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The beginning of the Pentecostal movement in Europe occurred at the start of the twentieth century when vast areas of the continent had enjoyed a long period of peace, technological progress and prosperity. In northern Europe established churches were Lutheran or Anglican, and where they existed, religious tolerance extended to other forms of Protestantism.After the 1906 revivalistic outpouring of the Spirit took place in Oslo under the ministry of T.B. Barratt (1862–1940) a Norwegian-British Methodist, there were similar scenes in Britain in the …

George Jeffreys (1889–1962) healing evangelist, revivalist and founder of the Elim Pentecostal Church was born to a coal mining family in Maesteg, South Wales, in 1889. George and Stephen, his older brother (1876–1943), attended Siloh Independent Chapel. More dramatic and more formative than ordinary church-going was the Welsh Revival of 1904–05 during which Stephen and George were converted.After leaving school at the age of 12 George worked, like Stephen, in the coal mines. At first the brothers were opposed to Pentecostalism but, when Edward, Step…

Donald Henry Frere Gee (1891–1966) was a travelling preacher, writer, editor, musician, Chairman of British Assemblies of God (1945–1948), Bible College Principal and significant historian. His writings are the most varied and prolific of any of the early Pentecostals and his final book, Wind and Flame (1967), is the best early account of the movement’s global reach and its affinity with emerging charismatic and ecumenical stirrings.Gee won prizes at school but left in his mid-teens and never thereafter received any further formal education. He attended Finsb…

Pentecostal and charismatic churches in the UK are diverse. They vary in their history, to some extent in their doctrine, ecclesiology, practice and social attitudes, and in their resources. Their congregations range from small and struggling start-ups to powerful megachurches.Three classical indigenous Pentecostal denominations can date their beginnings to the years of, or just after, the 1914‒18 war. Essentially, they came out of the Welsh Revival of 1904‒05. The first Pentecostal denomination to be formed was the Apostolic Faith C…

Russia’s huge territory embraced Christianity more than 1,000 years ago. Russian Orthodoxy is known for a beautiful sung liturgy and a theology that identifies the will of God with the will of the Czar, the anointed ruler. Consequently the Orthodox Church supported the Czarist government so that when, in 1917, a political revolution occurred the Church was persecuted by the atheistic Bolsheviks who seized power. However, at first smaller churches, like the Baptists, were spared since it was thought their growth would undermine Orthodoxy.Ivan Voronaev, born in central Russia in…

Smith Wigglesworth (1859–1947) has been seen as the archetypal preacher of early Pentecostalism: brusque, uneducated, unconventional, biblical, tongues-speaking and with a compassionate evangelistic and healing ministry. Born into a poor rural working-class family in the north of England he never seems to have gone to school. His grandmother was Methodist but he was confirmed in the Church of England and later underwent believer’s baptism.Becoming a plumber he started to prosper while continuing to be fervent and denominationally eclectic. He worshipped for…

Pentecostal European FellowshipThe Pentecostal European Fellowship was formed in Lisbon in 1987 out of the European Pentecostal Fellowship (EPF) and the Pentecostal European Conference (PEC). It signifies a continuation of post-war efforts to coordinate Pentecostal mission, humanitarian outreach and educational work. PEF has 53 national denominations as members and represents about four million European Pentecostal believers. It functions through a central Presidium or committee and an annual conf…

The Pentecostal Missionary Union (PMU) was formed in January 1909 at a meeting between Alexander Boddy, a Spirit-filled Anglican vicar in Sunderland, UK, and Cecil Polhill, also an Anglican who had first spoken in tongues during the Azusa Street Revival. Polhill had gone out to China with the famous Cambridge Seven and worked with the China Inland Mission for 15 years, always with a heart for Tibetans. After returning to England and becoming a wealthy man by inheritance, Polhill set about formin…

The principality of Wales has for centuries been part of United Kingdom. It retains its own ancient language although the vast majority of speakers are bilingual in English and Welsh. Its population is concentrated on the south and north coasts with only farming villages and small towns in the mountainous and hilly interior. Late Victorian railways, coal mines and quarries brought prosperity to the region. Religiously, the monoglot English tended to be landowners worshipping in the Anglican chur…

Pentecostalism is usually understood to have been initiated by a series of revivals at the start of the twentieth century. These revivals—although the outcomes varied in different parts of the world—quickly led to the formation of Pentecostal denominations and these denominations, with their newly formed or newly adopted congregations, required ministers who required training. The first Pentecostal educational institutions were Bible Institutes or colleges (the terminology varied) with a narrow …