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Running head:

The Impact of the Pentecostalism on the Stone Campbell Movement and on the Under-standing of the Holy Spirit within Churches of Christ

by

Amy Jimenez

Advanced Restoration History

BIBH 664.W1

Dr. Wes Crawford

October 1, 2013

Amy Jimenez: The Impact of Pentecostalism on Stone Campbell Movement 2

THE EFFECT OF PENTECOSTALISM ON THE STONE-CAMPBELL MOVEMENT

Introduction

The American frontier, at the turn of the Nineteenth century, was hungry

for religious freedom and innovation. A spirit of revivalism was palpable, and a call to

restore a simpler church was undeniable. As Presbyterian, Methodist and Baptist leaders

struggled to stake a claim on the then Western frontiers of Kentucky and Tennessee, they

discovered common ground in large revivals and tent meetings that drew thousands of

people, hungry to experience God in a new way. Out of these revivals, many new reli-

gious movements were born. Two such movements, the Stone-Campbell Movement and

the Shaker/Pentecostal Movement, stake a claim to the great Cane Ridge Revival of 1801

as part of their origins.1 Though these two movements share a common heritage, both

seeking purpose and identity in a quest for primitive holiness, they developed radically

different beliefs regarding the Holy Spirit, polarizing one another to extreme positions.

The influence of Pentecostalism within the Stone-Campbell Movement and specifically

upon the Churches of Christ has contributed to a diminished emphasis on the power and

work of the indwelling Holy Spirit in the expressive life of believers. As one examines

the differences in Biblical interpretation relating to the role of emotions in the Christian

life, the specific nature and working of the Holy Spirit, and the nature of the gifts of the

1 Amy Collier Artman, "The Encounter of North American Stone-Campbell Christians with the Pentecostal/Charismatic Movement," Discipliana 62, no. 3 (2002, Fall): 81.


Spirit as they effect the church, patterns of possibility emerge to bridge the vast gap be-

tween Pentecostal churches and Churches of Christ today, ushering in a new spirit of

Holy Spirit led revivalism.

Shared History of the Pentecostal and Stone Campbell Movements

The Great Awakening of Europe and subsequently the New England Colonies of

the United States in the mid Eighteenth century has been described as “an emotional

protest against the intellectual hegemony of the age.”2 It was marked by an apparent irra-

tionalism or enthusiasm that flew in the face of the Enlightenment, or “Age of Reason.”

This evangelical movement, unified by Methodist preachers like John Wesley and

George Whitefield alongside Presbyterian and Baptist leaders, though deeply divided

over doctrine, was unified on the principles of conversionism, crucientricism (justifica-

tion by faith with emphasis on the atoning work of Christ as agency of salvation), Bibli-

cism (devotion to the Bible), and activism in spreading a mass movement.3

As the “Second Great Awakening of Revivalism” made its way to southern states

between 1800-1805, similar tensions began to emerge on this western frontier. The An-

glican and Presbyterian churches were vying for position among the more rural inhabi-

tants of this region. By 1800 in the state of Kentucky, more than 220,000 people were

not associated with organized congregations of churches. Many young people seemed in-

different to religion.4 Unimpressed with reason of the Enlightenment theologians and

2 David Bebbington, "Revival And Enlightenment In Eighteenth Century Eng-land," in Modern Christian Revivals, ed. Edith L. Blumhofer and Randall Balmer (Ur-bana, IL: University Of Illinois Press, 1993), 17.

3 Ibid, 21.

4 Paul K. Conkin, Cane Ridge: America's Pentecost (Madison, WI: The Univer-sity Of Wisconsin Press, 1990), 64-65.


high church traditions, the Methodist and Baptist movements were gaining ground, more

simplistic in their lay leadership and emotionally demonstrative worship services, and op-

posing the materialism and arrogance of plantation aristocracy.5 James McGready, called

the father of the great revival in the West, was a Scotch Irish Presbyterian. Scotch Irish

Presbyterians had been known for emotionally intense and physically demonstrative 3-4

day communion services as early as the 1720’s. McGready and Barton W. Stone, greatly

influenced by McGready, were drawn to the Methodist Weslyan doctrine of sanctifica-

tion, a call to “perfect holiness” via baptism of the Holy Spirit. Accounts of emotional

revivals, full of emotional swooning and shouting with massive conversions were the ac-

counts of sanctification that moved McGready and Stone and resonated with their tradi-

tional communion services.6

Many evangelical churches, from their Eighteenth century revivalist roots,

stressed a sense of purpose and community and placed a high value to a conversion expe-

rience, emphasizing an emotional response to sin of “contrition and worthlessness” lead-

ing to a radical acceptance of God’s grace and an emotional high when God’s redemption

was accepted. It was into this atmosphere that the camp meeting revivals, large outdoor

worship services with thousands of people, multiple ministers preaching at the same time,

emphasizing intense emotional persuasion became popular. One such revival, the Cane

Ridge Revival in 1801, would launch Barton W. Stone on a path to pioneer the Stone

Campbell Movement of ecumenical unity, but would convince many in the Pentecostal

5 John B. Boles, "Revivalism, Renewal, And Social Mediation In The Old South," in Modern Christian Revivals, ed. Edith L. Blumhofer and Randall Balmer (Ur-bana, IL: University Of Illinois Press, 1993), 60-61.

6 Paul K. Conkin, Cane Ridge: America's Pentecost (Madison, WI: The Univer-sity Of Wisconsin Press, 1990), 31,57.


Stream, of the vital importance of outward signs or manifestations of the power of the

Holy Spirit in the life of a Christ follower.

The Cane Ridge Revival and the Holy Spirit

The Cane Ridge Revival climaxed a season of Scotch Irish Presbyterian commu-

nion services. Barton W. Stone, minister of the Cane Ridge Presbyterian Church,

presided over this communion service/tent revival on August 6, 1801. Even as a pro-

moter of ecumenical cooperation, Stone could not have anticipated the enormous atten-

dance and emotionally charged response of people hungry for religious renewal. Of the

10,000 in attendance, between 500-1000 were converted to faith in Jesus Christ.7 The

physical exercises that accompanied these conversions included fallings, a result of the

shame associated with acceptance of sin, and described as a deep coma state where peo-

ple would lie in a semi-unconscious state proceeded by symptoms of seizure and hysteria.

Upon awakening from the “falling,” those who were converted would arise with shouts

of joy, exhorting others to experience this intense grace of God. Other physical exercises

included “jerks,” or rhythmic dancing. One minister, present at the revival described the

scene as follows:

“Sinners dropping down on every hand, shrieking, groaning, crying for mercy, convoluted; professors (of religion) praying, agonizing, fainting, falling down in distress, for sinners, or in raptures of joy! Some singing, some shouting, clapping their hands, hugging and even kissing, laughing; others talking to the distressed, to one another, or to opposers of the work, and all this at once – no spectacle can excite a stronger sensation. And with what is doing, the darkness of the night, the solemnity of the place and of the occasion, and conscious guilt, all conspire to make terror thrill through every power of the soul to rouse it to awful attention.”8

7 Paul K. Conkin, Cane Ridge: America's Pentecost (Madison, WI: The Univer-sity Of Wisconsin Press, 1990), 92-93.

8 Moses Hoge to Dr. Ashbel Green, Letter from a Kentucky minister, September 10, 1801, Increase in Piety, (Newburyport, CN: Angier, 1802), 53.


Responses to Cane Ridge: The Role of Emotion in the Christian Life

Biblical interpretive differences regarding the importance of the role of emotion

and physical response as related to the work of the Holy Spirit were born out of the Cane

Ridge Revival experience. Two Presbyterian ministers from Cane Ridge, John Rankin

and Richard McNemur, testified to the validity of the physical manifestations at Cane

Ridge as signs of the Holy Spirit.9 Convinced of this mark of the Spirit, as it pertained to

the unity that would draw all Christians to a primitive New Testament ecclesiology and

thus unity, along with Stone, these men became pioneers in the Stone Campbell Move-

ment. Later, however, Rankin and McNemur were mesmerized by Ann Lee’s restora-

tionist message that the primitive church had lost the spiritual gifts of the Spirit. With an

intense call to perfectionism, her followers, the Shakers, espoused to eliminate greed,

pride, and sexual desires with fervent dancing ceremonies, where they would “shake off

sin” and “trample evil underfoot” to rid self of evil desires. McNemur and Rankin left

the Stone Campbell movement to become Shakers in 18xx. Through the mid Nineteenth

century (1825-1850), spiritualism flourished among these Shaker societies, and would in-

fluence the larger Pentecostal movement at the turn of the twentieth century.10 Cane

