Pentecostalism

Archives and histories

Talk given at the British Library 22 March 2010

By Professor William K Kay

Glyndwr University, Wrexham

Structure

• What is Pentecostalism and how have

scholars told the story?

• How can this story assist in the building of

an archive?

What is Pentecostalism?

• The answer determines how we tell the story

• For our purposes, Pentecostalism is a renewal movement within 20th/21st century Christianity which resulted in:

– Many new denominations

– New styles of worship

– Emphasis on divine healing

– Emphasis on charismatic gifts

Pentecostalism

• The story has various starting points:

India, Korea, but the most common and

persuasive is Azusa Street, Los Angeles,

in April 1906

• The Azusa St revival lasted till about 1912

• W J Seymour its leader has become an

icon for black Pentecostal churches

Leaders of Azusa St

Pentecostalism

• The 1907 British outpouring of the Spirit

began in Sunderland in an Anglican parish

(Revd Alexander Boddy)

• Boddy started a magazine, Confidence, in

1908 and an annual Whitsun Convention

that ran 1908-14

• He also started the Pentecostal Missionary

Union (PMU)

Sunderland

Pentecostalism

• The earliest Pentecostal church in England was built in Bournemouth in about 1909

• The first indigenous British Pentecostal denominations were the:

– (Welsh) Apostolic Church (1916)

– Elim Pentecostal Church (1915)

– Assemblies of God in Great Britain and Ireland (1924)

Pentecostalism

• Once the denominations were formed they

generated a paper trail of:

– Minutes

– Posters

– Magazines [Redemption Tidings, Elim

Evangel, Riches of Grace]

– Financial reports

– Letters

– Diaries, and so on

Pentecostalism

• The three denominations continued their existence through until the 1950s, when they were joined by the Church of God, which originally came with immigrants from the Caribbean

• In the 1960s, the charismatic movement began. Michael Harper’s Fountain Trust (1964) started, promoting the charismatic movement with Renewal magazine.

• Pentecostalism and the charismatic movement influenced each other

Charismatic movement

• In the 1960s, the charismatic movement began. Michael Harper’s Fountain Trust (1964) started, promoting the charismatic movement with Renewal magazine.

• Pentecostalism and the charismatic movement influenced each other

Michael Harper (1931-2010)

• Much of the material from the Fountain

Trust is held at the Donald Gee Centre

since Michael was a trustee

• But he also placed a quantity of material in

the library at Lambeth Palace

13

Charismatic movement in the

west

• Liturgical and renewing impact

on UK churches

• David Wilkerson writes The

Cross and the Switchblade

(1963)

Pentecostalism

• Thus there are certain points in the history

of Pentecostalism which are more

important than others, and therefore more

interesting to archivists:

1. The beginnings

2. The start of the earlier denominations

3. The start of the Church of God

4. interaction with the charismatic movement

Timeline

Azusa S

t

Sunderla

nd

Elim

Wels

h A

posto

lics

Assem

blie

s o

f God

1924

1915

1907-1

4

1906

Charis

matic

Movem

ent

Aposto

lic n

etw

ork

s

1960s

Fro

m 1

970

Min

glin

g o

f stre

am

s

Cam

paig

ns a

nd c

rusades

WW II

3rd Wave 2nd Wave 1st Wave

Resources in the UK

• The Donald Gee Centre for Pentecostal

and Charismatic Research

• This is located in Mattersey, a village in

North Nottinghamshire, in the grounds of

the Assemblies of God ministerial training

college (telephone: 01777 817663)

• The Centre is a free-standing inter-

denominational charity

Resources in the UK

• The Centre contains:

• Books going back to the 19th century relating to

missions (ref to Keswick)

• Letters from missionaries, ministers and

committees, photographs

• A full set of Confidence

• A full set of Renewal

• Miscellaneous material relating to the

Charismatic movement

Resources in the UK

• Revival library

• http://www.revival-library.org/

• Beginning of PCRI project which will fund

the digitisation of materials in the Donald

Gee Centre.

• PCRI = Pentecostal and Charismatic

Research Initiative based at the University

of Southern California

http://crcc.usc.edu/initiatives/pcri/

Resources in the USA

• The Flower Centre (http://ifphc.org/ ):

Assemblies of God

• International Pentecostal Holiness Church

(http://arc.iphc.org/ )

• USC, and its Internet Mission Photography

Archive http://crcc.usc.edu/initiatives/impa

Website addresses of

denominations in the UK

• Assemblies of God: www.aog.org.uk/

• Elim: www.elim.org.uk/

• Apostolic Church www.apostolic-

church.org/

• Church of God

• Newfrontiers

www.newfrontierstogether.org/

• And many others

Books using archival resources

• Anderson, A H (2007) Spreading Fires

(SCM)

• Kay, W K (2009) Pentecostalism (SCM)