How Pentecost Came To South Africa

I felt it would be appropriate in the light of my wife being from South Africa and having just returned from there to add a page here concerning how Pentecost came to this land and some of the Pioneers who brought it.

I would be very grateful for any input from those who have information concerning the workings of God in the early 1900's in South Africa in the outpouring of Pentecost upon many.

A Foundation for Pentecostal Revival: The Life & Ministry of Andrew Murray (1828-1917).

I have heard some say that Andrew Murray's teachings and writings are old fashioned or hard to understand. All I can say to such is that you have not read him or heard the message the Holy Spirit worked in him and preached through him. Today's Christian generation has a very strong tendancy to say 'all that is old is bad or of no consequence and all that is new is on the cutting edge of what God is doing'. At best such thoughts, beliefs and teachings are immature. The message Murray preached in South Africa, and across the world as well as across the generations, laid a foundation in many hearts for a Pentecostal Revival of holiness and power.

Born in Graaff Reinet, South Africa, Andrew grew up in a home filled with prayer and worship where his father, the Rev. Andrew Murray Sr., was ministering to Dutch settlers. At the age of 10 he was sent to school in Scotland and after college he went to Holland to study theology. As he grew in age so he grew in spirit, developing a very strong foundation of faith, prayer, worship and love for the souls of men. Above all else Jesus Christ was the centre of  his life and world. He was ordained at the age of 20, he returned to South Africa and started ministering to the Dutch farmers. In 1860 he became the pastor of the Dutch Reformed Church at Worcester. (?)

Bloemfontein '49-'60.

He believed in a practical doctrine of sanctification. He believed in being conformed to Christ. He preached a message that opened to all believers the full blessing of Pentecost. He could see the low spiritual state amongst believers and his answer was to emphasize the work of the Holy Spirit in the heart. He would challenge them to yield totally and absolutely to the deep work of the Spirit in the heart. If the church was to fulfil the great commission and reach the souls of men it would only be by a reviving of the Holy Ghost and a return to a personal Pentecost. He did not merely emphasize a one-off experience but a continual filling of the Spirit that would effect the whole life. He found the great danger amongst Presbyterians in South Africa, Scotland and elsewhere was to discuss Theology very correctly yet to neglect a life lived in God's presence and filled with His Spirit and character.

His life was given over to seek God in prayer and obedience. He could see from the Word of God that it was always as a result of prayer that believers were filled with the Spirit (Acts 4v2431; 8v15;9v17,31; Lk.11v31)

Later he would be part of the Keswick Movement and the minister of the Dutch Reformed Church of Wellington from 1871 to 1906, and he lived there until his death in 1917. He was a man who enjoyed a close walk with the Lord and truly a man for our times.

He wrote over 250 books in Afrikaans, Dutch and English.

THE SPIRIT OF CHRIST by Andrew Murray            

HUMILITY by Andrew Murray                           

Coming soon...

Le Roux: A Native Leader

Fire from Azussa: John G. Lake

Also several other men of God who were used to bring Pentecost to South Africa.