Ridge, often referred to as America’s Pentecost, is often viewed as the starting point of a

9 Richard McNemur, The Kentucky Revival, or a Short History of the Late Out-pouring of the Spirit of God (Lexington, KY, RPT. JOPLIN, MO: College Press, 1808), 23-24. See also McNemur's eyewitness account in "An Account of the Revival of Reli-gion Which Began in the Eastern Part of the State of Kentucky in May 1801," document 105, book 3 Robert Patterson papers, Draper Collection, State Historical Society of Wis-consin, Madison.

10 Stanley M. Burgess, ed., "Shakers," in International Dictionary of Pentecostal Charismatic Movements (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2002), 1058-1059.


movement that emphasized “that the signs and wonders that took place were not some

kind of spectacle, but rather a harbinger of God’s new day.”11

Roughly a century later, an explosive revival among African American Christians

on Azuza Street in Los Angeles in 1906 launched a renewed interest in Pentecostalism in

America, where speaking in tongues was the flagship sign. Emotionalism… (NEED

AZUZA REFERENCE) Current statistic that says that Pentecostalism is the “fastest

growing Christian movement on earth,” accounting for one in every four Christians.12

Clearly, Pentecostalism is a movement that has had great emotional and evangelistic ap-

peal to many believers. As its appeal has reached across all races and nationalities, per-

haps the experiential expression of religious fervor associated with Pentecostalism still

retains the unifying quality that Barton W. Stone once found so compelling at Cane

Ridge.

The events at Cane Ridge, further distanced Stone from his Presbyterian roots.

Because of its strong religious tradition tied to systematic doctrine, detailed in the West-

minster Confession of Faith, many Presbyterian clergy members were threatened by role

of emotionalism at Cane Ridge. Having justified the deep feelings and emotionalism of

experiential religion in the context of proper understanding and orthopraxy, what they

perceived to be oversimplified theological understandings frightened them.13 Stone, al-

11 Harvey Cox, Fire From Heaven: The Rise of Pentecostal Spirituality and the Reshaping of Religion in the Twenty-first Century (Cambridge, MA: Da Capo Press, 1995), 17.

12 George O Folarin, "The Origin, Development, And A Brief Appraisal Of The Doctrine Of The Baptism In The Holy Spirit In Christ Apostolic Church, Nigeria," HTS Teologiese Studies/Theological Studies 69, no. 1 (2013, March 12): 1.

13 Paul K. Conkin, Cane Ridge: America's Pentecost (Madison, WI: The Univer-sity Of Wisconsin Press, 1990), 101.


ready struggling with many tenets of Presbyterianism, saw the physical and emotional

manifestations of the Spirit at Cane Ridge as a confirmation of the work of the Holy

Spirit in conversion. He saw the “trembling, jerking, barking, running, all of these pow-

erful manifestations were not the result of the direct interposition of the Holy Spirit, but

of the overwhelming power of Gospel truth.”14 He saw the dramatic effects of the Holy

Spirit as a draw for God to convict through the Word. He believed that “God transforms

sinners through the Gospel, without a previous work of the Spirit.”15 Because Cane

Ridge involved multiple preachers from different denominations preaching at the same

time, Stone believed the physical responses that inspired converts to speak and convert

others was a clear sign of unity and inspired a deep sense of ecumenism that would pro-

pel him to join Thomas and Alexander Campbell in a movement to restore a primitive,

New Testament ecclesiology. Nonetheless, Artman said, “Stone walked a delicate line in

his acceptance of religious excitement and sometimes found himself in reluctant competi-

tion with groups such as the Shakers and Holiness Methodists, and often in disagreement

with his colleague, Alexander Campbell.”16

Thomas and Alexander Cambell recognized the dangers of emotionalism, while

advocating the need for holiness in the life of the believer. Blaming the emotionalism as-

sociated with early revivals for McNemar and Dunlevy’s alignment with the Shakers,

Alexander Campbell was often in disagreement with Stone regarding any benefit to emo-

14 Amy Collier Artman, "The Encounter Of North American Stone-Campbell Christians With The Pentecostal/charismatic Movement," Discipliana 62, no. 3 (2002, Fall): 86.

