Levi Pethrus

Memorial stone at the place of birth

Lewi Pethrus , actually Petrus Lewi Johansson (born March 11, 1884 in Västra Tunhem , † September 4, 1974 in Stockholm ), was a pastor in Sweden and is considered the "father of the Swedish Pentecostal movement ". He was also one of the initiators and founders of the Christian Democratic Party of Sweden .

Life

The son of a poor working-class family began his professional career as a shepherd boy and earned his living as a shepherd at the age of eleven. Lewi Pethrus trained as a shoemaker and organized himself in the union . In 1899 he was baptized in the Baptist Church in Vänersborg and soon afterwards began to work as a preacher. In 1903 he gave up his job as a factory worker and moved to Stockholm in 1904, where he was trained as a pastor at the Betel Seminar . In 1906 he was pastor of the Baptist church in Lidköping and in 1910 of the Filadelfia church in Stockholm.

In 1907 Lewi Pethrus had come into contact with the Pentecostal movement in Oslo, whose teaching he took over. His work in the Filadelfia congregation in Stockholm led to a break with the Swedish Baptist Society in 1913 , from which he and his congregation were expelled. They then founded Sweden's first Pentecostal church.

Pethrus founded a social institution in 1911, a publishing house in 1912, a Bible school in 1916, the magazine Evangelii Härold in 1916 (which he edited until 1960), a school in 1942, the Pentecostal daily Dagen in 1945 (of which he was editor-in-chief until the end of his life), a bank in 1952 and in 1955 the evangelistic IBRA radio that can be heard almost worldwide.

Pethrus was also involved in the ecumenical movement . Until his official retirement in 1958 he was pastor of the Filadelfia congregation in Stockholm, but remained active in the international Pentecostal movement until 1974.

Pethrus' songs, most of which were published in the hymn book Segertoner (1930) edited by himself, were also widely used . The song Löftena kunna ej svika was translated into several languages and also included in the hymn book of the Lutheran Church of Sweden .

In 1950, Pethrus was awarded an honorary doctorate from Wheaton College for his services to the worldwide Pentecostal movement . King Carl XVI. Gustaf awarded him the Wasa Order in 1974 .

Fonts (selection)

The wind blows where it wants. The necessity and effect of the baptism of the Spirit in the Christian life . Leuchter Verlag, Erzhausen. ISBN 3874820610

Pure church, the goal of biblical church discipline ( Christian Church Discipline ). Dynamis Verlag, Kreuzlingen 1980

literature

Specialist literature

Paul Schmidgall: Lewi Pethrus. In: Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL). Volume 26, Bautz, Nordhausen 2006, ISBN 3-88309-354-8 , Sp. 1114-1116. ( Article / beginning of article in Internet archive )
Carl-Gustav Carlsson: P Lewi Pethrus . In: Svenskt biografiskt lexikon 29 (1995–1997), p. 156ff. ( Online resource )

Fiction

Per Olov Enquist : Lewis Journey . Roman, Stockholm 2001, German: München / Wien 2003. Paperback edition Frankfurt am Main 2005. ISBN 3-596-15997-0

Web links

Individual evidence

↑ Jakob Zopfi: ... on all meat. History and mission of the Pentecostal movement . Dynamis, Kreuzlingen 1985, ISBN 3-85645-046-7 , p. 62.

personal data
SURNAME	Pethrus, Levi
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Petrus Lewi Johansson
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	Pastor, initiator and leader of the Pentecostal movement in Sweden
DATE OF BIRTH	March 11, 1884
PLACE OF BIRTH	Vastra Tunhem
DATE OF DEATH	4th September 1974
Place of death	Stockholm

[1] Jakob Zopfi: ... on all meat. History and mission of the Pentecostal movement . Dynamis, Kreuzlingen 1985, ISBN 3-85645-046-7 , p. 62.