advice and theological training to believers in eastern Europe and to immigrants in North America. His 1992 book, From Azusa Street to the U.S.S.R.: A Brief History of Pentecost Among Slavic Immigrants, 1900-1991, provides a valuable overview of the people, places, and themes in Slavic-American Pentecostal history. Now, in Who Else … But God!, he has told his own story, which is inextricably intertwined with the emergence of the Slavic churches in the Assemblies of God. His story is significant, as he traces not only his family’s spiritual pilgrimage, but the development of Pentecostalism among the Slavic peoples in the U.S. from the 1920s until the present. Importantly, Smolchuck has served as a bridge between an earlier generation of Slavic Pentecostals and the more recent waves of Slavic Pentecostal immigrants to North America.

The Old Path to Peace

The Old Path to Peace: A Cruger Family Journey, by Carolyn Cruger Williams. Enumclaw, WA: Pleasant Word, 2003.

This well-documented family history contains a treasure trove of information about early Pentecostals in Spokane, Washington, including stories of John G. Lake, Aimee Semple McPherson, the Philadelphian Church, and Bernard Hebden.

Paperback, 438 pages, illustrated. $22.99 retail. Order from: Amazon.com

Technorati Tags:
Biography, History, Spokane, Washington, Pentecostal, John G. Lake, Aimee Semple McPherson, Philadelphian Church, Bernard Hebden
Add to: | Technorati | Digg | del.icio.us | Furl |