Wesley and the Pentecostals

The Pentecostal Holiness Church is one of the oldest Pentecostal denominations in the world. It was organized in 1898 in Anderson, South Carolina under the name Fire-Baptized Holiness Church. It was the result of a number of Holiness associations. This group was strongly influenced by Methodist polity and Holiness doctrine of entire sanctification. The PH Church retains the office of bishop and is divided into conferences. It has two colleges: Emanuel College in Franklin Springs, GA and Southwestern College in Oklahoma City. It also has Holmes Theological Seminary in Greenville, South Carolina, which is one of the oldest Pentecostal schools in the world. The PH Church is in over 40 states and 90 countries, and has nearly 3.5 million members worldwide.

 

Pentecostalism Today

Today many Pentecostals do not even know about their connection to John Wesley. In fact, the doctrine of sanctification is seldom heard in Pentecostal churches anymore. An emphasis on Spirit baptism and spiritual gifts has taken precedence over the holiness message, which played such an important role in the development of Pentecostalism. Pentecostals should revisit their holiness roots if they are going to continue to be a dynamic movement. Steven Land says that, “Had there been no eighteenth century Wesleyan and nineteenth century Holiness movements there would have been no twentieth century Pentecostalism; and Pentecostalism is at any rate inexplicable without this theological heritage.”12 The message of sanctification anticipates charismatic dimensions of the Christian faith because purity always precedes power.

 

Lessons for Today

In conclusion, John Wesley played an important role in the development of the Holiness-Pentecostal movements. His emphasis on the person and work of the Holy Spirit in sanctification paved the way for later theologians to develop the doctrine of a Pentecostal Spirit baptism. His doctrine of the sanctification has a distinct contribution to make in the contemporary ecumenical movement. The significance of rediscovering Wesley’s emphasis on the Holy Spirit and sanctification can bridge gaps between Wesleyan movements and Pentecostals, and create a forum for dialogue between Protestants and Roman Catholics. There is no telling what will happen when the church rediscovers Wesley’s doctrine of the holiness.  

 

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Notes

¹ There are a number of books and articles that have discussed the theological connection between the Holiness movement and Pentecostalism. A few of them are: Donald Dayton, Theological Roots of Pentecostalism (New Jersey: Hendrickson Publishers, 1897); D. William Faupel, The Everlasting Gospel: The Significance of Eschatology in the Development of Pentecostal Thought (Sheffield, England: Sheffield Academic Press, 1996); Steve J. Land, Pentecostal Spirituality: A Passion for the Kingdom (Sheffield, England: Sheffield Academic Press, 1997); and Vinson Synan, The Holiness- Pentecostal Tradition: Charismatic Movements in the Twentieth Century (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1997).

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Category: Church History, Summer 2006