15 Newell Williams, Barton W. Stone: A Spiritual Biography (St. Louis, MO: Chalice Press, 2000), 63.

16 Artman, 87.


tionalism in Christian practice. Combating the Calvanism of the day, Campbell felt

strongly that no emotional proof was needed of the Holy Spirit’s direct action of conver-

sion because the Holy Spirit acted through the word.17 Campbell said that emotional

preaching “converts more persons by an anecdote, a shout, a denunciation; or by the

word “damnation” at the top of the voice, or by “hell-fire,” uttered in the midst of great

animal excitement, than by all the gospel facts or arguments from Genesis to Apoca-

lypse.” (NEED REF) He strongly downplayed the revival emotionalism of Cane Ridge.

After Stone and Campbell’s deaths, emphasis in the Stone Campbell Movement turned to

the spirit of unity at Cane Ridge rather than the revival’s emotional and physical manifes-

tations.

At the same time, there is no doubt that the Stone Campbell movement empha-

sized and expected personal holiness through sanctification from Christians or Disciples

of Christ. Alexander Campbell said in 1839: “The immediate, proper and practical in-

tension of the Christian Institution is personal holiness…But what is holiness? It is sanc-

tification. And what is sanctification? It is separation or consecration to God in heart as

well as in state. And what is this separation of heart, but conformity of views, feelings,

and desires, or an approving and choosing the same thing? To will what God wills, to

love what he loves, to hate what he hates, is holiness in principle and in heart, and to

carry this out in practice is holiness in fact and in truth.”18 While Stone, Alexander

Campbell and Scott all affirm that the Holy Spirit is the divine agent in producing holi-

ness, they emphasized the Spirit’s instrument to be the Word of God and the blood of

17 Ibid, 83.

18 Alexander Campbell, "Short Sermons On Christian Practice - No. IV, On Bible Reading - No. 1," Millennial Harbinger 10, (1839, January 01): 343.


Christ, received by faith. Rea concluded that Stone and Campbell believed that the Holy

Spirit uses faith, developed through increasing knowledge of the Scriptures, to transform

the heart and behavior of the believer to conform to the divine nature, rather than emo-

tional and physical manifestations of His personal indwelling.19

As the effects of the Civil War bore down upon Stone Campbell Movement lead-

ers and congregants, a southern sectarian movement arose that would divide into its own

denomination, Churches of Christ. Many within this group further polarized from any

emotionalism associated with their understanding of the Holy Spirit and its role in sancti-

fication and holiness. Believing strongly in the inerrancy of Scripture and certain that the

Holy Spirit could not lead believers to divine holiness apart from the Word, the Texas tra-

dition within Churches of Christ came to see the Bible as the sole source of the Spirit’s

work. Many believed that any other view of the Holy Spirit, as a person who indwelt the

believer, was associated with enthusiastic, emotive forms of religion that tended to disre-

gard scripture. Instead, they shifted their focus to “Word over Spirit.”20 In a movement

characterized by reason and logic, believing that anyone could rationally believe in Jesus,

many were fearful of anything that appeared irrational and emotive. Though some from

the Tennessee tradition of the Churches of Christ, like James Harding and David Lip-

scomb believed that only God, through an indwelling Spirit, could transform humans into

the image of Christ, by 1930, the Texas tradition’s denial of a personally indwelling

Spirit was the dominant view of Churches of Christ at large.21

19 Robert Rea, ‘“Holiness’ In The Writings Of Early Stone-Campbell Movement Leaders," Stone-Campbell Journal 8, (2005, Fall): 172.

20 Cheryl Bridges Johns, "Overcoming Holy Spirit Shyness In The Life Of The Church," Vision (2012, Spring): 8.


By the mid twentieth century, polarizing debates arose among Churches of Christ

and Pentecostal Churches arguing rationalism vs. emotionalism. Churches of Christ

strongly believed that “the Spirit would not employ emotional coercion over rational per-

suasion.”22 Harrell was so bold as to say that “Pentecostals became the arch enemy of

the Church of Christ.” It was ironic that Pentecostals desired to reclaim the Cane Ridge

legacy of emotional Christianity while Stone Campbell Churches of Christ desperately

desired to leave it behind.

