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TRANSCRIPT
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)
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)