a contextual missiology of the spirit - eTheses Repository ...

Kerala. In one way or the other, the Brethren faith created a favourable
environment for the growth of Pentecostalism. In 1908, the prominent British
Pentecostal Thomas Ball Barratt was invited to India, and financed, by Anthony
H. Groves, son of the Brethren missionary Anthony Norris Groves, and for more
than seven months, he travelled and ministered to many places in India, including
Mukti. 72 Although George Berg had been in India, since 1901, he came to Kerala
for the first time in 1909 as a Pentecostal speaker at the Brethren convention at
Kottarakara. 73 However, later the Brethren were unable to tolerate his teachings
on tongues, and as a result he had to work independently and became a key figure
in the growth of Pentecostalism in south India, as will be discussed later.
According to Abraham, the native Brethren people believed Holy Spirit Baptism
to be a subsequent experience to salvation and even conducted tarrying meetings
to receive the Spirit baptism, and that is why Berg was allowed to preach in the
Brethren Convention. However, their problem was with the teachings on speaking
in tongues. 74 As George has rightly observed, with the spread of the Brethren
movement, the ‘stage was set’ for Pentecostal beginnings in Kerala. 75 Many early
Pentecostal followers were originally from the Brethren movement.
As discussed earlier, there were many missionary organizations at work in India in
the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. They in turn created a missionary zeal and
passion among the indigenous Christians. The Protestant missionaries were
72 Anderson, Spreading Fires, 85-86.
73 George, ‘Pentecostal Beginnings in Travancore,’ 224-25. However, as Dev has noted, there was
no criticism offered against his Pentecostal teaching in the convention. Later in 1910, he was
forbidden from preaching at the Brethren Convention. See Dev, ‘Enthukondu Topeka’ (Why
Topeka), ‘Unarvukalum Bratharan Prasthanathinte Pankalithavum -4’ (Revivals and the Role of
Brethren Movement). Good News Weekly 29, no.3 (6 February 2006): 11.
74 Abraham, Yesukristhuvinte Eliya Dasan, 63-64.
75 George, ‘Pentecostal Beginnings in Travancore,’ 224.
63