The Nature of the Holy Spirit and Charismata

Stone Campbell and Pentecostal Christians seeking the restoration of the New

Testament church after Cane Ridge, both knew that the Holy Spirit was a critical factor in

the apostolic ministry of the church, but differed on the Spirit’s nature and the gifts asso-

ciated with as it affected their churches. As the Shaker movement gave way to Holiness

churches and the Pentecostal movement, at large, much emphasis was placed on the na-

ture of the Holy Spirit as a person of the Godhead, who demonstrated powerful physical

manifestations or signs amongst true followers of Christ. Pentecostals were inclined to

seek evidence of the Spirit’s empowering presence by way of physical signs demon-

strated in the lives of the people in whom He has chosen to dwell.

The rise of Pentecostalism in the early twentieth century was built on the same

18th century Wesleyan Methodist principles that had influenced Stone and McGready

prior to Cane Ridge. John Wesley’s Principle of Sanctification stated that a converted

Christian could grow in personal holiness through a spiritual and moral life, empowered

21 D. Newell Williams, Douglas Foster, and Paul M. Blowers, eds., The Stone-Campbell Movement (St. Louis, MO: Chalice Press, 2013), 13, 116, 153.

22 Ibid, 92.


by the Holy Spirit. The Holiness tradition churches, such as the Church of the Nazarene,

the Pilgrim Holiness Church, and the Church of God furthered this doctrine with a belief

in the sanctifying work of the Spirit being perfected in a second baptism – the baptism of

the Holy Spirit.23 Methodism made sanctification the purpose of baptism of the Holy

Spirit and outbursts of joy the evidence. Students at a Topeka Bible College in 1900 took

this notion a step farther, believing that speaking in tongues was the only evidence asso-

ciated with the baptism of the Spirit in Acts. When a student Agnes Ozman, experienced

this baptism by speaking in tongues, the Classical Pentecostal movement arose, claiming

that ‘speaking in tongues’ was the primary evidence of baptism in the Spirit, as it hap-

pened on the Day of Pentecost recorded in Acts. Charismatic churches would follow

who would accept other spiritual gifts as proofs this Spirit baptism. Many scholars con-

sider all churches that promote the use of ‘wonder gifts’ in the contemporary world as

Pentecostal.24

Pentecostals assert that if the New Testament church had been restored, than all

the gifts of the Holy Spirit should accompany sanctification, to include healing, exorcism,

prophecy in addition to speaking in tongues.25 Rather than a “proof of salvation,” the

granting of spiritual gifts in Pentecostalism is seen as a “consequence of salvation,” a

salvation with its foundations in the doctrines of justification by faith and water baptism.

23 Erling Jorstad, The Holy Spirit in Today's Church: a handbook of the new pen-tecostalism (Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press, 1973), 11-12.

24 A. Anderson, "Evangelism And The Growth Of Evangelism In Africa," viewed 14 Nov 2013, from http://artsweb.bham.ac.uk/aanderson/Publications/evange-lism_and_the_growth_of_pen.htm.

25 Amy Collier Artman, "The Encounter Of North American Stone-Campbell Christians With The Pentecostal/charismatic Movement," Discipliana 62, no. 3 (2002, Fall): 88.


This is an important distinction. Pentecostals believe that all spiritual gifts remain perma-

nently available to believers for the sake of mission, to lead the baptized into an ongoing

relationship with Jesus Christ that extends out into the world to those that do not know

him. 26

For Stone Campbell Christians, and Churches of Christ in particular, the most uni-

fying belief in restoring the early New Testament Church was the importance of baptism

by immersion as the means of salvation. From Walter Scott’s five finger exercise, the

method that brought many to Christ in the early Stone Campbell movement, and based on

Acts 2:38 the steps to salvation included: 1. Faith, 2. Repentance, 3. Baptism, 4. For-

giveness of Sin, and 5. The Gift of the Holy Spirit. Scott, Stone, and Campbell all

agreed that this gift occurred simultaneously through water baptism, not in addition to it.

