Lewi Pethrus
Encyclopedia
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
Pentecostal
Pentecostalism
Pentecostalism is a diverse and complex movement within Christianity that places special emphasis on a direct personal experience of God through the baptism in the Holy Spirit, has an eschatological focus, and is an experiential religion. The term Pentecostal is derived from Pentecost, the Greek...
minister who played a decisive role in the formation and development of the Pentecostal movement in his country.
Life
Petrhus held manual jobs from the age of ten, being apprenticeApprenticeship
Apprenticeship is a system of training a new generation of practitioners of a skill. Apprentices or protégés build their careers from apprenticeships...
d to a shoe
Shoe
A shoe is an item of footwear intended to protect and comfort the human foot while doing various activities. Shoes are also used as an item of decoration. The design of shoes has varied enormously through time and from culture to culture, with appearance originally being tied to function...
factory in 1899. That year, he was baptized
Baptism
In Christianity, baptism is for the majority the rite of admission , almost invariably with the use of water, into the Christian Church generally and also membership of a particular church tradition...
in the Baptist Church in Vänersborg
Vänersborg
Vänersborg is a locality and the seat of Vänersborg Municipality, Västra Götaland County, Sweden with 21,672 inhabitants in 2005. Until 1997 it was the capital of Älvsborg County, which was dissolved in 1998. Since 1999 Vänersborg is the seat of the regional parliament of Västra Götaland County...
. After emigrating to Norway
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
in 1900, he became co-pastor of the Arendal
Arendal
is a town and municipality in the county of Aust-Agder, Norway. Arendal belongs to the traditional region of Sørlandet.The town of Arendal is the administrative center the municipality and also of Aust-Agder county...
Baptist Church in 1902, along with Adolf Mildes. He started speaking in tongues
Glossolalia
Glossolalia or speaking in tongues is the fluid vocalizing of speech-like syllables, often as part of religious practice. The significance of glossolalia has varied with time and place, with some considering it a part of a sacred language...
, believed by Pentecostals to be evidence of having received the baptism of the Holy Spirit
Holy Spirit
Holy Spirit is a term introduced in English translations of the Hebrew Bible, but understood differently in the main Abrahamic religions.While the general concept of a "Spirit" that permeates the cosmos has been used in various religions Holy Spirit is a term introduced in English translations of...
. After a series of meetings in Lillestrand. He claimed that the experience happened to him spontaneously and that he did not understand at the time what was happening to him.
Pethrus became pastor of a small Baptist Church in Bengtsfors
Bengtsfors
Bengtsfors is a locality and the seat of Bengtsfors Municipality, Västra Götaland County, Sweden. It had 3,194 inhabitants in 2005.- References :...
, Dalsland
Dalsland
Dalsland is a Swedish traditional province, or landskap, situated in Götaland in southern Sweden. Lying to the west of Lake Vänern, it is bordered by Värmland to the north, Västergötland to the southeast, Bohuslän to the west, and Norway to the northwest....
, in 1903, but did not seek formal theological training until 1904, when he enrolled at the Betel Seminary in Stockholm
Stockholm
Stockholm is the capital and the largest city of Sweden and constitutes the most populated urban area in Scandinavia. Stockholm is the most populous city in Sweden, with a population of 851,155 in the municipality , 1.37 million in the urban area , and around 2.1 million in the metropolitan area...
. He was later to say that his training was detrimental to his faith. Exposure to the writings of liberal philosopher
Philosophy
Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems, such as those connected with existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. Philosophy is distinguished from other ways of addressing such problems by its critical, generally systematic approach and its reliance on rational...
Viktor Rydberg
Viktor Rydberg
Abraham Viktor Rydberg was a Swedish writer and a member of the Swedish Academy, 1877-1895...
temporarily undermined his faith in the divinity of Jesus
Jesus
Jesus of Nazareth , commonly referred to as Jesus Christ or simply as Jesus or Christ, is the central figure of Christianity...
, but claimed to have regained it after meeting Jesus personally in a vision.
After graduating from seminary, Pethrus completed his compulsory military service at Axvalla Hed, Västergötland
Västergötland
', English exonym: West Gothland, is one of the 25 traditional non-administrative provinces of Sweden , situated in the southwest of Sweden. In older English literature one may also encounter the Latinized version Westrogothia....
, in the autumn of 1906. That year, he became pastor of the Lidköping
Lidköping
Lidköping is a locality and the seat of Lidköping Municipality in Västra Götaland County, Sweden. It had 27,941 inhabitants in 2005.It is neatly situated on the southern shore of Lake Vänern and sometimes refers to itself as "Lidköping by Vänern", possibly to distinguish itself from Linköping near...
Baptist Church.
Pethrus joined the Pentecostal movement in 1907 after meeting the Norwegian Pentecostal minister Thomas Ball Barratt
Thomas Ball Barratt
Thomas Ball Barratt was a British-born Norwegian pastor and founder of the Pentecostal movement in Norway....
in Oslo
Oslo
Oslo is a municipality, as well as the capital and most populous city in Norway. As a municipality , it was established on 1 January 1838. Founded around 1048 by King Harald III of Norway, the city was largely destroyed by fire in 1624. The city was moved under the reign of Denmark–Norway's King...
