David du Plessis

David Johannes du Plessis (born February 7, 1905 in Twenty Four Rivers , Cape Colony ; † February 2, 1987 in Oakland, California ) was a Pentecostal preacher born in South Africa who conveyed the charismatic renewal of the established Christian churches in the context of ecumenism and as an international one Pentecostal spokesman appeared, earning him the title " Mr. Pentecost ".

Life

South Africa

David Johannes du Plessis was born in 1905 to a white family in a South African village near Cape Town . Through the evangelistic work of the Apostolic Faith Mission of South Africa (AFM) founded by John G. Lake in 1908 , the du Plessis joined the Pentecostal movement in 1914. After moving to Ladybrand in 1917 , David du Plessis was converted when he was caught in a violent storm and feared for his life. The following year he was baptized with the Holy Spirit during a service under preacher Charles Heatley and is said to have spoken in tongues after receiving a divine vision .

Due to financial difficulties, he dropped out of his studies and moved to Pretoria , where he began to work for the Railway Engineering Department . At the same time, he led a church congregation as a preacher in a meeting room located above a shop, which was known as the "Upper Room". Here he met Anna Cornelia Jacobs († 1998), whom he married in August 1927 and with whom he would have seven children. In 1932 he was ordained pastor of the Apostolic Faith Mission and four years later elected general secretary. While he was holding this office, he met the Pentecostal evangelist and spiritual healer Smith Wigglesworth († 1947) in December 1936 . Wigglesworth is said to have prophesied to him one morning that after his death the Spirit of God would come upon the mainstream churches and bring an unprecedented renewal in which David du Plessis would play an important role.

Association of Pentecostal Churches

When his calling reached the Pentecostal churches in the United States, David du Plessis was invited to speak before the General Counsel of the Assemblies of God in Memphis, Tennessee , in 1937 . The following year he traveled to Europe for the first time and increasingly campaigned for the unity of the worldwide Pentecostal churches. He established many relationships within the various congregations in North America, Europe and Africa and worked with the Swiss pastor Leonard Steiner, under whose direction the first Pentecostal World Conference took place in Zurich, Switzerland in May 1947 . David du Plessis himself gave a speech at the world conference entitled “ Gather the Wheat, Burn the Chaff ”. He resigned as General Secretary of the Apostolic Faith Mission and moved his family to Basel, Switzerland . From here he continued his extensive travels within Europe and to North America. During a stay in the USA, David du Plessis suffered a serious car accident, which was followed by a stay in hospital for several weeks. During these weeks he had achieved certainty that baptism with the Holy Spirit was available to all Christians, regardless of their denomination .

In 1948 he was ordained pastor of the Assemblies of God and settled permanently in the United States. From his new adopted home, he organized the 1949 Pentecostal World Conference in Paris and took a position as professor at Lee College in Cleveland, Tennessee . He also supported the Christian businessman Demos Shakarian in setting up the " Full Gospel Businessmen's Fellowship International " (1951).

Expansion of the ecumenical movement

When David du Plessis learned that the Presbyterian clergyman John A. MacKay († 1983), who taught as a doctor of theology at Princeton Theological Seminary in Princeton, New Jersey , had spoken out in favor of the Pentecostal movement after initial criticism, he got in touch this on. The contact resulted in a friendship that is said to have been the impetus for David du Plessis to join the ecumenical movement .

In addition to his work as General Secretary of the Pentecostal World Conference in London , he took part in 1952 at the invitation of John A. MacKay at the World Conference of the International Missionary Council (WCC; Plenary Assembly of the Ecumenical Council) in Willingen, West Germany . It was here that he was given the title of " Mr. Pentecost " for the first time , which from then on was inseparable from him. David du Plessis has participated in almost all World Council assemblies and world conferences of Pentecostal churches. In addition, he joined Gordon Lindsay's “ The Voice of Healing ” in 1956 and appeared as a preacher at events of the Healing Revival , such as in 1959 together with William Branham at the Angelus Temple in Los Angeles . His fame was not limited to the religious area. Although he had no academic or theological training, he lectured at various universities; including in Princeton and Yale .

