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

of these revivals was that they were ‘not the stirring among European missionaries
and civilians, rather the outbreak of revivals among indigenous Christians….’ 126
The following is an attempt to identify a few of these revivals from diverse parts
of the subcontinent. However, this is not an exhaustive description, rather an
overview to show that there were revivals with Pentecostal characteristics
occurring all over the country.
2.3.3.1. South India
As mentioned already, in the light of the research that has been done so far, the
revival in the Tirunelveli district of Tamilnadu state in South India under the
leadership of a local evangelist Aroolappen in 1860 is the oldest revival in India
with Pentecostal characteristics. Aroolappen had been trained as an Anglican
catechist, and was ordained by Rhenius, a Prussian Lutheran minister sent out as a
missionary to Tirunelveli by the CMS, who emphasized self-support and self-
propagation for the Indian churches. He was described as ‘one of the ablest, most
clear-sighted and practical, and most zealous missionaries that India has ever
seen,’ and is referred to as the ‘Apostle to Tirunelveli.’ 127 Later, Aroolappen was
greatly influenced by A.N. Groves, an independent missionary from England who
embraced the millennial eschatology of the Plymouth Brethren. 128 However, the
revival that took place during his ministry received no influences from western
126 Orr, Evangelical Awakenings in Southern Asia, 59.
127 Robert E. Frykenberg, ‘Historical Introduction,’ in Tirunelveli’s Evangelical Christians: Two
Centuries of Family Vamsavazhi Traditions, ed. and trans. David Packiamuthu and Sarojini
Packiamuthu (Bangalore: SAIACS Press, 2003), xxix.
128 Their eschatology included the belief in the imminent coming of Christ, hope for the outpouring
of the Holy Spirit, spiritual gifts, and an egalitarian concept of ministry. See McGee, ‘Pentecostal
Phenomena,’ 113. For more details on the role of Groves in the history of the Brethren Movement,
see F. Roy Coad, A History of the Brethren Movement: Its Origins, Its Worldwide Development
and Its Significance for the Present Day (Exeter, Devon: Paternoster Press, 1968). Later, the
Brethren Faith became a predecessor to Pentecostalism in south India, as discussed earlier.
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