Two Extraordinary Pentecostal Ecumenists

Ecumenical Review, The, July, 2000 by Hollenweger, Walter

The Letters of Donald Gee and David Du Plessis

Both Donald Gee (1891-1966) and David Du Plessis (1905-87) were firm defenders of the Pentecostal doctrine of "initial sign": that baptism in the Spirit is always characterized by speaking in tongues.(1) At the same time they were the most fervent Pentecostal advocates of ecumenism, including cooperation with the World Council of Churches. This demonstrates clearly that Pentecostal ecumenism by no means implies a lowering of Pentecostal identity and theology.

I knew both of these two extraordinary ecumenical pioneers personally and often interpreted for them. Both encouraged me to study theology -- contrary to my Swiss Pentecostal friends who prayed publicly that I fail my examinations. They advised me to study not at an evangelical college in the USA but at a Swiss university which most Pentecostals would call "liberal" and "modernist". They also encouraged me strongly in my work with and for the WCC.

Donald Gee was a self-taught man, a pastor, a prolific writer, a Bible teacher and a principal of the Assemblies of God Bible College in the UK.(2) At the International Bible Training Institute (Leamington Spa) he was one of my teachers, and his dry British humour continually amazed us. Together with David Du Plessis, Gee organized the first Pentecostal world conference (Zurich 1947) and was for many years the chair of its advisory committee. In 1947 he was also appointed editor of the international magazine Pentecost, which he edited until his death.

Ross has described Gee's editorials in Pentecost as "the most significant Pentecostal writing ever produced",(3) Having studied Pentecostal literature extensively over the past fifty years I agree with this assessment -- at least up to the 1970s. Since then a number of Pentecostal writers in English and other languages have followed in Gee's footsteps.

David Du Plessis originally came from the South African Apostolic Faith Church.(4) He then moved to the USA where he served in different Pentecostal organizations until he was disfellowshipped because of his contacts with the WCC. However, when he was showered with honours from religious and secular bodies he was reinstated as a pastor of the Assemblies of God (USA) without any further ado.

This article is mainly based on the correspondence between Gee and Du Plessis from 1947 until Gee's death in 1966. The correspondence, which is lodged at the David Du Plessis Center at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, California, is not complete and sometimes difficult to read.(5)

The exchange opens with a letter from Gee on 1 December 1947 in which he informs Du Plessis that he will announce the opening of the Basel office, a united effort by Pentecostals to help their suffering and sometimes persecuted co-religionists in Eastern and Southern Europe.(6) In the next letter (9 January 1948) Gee comments on the placing of Gustav Kinderman in Basel by the US Assemblies of God. However, the Pentecostal World Conference had commissioned Du Plessis as the secretary of that office. "It looks a little strange to a lot of folk that there are two offices - both in Basel." He then tells Du Plessis frankly: "I am getting tired of conferences, and still more of `politics'. It all boils down to ambitious men grasping for office. The ultimate challenge to all this feverish scheming and planning is the amount of spiritual results. What has it really produced for the kingdom of God?"

Pentecostal "lusting for miracles"

Much of the correspondence is concerned with Pentecostal in-fighting and personality clashes in the US, Britain, Sweden and France. Du Plessis describes in detail his recovery from a very severe automobile accident and his tremendous financial problems. Gee was more reticent about personal matters, though he speaks regularly of the ill health of his wife Ruth, who died in 1950 when he was away in Ireland (Gee, 4 December 1950) and once or twice also about his financial problems. For instance, he delayed his arrival at the Paris conference by one day in order to save hotel expenses (15 March 1949).

The two friends gave much thought to the great healing campaigns. Du Plessis calls the Freeman campaign in the US and in Sweden "a racket to obtain dollars" (10 February 1950).(7) Gee had written that "these huge divine healing campaigns in America ... are a headache ... I am told that Brother Freeman received $15,000 for a three-week campaign in Chicago. The pastors are offended by these things. And really they constitute what, on the surface, seems a scandal" (25 January 1950). Later, he wrote, "It is becoming a question whether these American healing campaigners are not doing more harm than good in European countries ... The emphasis upon the healing of the body is out of all proportion to the New Testament. It is simply a healing cult. The numbers of professed conversions yield a tiny percentage of additions to the churches and the financial side is a constant menace and scandal" (Gee, 27 February 1950, also 2 May 1950, 17 February 1951). He repeated his criticism in 1962: "All the emphasis upon miracles is unbalanced ... But it is what people want to hear. Is this `itching ears', I wonder" (14 November 1962). In an editorial severely critical of so-called deliverance and healing ministry, Gee spoke of "the lusting for miracles".(8)