Wesley, Fletcher, and the Baptism of the Holy Spirit

Long regarded as a spiritual grandfather of sorts for the Pentecostal movement, John Wesley has been credited by some as paving the way for their doctrinal distinctive of Spirit baptism through his teaching on entire sanctification. Yet, Wesley’s language surrounding Spirit baptism and the meaning of Pentecost differs significantly from that of classical Pentecostalism, calling into question whether a direct line can be drawn from Wesley himself to this Pentecostal distinctive. This article makes the case that their doctrine of Spirit baptism owes much more to the theology of Wesley’s intended successor John Fletcher and the Holiness movement that followed than Wesley’s doctrine of entire sanctification, and that one may find in Fletcher’s theology the seeds that would culminate in this Pentecostal doctrine easier than one could in Wesley’s theology.

Albert B. Norton and the Mukti Revival

Albert Benjamin Norton (1847–1923) is an obscure but important figure in the history of Pentecostalism in India. As a Holiness faith missionary who arrived in India at the calling of Bishop William Taylor, Norton worked in Central India before returning to the United States. He and his wife returned to India at the request of Pandita Ramabai to help build the Mukti Mission and later the accompanying Dhond home for boys. It was Norton who first introduced the speaking of tongues at the Mukti Mission in The Apostolic Faith in 1907, and he remained a friend of Ramabai’s throughout her life. Norton moved from the holiness position to Pentecostalism but maintained his position as an independent faith-based missionary throughout his ministry. This article demonstrates Norton’s connections to the Holiness Movement through Taylor and the first Free Methodist missionaries and argues for his influence on Ramabai as a partner in mission.

Mission-shaped Methodism and Fresh Expressions

The Mission-Shaped Church report by the Church of England prompted the Methodist Church and the Church of England in the UK to respond to the dislocation being felt between the inherited model of church and the missiological challenges of the twenty-first century. The most significant ecumenical development arising from the report was the formation of the Fresh Expressions initiative, whose sole task was to release leaders and communities to found churches for the ‘unchurched’.Examples of Anglican fresh expressions are much researched, but Methodist contributions less so. This essay argues that Methodist people, as people of a holiness movement of mission and ministry, have much to offer to the current ecclesial debate. There is a need for fresh expressions to be denominationally distinctive before they can be distilled into something new.

Fredrik Franson (1852—1908): Promoter of Mission in Southern Africa

Fredrik Franson (1852–1908), a dual citizen of Sweden and the USA and an international revival evangelist, is among the most significant mission founders and mobilisers of the Holiness Movement during the last quarter of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century. Within 22 years he founded 15 faith missions, four free-church federations in Europe and North America and several independent churches in the USA, New Zealand and Australia. This article focuses on the episodes of his life relating to southern Africa, namely the sending of the first missionaries of the Free East Africa Mission, the Scandinavian Alliance Mission of North America, and the founding of the Evangelical Church in Swaziland in 1893. Furthermore, it deals with Franson’s evangelistic campaigns in southern Africa, his visits to mission stations, participation in mission conferences and his partnership with Andrew Murray, Worcester, between spring 1906 and summer 1907. The article closes with a brief reflection of the lasting impact of Franson and his missionaries in southern Africa.

Holiness

This chapter argues that holiness was an essential mark of American Methodist theology from the beginnings of American Methodism through the first half of the nineteenth century. The chapter summarizes the initial commitment to holiness in John Wesley and early British Methodism. The commitment to holiness and entire sanctification of early American Methodism is then discussed. The chapter points to the importance of holiness as marking a theological tradition that was consistent across varieties of American Methodism as well as in popular Methodist experience. The chapter concludes by pointing to signs of coming tension, especially the rise of Phoebe Palmer and the Holiness Movement, the division that created the Wesleyan Methodist Connection, and the croakers, who initially complained about changes and compromise they saw in Methodism. The core argument of the chapter is that from 1784 through the 1840s there was a coherent theological tradition in American Methodism.

“Holy Ghost Tribe:” The Needles Revival and the Origins of Pentecostalism

In 1899, a religious revival in Needles, California, included the first recorded instance of tongues-speech in California. The revival was begun by a white Holiness preacher and included a predominantly Native American, but ethnically mixed, congregation. The Mohave Indians at the heart of the Needles Revival had survived in the Southern California borderlands by crossing boundaries and building new communities in the shadow of the modernizing state. As they participated in the Needles Revival, Mohave believers and others combined this pattern of boundary crossing with the theology and praxis of the Holiness movement to develop a local manifestation of the emerging Pentecostal movement. During the early twentieth century, a series of revivals around the world and a network of Holiness groups and missionaries developed into modern Pentecostalism. The most prominent of these revivals took place on Azusa Street in Los Angeles and emphasized speaking in tongues and multiracial community, not unlike the earlier revival in Needles. Taken together, these two revivals show the influence of Southern California on early Pentecostalism. Speaking in tongues enabled early Pentecostals to cross boundaries imposed by California's racial hierarchy, and the multiethnic communities they formed were a testament to the cultural dynamism of the region. As Mohave converts embraced Pentecostalism and eventually assumed leadership of the Needles congregation, they brought their legacy of survival and adaptation to the movement. In the process, they helped to shape modern Pentecostalism.

Methodism and the Church

This chapter examines the nature of the church in Methodist experience and practice from the origins of Methodism as a network of religious societies in the eighteenth century to its present day self-understanding as a global communion of churches. The article discusses: (1) the Wesleyan foundations of Methodist ecclesiology; (2) methods, sources, and norms in Methodist theological reflection on the church; (3) how Methodists interpret the credal marks of the church; (4) the ordained ministry; and (5) the means of grace and authority. A concluding section considers the future agenda for ecclesiology as a branch of practical theology in Methodism. Confident in its providential mission to spread scriptural holiness and ecumenical in outlook, Methodism remains in essence a holiness movement in search of its true ecclesial location in the Holy Catholic Church.