Thomas Campbell claimed that the New Testament was the constitution for the life of a

Christian and thus the church. He said that once the New Testament was completed “the

Holy Spirit ceased to guide the church (baptized believers) except by these writings.”27

In Churches of Christ, dominated by the Texas tradition the emphasis on scripture

over against Spirit created a dangerous separation of Spirit and Word. By over-empha-

sizing the Word, the scripture became more of a witness to truth rather than a “truthful

vehicle of God’s presence.”28 Therefore, the ongoing witness of the gifts of the Spirit

26 Sarah Hinlicky Wilson, "Dialogue Spiritless Lutheranism, Fatherless Pente-costalism, And A Proposed Baptismal-Christological Corrective," Pneuma 34, (2012, January 01): 416, 423. Wilson lays a case for the dependency on one another that Lutheranism and Pentecostalim share. Because she appeals to the rationalism of Lutheranism, many of her arguments apply to Churches of Christ as well.

27 Thomas Campbell, The Christian System, 5th edition (Cincinatti, OH: Stan-dard Publishing Company, 1901), 256-257.

28 Cheryl Bridges Johns, "Overcoming Holy Spirit Shyness In The Life Of The Church," Vision (2012, Spring): 9.


was neglected and scripture alone became the standard of praxis. This polarizing effect,

motivated by a fear of misinterpreting the Word or following higher criticism that could

lead one to doubt the inerrancy of Scripture, paralyzed leaders in the Churches of Christ

from placing emphasis on the Holy Spirit. Wilson describes this as an “empty doctrine of

the Spirit,” and that has evolved into “an extreme, critical, even suspicious approach that

refuses to believe what it cannot prove: therefore miracles are out, prayer is pain man-

agement, and healing is tapping into the body’s natural resources.”

Many other Stone Campbell leaders have taken views to move the work of the

Holy Spirit beyond the written word. Early leaders like Robert Milligan and Robert

Richardson, contemporaries of Alexander Campbell, feared setting limits on the Spirit,

and claimed the Spirit was not entirely confined to the written word. As early as 1905,

J.H. Garrison, a historian and writer and editor of the Christian Evangelist, gave credence

to the position that the Holy Spirit accompanies the preaching of the written Word, the

Spirit and the Word working independently of each other but in harmony.29 It is this

claim that refuses to equate Scripture as God, but allows Scripture to point to God. Jesus

spoke to this when he said to his followers, “You search the Scriptures because you think

that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me, yet you refuse

to come to me that you have life.”30

Another Stone Campbell view on the nature and working of the Holy Spirit

emerged in the mid to late twentieth century and espoused that the Holy Spirit can act

apart from the Word and on the heart of the unbeliever to enable one to change one’s life

29 Douglas A. Foster et al, ed., "Holy Spirit, Doctrine Of The," in The Encyclope-dia of the Stone-Campbell Movement (Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publish-ing Company, 2004), 404-405.

30 Hebrews 4:12, English Standard Version.


beyond simply believing in the gospel. In other words, the Spirit is necessary to promote

the deeper Christian life. Disciples of Christ leader James DeForest Murch, one time edi-

tor of the Christian Standard and then editor of the United Evangelical Action and Chris-

tianity Today and Church of Christ preachers Claude Witty and Carl Ketcherside were

proponents of this view of the Holy Spirit as it informed unity amongst believers. Ketch-

erside’s journal Mission Messsenger, called Christians to “the dynamic of love” as the

answer to healing a divided Movement, encouraging bringing the Holy Spirit into the

lives of believers.31

The Growth of Pentecostalism from the early Twentieth Century to the Present

As the Stone Campbell movement spread from its early roots on the American

frontier to a global movement reaching every continent in one way or another, Pente-

costalism, with it’s shared heritage and pursuit of Apostolic Christianity, seemed to al-

ways be close at hand. This is most clearly seen in Latin American Countries and

African where cultural influences and collectivists societies perhaps lend themselves to

an openness for the mystical, experiential experience of God among large people groups.

As Stone Campbell missionaries witnessed this rise and its amazing results, many were

fearful and continued to polarize, but others began to open their eyes to the evidences of

the Holy Spirit and the need for change.

