background: leaders in the Charismatic Renewal(s) Movement
David du Plessis
[pro-charismatic sources]
They Called Him, "Mr. Pentecost"
Smith Wigglesworth prophesied to David in
1936 that God would one day use him to bring a renewed understanding of the baptism in the Holy Spirit and spiritual gifts
to the old-line denominations and to the Roman Catholic Church. The Lord fulfilled this prophetic word beginning in the 1950s, opening doors for David to minister in these circles, thus birthing a new move of God. That move was called the Charismatic Renewal. Members of the old-line denominational churches and the Roman Catholic Church came to so love and appreciate Du Plessis for ministering to them, that they gave him the affectionate title of "Mr. Pentecost."
Christ the Baptizer - Beginning of David's message on the power of the baptism in the Holy Spirit with the evidence of tongues.
This recording is a historical treasure. In Part I, David Du Plessis tells in detail how he presented his message about the power of the Holy Spirit to world Church leaders and to Pope John's personal representative, which sowed the seeds for the Charismatic Movement. He presented his message in a loving manner that enabled otherwise contentious churchmen to open their hearts to a message from someone outside of their own branch of Christianity.
MMCI | Mel Montgomery Communications International
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David du Plessis: Mr. Pentecost
David du Plessis: Mr. Pentecost < click
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Reflections of a Pentecostal at the End of the Millennium: An Editorial Essay
William W. Menzies
...However, by 1960, pastors and lay people were reporting such experiences in considerable numbers--so much so that in the decade that followed most of the great Christian Protestant church bodies adopted position papers that allowed "Spirit-filled" members and leaders to stay within the parent denomination, with cautions, to be sure. This became known as the Charismatic movement. The Charismatic movement began as a penetration of the more traditional (and generally less-evangelical) Protestant denominations with phenomena and emphases previously limited to the Pentecostal churches. By 1967, this Charismatic renewal reached into the Roman Catholic Church, and since that time has had a growth more
phenomenal than the movement within Protestant mainline churches. This break-out of Pentecostal-like phenomena into the larger church world has generally been titled the "Second Wave."
More reluctant than the more liberal Protestant bodies and the Roman Catholic Church to make room for apostolic-like manifestations, nonetheless Evangelical Christianity by 1985 had its own Charismatic renewal. Speaking in tongues, prayer for the sick, and an openness to various manifestations of the Spirit finally were becoming acceptable, at least among some Evangelical groups. This is the so-called "Third Wave," according to Peter Wagner.2
page 3 ^
From the beginning, especially from the Los Angeles revival of 1906-9, commonly called the "Azusa Street Revival," missionary endeavor had a very high priority.4 After all, if we were at the end of a dying age, and Jesus would soon reappear, His servants should be busy about the Master’s business, rescuing the lost. The meaning of Pentecost was understood to be an empowering for Christian witness to the ends of the earth (Acts 1:8). The Pentecostal gift was understood to be integral to the mission task.
The Charismatic movement developed along somewhat different lines. Pentecostals had been rejected and consequently had to form their own associations and networks. They started "fresh." When believers in the mainline churches began to experience gifts of the Spirit, many of them saw their role as instruments of renewal within their own denomination, or within the local church of which they were a part. Many of these people who had come alive spiritually felt that they had a mission to their friends within that communion. They yearned to share with colleagues the availability of the apostolic gifts.
In this role, they looked inward rather than outward, recognizing those Christians with whom they lived to be in need of a spiritual refreshing.
page 4 ^
3.2 The Place of Theology
There are three component issues here for Pentecostals, as well as many Charismatics. It is interesting to note that Catholic Pentecostals have attended perhaps more faithfully to the task of articulating theology for the renewal than have either Pentecostals or other Charismatics. Note the bibliographical entries flowing from Catholic sources.5
The three issues are:
a) focus on
experience, b) concerns about
ecumenism, and c) assumptions about
ethics.
page 5 ^
3.2.2 Ambivalence regarding Ecumenism
Growing for at least two generations in virtual isolation from interaction with other Christian traditions, suddenly in the mid-1940's, Pentecostals were for the first time accepted within Evangelical circles, at first with great caution, and more recently with full-acceptance. Early Pentecostals often feared association with other believers, wary lest such association would blur uniqueness. Later, upon being accepted in the Evangelical ranks, Pentecostals seemed to go overboard to gain approval among peers. In the 1950's and 1960's, this took the form of alignment with Fundamentalists against liberal Christianity, such as were found in the World Council of Churches. The fortunes of David duPlessis are illustrative of this capturing of Pentecostals by conservative Evangelicals.6
DuPlessis was disfellowshipped by the Assemblies of God for his association with World Council of Churches leaders, who had invited him to address them. This was an "embarrassment" to Evangelicals, who put pressure on the Assemblies
of God to disconnect totally from the WCC. DuPlessis pleaded with his Assemblies of God people that many leaders within the WCC were receiving the Pentecostal experience--but he noted that this was
not occurring among the Evangelical leaders with whom the Pentecostals had become so cozy.7
Later, when the "Second Wave" of Charismatic renewal was fully-formed, it became apparent that over-identification of
Pentecostals with conservative Evangelicals was somehow out of tune with what the Holy Spirit seemed to be doing. Quietly, duPlessis was reinstated in the Assemblies of God before he died. There continues to be ambivalence within the Pentecostal movement about the theological guidelines that should shape ecumenical relationships.
page 6 ^
http://www.apts.edu/aeimages/File/AJPS_PDF/98-1-menziesw.pdf < click
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David Johannes du Plessis (7 February 1905 – 2 February 1987) was a South African-born Pentecostal minister. He is considered one of the main founders of the charismatic movement, in which the Pentecostal experience of baptism with the Holy Spirit spread to non-Pentecostal churches worldwide.
Originally shunning other movements, he became an active believer in ecumenism, beginning his efforts in the 1950s to share the Pentecostal experience with Christians in the historic denominations, chiefly Roman Catholicism. His main gateway into ecumenism was through his friendship with John McKay, then President of Princeton Seminary, New Jersey. McKay invited Du Plessis to address the International Missionary Council in Willingen, West Germany, in 1952. There he earned the nickname "Mr Pentecost".
He was a member of staff and Pentecostal "observer" at the World Council of Churches in 1954 and 1961, respectively, and was invited to serve as Pentecostal representative at the Second Vatican Council.
Du Plessis entitled his autobiography The Spirit Bade Me Go, as he believed God had commanded him to take the Pentecostal message to other denominations, and in particular the World Council of Churches. Recounting a meeting with 24 ecumenical leaders in Connecticut, Du Plessis wrote:
I could remember days when I had wished I could have set my eyes upon such men to denounce their theology and pray the judgment of God upon them for what I considered their heresies and false doctrines. ... After a few introductory words I suddenly felt a warm glow come over me. I knew this was the Holy Spirit taking over, but what was He doing to me? Instead of the old harsh spirit of criticism and condemnation in my heart, I now felt such love and compassion for these ecclesiastical leaders that I would rather have died for them than pass sentence upon them.
He remembered Smith Wigglesworth prophesying over him, that God would out pour his Spirit upon the churches and he would be greatly involved in it.
David du Plessis - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
David du Plessis
cont....
background on the reason for this thread:
