Untitled - Memorial University of Newfoundland

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registered a s a de nomina t i on with the qc vez-nmerrt;, Mission
members ha d no r ights as part o f a separuee r eligious g roup;
Eng l i s h himself was ordained by the Pentecostal Assemblies of
c en ea e. " I nd epe nde nt missions in Newfo undland , as elsewhere,
had been operated on t he l oos e st kind o f congregational b a s is,
a policy p r ob ably resulting f r om a type of spiritual i dealism.
The l e ade r s assumed t ha t t he i r missions, led by the Hol y
Sprit , would naturally ope r a t e properly . Leaders were
answerable to no go verning author ity . At l e ast in western
Newfo undland , capital investments had been deeded t o a n
Individual- -Charles L. March-- who had after all a lmost
sing lehandedly financed the endeavour . Ov er t i me a degree of
l oc a l government deve loped, a nd a r ealization that God could
work t hr ough human administration. The transiti on into a
de nomi nation promised central orga nization, p roviding a
broader basis than the local mission. The l a r ge r body a l lowed
fo r cooperative effort bet....een the various missions in areas
of mu t ua l interest , primar ily ev ange l i s m. without a central
voice, aberrant doctr.inal an d divisive issues arose to confuse
the missions . In short, central organization brought a bo ut
uniformity.24 I n Victoria , conception Bay , around Ma r ch 1925,
Robert English discussed ....i t h Eugene Vaters the cur rent s tatus
of the Pentecostal moveme nt in eastern Ne....foundland. Even
t ho ug h the f l u i d movement was begi nning to b r oaden its ba s e ,
it ....as still in ne e d of co he s i on . The pair concluded t hat
after 15 years the t ime was ripe f or the moveme nt to be