One such example was a revival in Puerto Rico in 1933, strangely similar to the

Revival at Cane Ridge more than a century earlier. The Puerto Rican revival launched

what was described as a new spiritual identity for Christians to whom the gospel had

been introduced by American missionaries. In a time of economic uncertainty and dimin-

ished spiritual leadership in Puerto Rice, a small prayer group experienced physical mani-

31 Foster et al, 405.


festations of the Spirit of speaking in tongues and dancing. This led to 18 months of in-

tense fasting, praying and aggressive evangelism, results that had convinced Stone in the

power of God to convict converts who then converted others back at Cane Ridge. When

conservative Stone Campbell missionaries attempted to squelch this “Pentecostal spiritu-

ality,” an indigenous effort of natives to develop self-sufficient churches independent of

missionary control and UCMS financial support emerged.32

In 1932 the first North American Church of Christ missionaries to Brazil, Orla

Boyer and Virgil Smith witnessed Brazilian leaders experiencing what they called “the

baptism of the Holy Spirit” and had spoken in tongues. This created fear and antagonism

from US Church of Christ leaders and propelled these men into partnerships with Brazil-

ian Churches of God, and later Pentecostal Churches.33 Ironically, Christian Churches/

Disciples of Christ and Christian Churches/Churches of Christ were successful in Latin

American countries of integrating the Pentecostal faith with the practice of traditional

Stone Campbell commitments, forging ecumenical partnerships. Contrastingly, “those

who rejected these developments (Pentecostalism) felt themselves increasingly drawn to-

ward fellowship with Churches of Christ.”34

. Though North American Churches of Christ generally tried to distance themselves

from the Pentecostal influences, other examples pointed to their conviction that dramatic

acts of the Holy Spirit confirmed the work of God. In Nigeria, an amazing work of the

Spirit led five Nigerian evangelists to baptize more than 10,000 people, and spawned an

32 D. Newell Williams, Douglas Foster, and Paul M. Blowers, eds., The Stone-Campbell Movement (St. Louis, MO: Chalice Press, 2013), 294-295.

33 O.S. Boyer, "Interior Brazil Missions," Word and Work (1932, February 1): 52.

34 Williams, Foster, Blowers, 307.


effort to develop “an exceptionally strong commitment by North American Churches of

Christ) to educating and supporting African evangelists! A statement was made in re-

gards to this explosive organic revival that is telling: “In three and a half short years,

they have established more congregations than we have in the whole of southern Africa

after thirty years of labor by white missionaries.”35

In Ghana, in 1993, when opposing pro-Pentecostal factions and anti-Pentecostal

factions formed in local Churches of Christ, peaceful coexistence was achieved through

the efforts of a Ministers’ Association of national leaders among Churches of Christ,

proving that Churches of Christ are functioning well embracing many Pentecostal prac-

tices.36

Common Ground for Modern Day Revivalism

Many Stone Campbell adherents have held to the following truths regarding the

work of the Holy Spirit: “that the Holy Spirit is part of a three part God, that the church

is a creation of the Holy Spirit, that the Scriptures were inspired by and brought together

through the agency of the Holy Spirit, and to the work of the Holy Spirit as that of con-

verting the world to Christ and residing in the lives of Christians for their spiritual fulfill-

ment, and among more liberal leaders, that the Holy Spirit works institutionally to bring

about social change in the interest of human justice.”37

35 Ibid, 333.

36 Albert Douglas Ofori, "The Development Of Pentecostalism In Ghana And Its Effects On Churches Of Christ," (master's thesis, Abilene Christian University, 2009), 94-128.

37 Douglas A. Foster et al, ed., "Holy Spirit, Doctrine Of The," in The Encyclope-dia of the Stone-Campbell Movement (Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publish-ing Company, 2004), 403.


As the Spirit propelled the mission of God from the first Pentecost through the

apostles who took the message to Judea, Samaria, and the ends of the earth, converting

the likes of Ethiopians, Gentiles, Greeks, Romans, and the like on the pages of the New

Testament and beyond, the Holy Spirit, today, has the power to advance the kingdom of

God. Evidence of the Spirit’s work in social movements, racially diverse and inclusion

directives, and the other-oriented mission of God, are a few areas where Pentecostal

churches and Stone Campbell Churches, the Church of Christ in particular, can find the

common unity that the Holy Spirit alone can provide.