. It was then that the doctrine of the baptism in the holy spirit and speaking in tongues became clear to him; he claimed: "From that moment I was part of the Pentecostal Revival".
Pethrus became pastor of the Seventh Baptist Church in Stockholm in 1910 and of the Philadelphia Church in 1911. In 1913, the year in which he married Lydia Danielsson, his church was expelled from the Swedish Baptist Union due to disagreements about holy communion
Eucharist
The Eucharist , also called Holy Communion, the Sacrament of the Altar, the Blessed Sacrament, the Lord's Supper, and other names, is a Christian sacrament or ordinance...
(his church practiced open communion
Open communion
Open communion is the practice of Christian churches that allow individuals other than members of that church to receive Holy Communion...
). This was the beginning of a separate Pentecostal movement in Sweden. During the same phase of his life Pethrus wrote the words and music for his gospel song
Gospel music
Gospel music is music that is written to express either personal, spiritual or a communal belief regarding Christian life, as well as to give a Christian alternative to mainstream secular music....
"Löftena kunna ej svika" ('The promises shall not fail'). The Philadelphia Church started a Bible school in 1915 and a weekly magazine, The Gospel Herald, in 1916. In the same year, the church sent its first missionaries
Missionary
A missionary is a member of a religious group sent into an area to do evangelism or ministries of service, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care and economic development. The word "mission" originates from 1598 when the Jesuits sent members abroad, derived from the Latin...
, Samuel and Lina Nyström, to Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
, helping the Assembleias de Deus
Assembleias de Deus
The Assembléias de Deus are a group of Pentecostal denominations in Brazil related to the Assemblies of God.- History :The Assembléias de Deus began when Daniel Berg and Gunnar Vingren, two Swedish Baptist immigrants from South Bend, Indiana had the Pentecostal experience in Chicago and departed...
.
Pethrus and his Filadelfia Church sent many missionaries to Africa, Latin America and continental Europe, and kept ties with the North American Scandinavian Pentecostals belonging to the Fellowship of Christian Assemblies
Fellowship of Christian Assemblies
The Fellowship of Christian Assemblies is a pentecostal Christian association with roots in a revival during the 1890's among the Scandinavian Baptist and Pietist communities in the United States....
and the Independent Assemblies of God, International
Independent Assemblies of God, International
The Independent Assemblies of God, International is a pentecostal Christian association with roots in a revival in 1890 decade among the Scandinavian Baptist and Pietist communities in the United States....
.
Pethrus sponsored the founding of a high school in 1942 and Dagen
Dagen (Swedish newspaper)
Dagen is a daily newspaper in Sweden with the expressed purpose of being a Christian voice in the media noise. Its circulation is 18,400 ....
, a daily newspaper, in 1945. A credit fund was established in 1952 and a radio station, IBRA Radio
IBRA Radio
IBRA Media is an international Christian broadcasting and media group founded in 1948 by Lewi Pethrus in Sweden. IBRA broadcast Christian programs to more than 100 countries....
in Tangier
Tangier
Tangier, also Tangiers is a city in northern Morocco with a population of about 700,000 . It lies on the North African coast at the western entrance to the Strait of Gibraltar where the Mediterranean meets the Atlantic Ocean off Cape Spartel...
, Morocco
Morocco
Morocco , officially the Kingdom of Morocco , is a country located in North Africa. It has a population of more than 32 million and an area of 710,850 km², and also primarily administers the disputed region of the Western Sahara...
, in 1955. In the same year, the Philadelphia Church hosted the Pentecostal World Conference
Pentecostal World Conference
The Pentecostal World Conference or Pentecostal World Fellowship is a fellowship of Pentecostal believers and denominations from across the world....
.
Pethrus resigned from the pastorate on 7 September 1958. He continued preaching as an iterant preacher, and established the Lewi Pethrus Trust for Philanthropic Endeavour in 1959. In 1964, he spearheaded the founding of Sweden's Christian Democratic Party
Christian Democrats (Sweden)
The Christian Democrats ) is a political party in Sweden. The party was founded in 1964 but did not enter parliament until 1985 in an electoral cooperation with the Centre Party and on the Christian Democrats' own accord in 1991. The leader since April 3, 2004 is Göran Hägglund. He succeeded Alf...
. His wife Lydia died on 30 December 1966. A year before his own death, he was made a Knight Commander of the Vasa Order. His last sermon was delivered at the annual Nyhemsvecka Pentecostal convention in 1974, shortly before his death on 4 September. His autobiography, Ett sagolikt liv ('a storied life') was published in 1976.
Cultural references
In 2001, Per Olov EnquistPer Olov Enquist
Per Olov Enquist, better known as P. O. Enquist, is a Swedish author. He has worked as a journalist, playwright and novelist...
published a novel, Lewis Resa, which is in part about the interactions between Pethrus and Sven Lidman
Sven Lidman (writer)
Carl Hindrik Sven Rudolphsson Lidman —military officer, poet, writer, and preacher, grandson of the priest Sven Lidman—was born in Karlskrona, became a sublieutenant in the Swedish royal army reserve in 1903, and studied law at Uppsala University...
.