A decisive turn in his ecumenical ministry took place at the 1960 World Conference of the International Missionary Council in St. Andrews, Scotland , when the Catholic priest Bernard Leeming asked David du Plessis to be baptized with the Holy Spirit. From this point onwards, David du Plessis intensified his exchange with clergy of the Catholic Church and expressed his wish to Cardinal Augustin Bea that every Catholic would have access to the Bible in his or her national language. His contact with leading Catholic dignitaries brought him private audiences with several popes; John XXIII , Paul VI. and John Paul II

If David du Plessi's interdenominational activity among episcopals and Presbyterians was tolerated by most Pentecostal communities, the exchange and the compromises that went with it with the Catholics went too far for them. In 1962 the Assemblies of God withdrew the ordination of David du Plessis. The Catholic Church, however, valued David du Plessis. She had recognized the growing influence of the Pentecostal and Charismatic Movement within Christianity and did not fundamentally oppose reform. So it came about that David du Plessis, through the mediation of the Benedictine Kilian McDonnell (* 1921), was the only representative of the Pentecostal movement to take part as an observer at the Second Vatican Council (1962–1965). When the first official dialogue between the Catholic Church and the Pentecostal communities began in 1972, David du Plessis represented the latter. He was also a consultant during the 1975 Rome Congress on Charismatic Renewal within the Catholic Church.

Honors and death

David du Plessis was ranked among the eleven most influential Christian leaders of the 20th century . For his commitment to ecumenism, he received the " Pax Christi " award in May 1976 from St. John's University in Collegeville, Minnesota . The Bethany Bible College in Santa Cruz, California awarded him the 1978 honorary doctorate and Pope John Paul II. Gave him five years later, the Benemerenti medal .

He gave his autobiography the title: " The Spirit Bade Me Go ".

David du Plessis died in California in 1987. His person and his service for the ecumenical movement earned him the description as " global ambassador of Pentecostal understandings of the Holy Spirit ".

literature

• Stanley M. Burgess, Eduard M. van der Maas: The New International Dictionary of Pentecostal and Charismatic Movements . Zondervan, Grand Rapids, Michigan 2010
• David du Plessis: The Spirit Bade Me Go . Logos International, 1970
• Arto Hämäläinen, Grant McClung: Together in One Mission: Pentecostal Cooperation in World Evangelization . Pathway Press, Cleveland, Tennessee 2012
• Walter J. Hollenweger: Charismatic-Pentecostal Christianity: Origin, Situation, Ecumenical Opportunities . Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 1997
• Bob Slosser: A Man Called Mr. Pentecost . Logos International, 1977
• Joshua R. Ziefle: David du Plessis and the Assemblies of God . Brill Verlag, Leiden 2013

Individual evidence

1. ↑ C. Douglas Weaver: du Plessis, David Johanneslocked . In: American National Biography , Oxford University Press, online version at www.anb.org (English)
2. ↑ St. Cloud Times , St. Cloud, Minnesota, May 24, 1976
3. ^ Walter J. Hollenweger, Charismatic-Pentecostal Christianity: Origin, Situation, Ecumenical Opportunities , Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 1997, p. 387
4. ^ Arto Hämäläinen, Grant McClung, Together in One Mission: Pentecostal Cooperation in World Evangelization , Pathway Press, Cleveland, Tennessee 2012, p. 26
5. ↑ Joshua R. Ziefle, David du Plessis and the Assemblies of God , Brill Verlag, Leiden 2013, p. 34
6. ↑ The Orlando Sentinel , Orlando, Florida, February 6, 1987
7. ↑ Hollenweger 1997, p. 388
8. ↑ Roy Weremchuk, THUS Saith the Lord? , Deutscher Wissenschafts-Verlag, Baden-Baden 2019, p. 267
9. ↑ Hollenweger 1997, p. 188 f.
10. ↑ Joshua R. Ziefle 2013, p. 119
11. ↑ Hollenweger 1997, p. 388
12. ↑ Hollenweger 1997, p. 189
13. ↑ Time Magazine, New York, NY, September 9, 1974, Article: "Shapers and Shakers of the Christian faith"
14. ↑ St. Cloud Times , St. Cloud, Minnesota, May 24, 1976
15. Jump up ↑ Karla Poewe, Charismatic Christianity as a Global Culture , University of South Carolina Press, Columbia, South Carolina 1994, p. 112