Anslem Min, a Pentecostal theologian, argues that the nature of the Holy Spirit as

he relates to the Father and the Son of the triune God provides an understanding of the

Spirit’s work in social movements. He describes the Spirit as a humble, selfless God

whose personhood points attention to Jesus Christ, and through him, the Father. Thusly,

when one sees social movements that attempt to overcome classism, sexism, racism, and

ethnocentrism, expoitation of the weak and vulnerable, these by way of the Spirit point to

the reconciliation between human beings and God, through Jesus Christ.38 Christian

Churches/Disciples of Christ have demonstrated numerous partnerships with Pentecostal

groups throughout Latin America, the Carribean, Africa, and the United States. Exam-

ples include C.O.R.E. and C.A.R.E…Among Churches of Christ, support for relief agen-

cies such as Global Samaritan of Abilene and Churches of Christ Disaster Relief in Nash-

ville, demonstrate ecumenical cooperation in ministering to the oppressed around the

world. Perhaps a new spirit of revivalism of ecumenical partnerships in social move-

38 Jeremy M. Bergen, "The Holy Spirit In The World," Vision (2012, Spring): 91.


ments could open Churches of Christ and Pentecostal Churches up to an agreement to

“keep in step with the Spirit.”

Additionally, the church, as an extension of Christ, must find diversity and unity

in the triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, three persons in one being, to unleash the

power of the Spirit on the church today. God as creator is the source of all diversity.

Ironically, it is the institutional church the least racially diverse organization in modern

society. Interestingly, a Disciples of Christ missionary in India, Donald McGavran in

1970 identified what he called the homogenous unit principle of evangelism. He said that

“unbelievers prefer to join churches whose members look, talk, and act like them-

selves.”39 The Pentecostal movement, however, offers a different perspective. Described

as “the most dynamic and fastest growing sector of Protestant Christianity worldwide,

and is likely to become the predominant global form of Christianity of the 21st century,”40

Pentecostalism envelops all socio-economic levels. Many diverse congregations are

present in the United States, like the King’s Park International Church in Durham, North

Carolina, with 40 percent African-American, 40 percent white, and 20 percent Asian,

Latino, and other ethnicities.41 Is it possible that Protestant churches to include Churches

of Christ could look to Pentecostal examples of diversity as a basis for ecumenical agree-

ment? The revival at Cane Ridge broke socioeconomic and denominational barriers

while the Azuza Street revival in Los Angeles, brought together African Americans, Lati-

39 Donald A. McGavran, Understanding Church Growth, 3rd Edition ed, ed. C. Peter Wagner (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans Publishing, 1990), 167.

40 Jose Casanova, "Religion, The New Millennium, And Globalization," Sociol-ogy of Religion 62, (2001, January 01): 435.

41 John Kenneth Gibson, "A Pneumatological Theology Of Diversity," Anglican Theological Review 94, no. 3 (2012, Summer): 438.


nos, and whites. Perhaps a new spirit of revivalism regarding diversity and inclusion is in

order today.

Conclusion

Pentecostalism and the Stone Campbell movement, no doubt, share a common

heritage and a deep desire for unity through an appeal to the restoration of New Testa-

ment Christianity. Ultimately, this desire is directed by the Holy Spirit. Those drawn to

Pentecostalism are desiring more than creeds and doctrines to define their faith, and are

certainly looking toward the restoration of the same outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon

the early apostles at the first Pentecost. Those drawn to Stone Campbell ideals, and par-

ticularly the Churches of Christ, seek the same thing, a holiness, a “set apart”-ness, that is

from within and that produces fruit that will last (an outward manifestation, if you will.)

These two notions seem inextricably tied to me, but instead of promoting unity, these two

movements have polarized from one another instead, fearing the extremism of the other.

As Stone was convinced by the outcry of the Spirit at Cane Ridge, I think Churches of

Christ would be well advised to consider similar Spirit-led revivalism today, evidenced

by ecumenical partnerships that promote social justice and diversity as a means living out

the gospel in the world as a tangible call of God to look beyond doctrine and disputes to a

renewed appeal for unity.

.


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