![\"\"](\"https:\/\/iphc.org\/gso\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/04\/Dr.-Hunter-Helsinki-Auditorium.png\")
<\/a>Dr. Harold D. Hunter on platform of Workers’ Hall. J.H. King preached here in 1912 to a capacity crowd of 1,000. After being bombed in WWII, the complex was rebuilt and is now known as the Helsinki Congress Paasitorini (see http:\/\/paasitorini.fi\/en\/).<\/p><\/div>\n
I had the privilege in January of 2009 to visit a parish in which the legendary J. H. King made history in June 1912. I was hosted by Dr. Gavin Wakefield, professor at the University of Durham, who has released two books on Rev. Alexander Boddy.1<\/sup> The meeting King attended in 1912 was held at Boddy\u2019s Anglican Church in Sunderland, England.<\/p>\n Rev. Boddy gave a vivid account of the meeting in question in his famous magazine known simply as Confidence<\/em>. It is also from the pages of Confidence<\/em> that we learn more about Bishop King and the impact he had on European Pentecostal leaders. Let us walk in King\u2019s footsteps as we watch him solidify his celebrated place in history.<\/p>\n Let\u2019s step back to where vision was transformed into a milestone in King\u2019s illustrious ministry. J. H. King Much ink has been spilled retelling the amazing story of A. G. Garr and his wife, but this is beyond the scope of our narrative. A short version centers on a remarkable turn from a group Once King arrived in Columbia, SC, in May 1909, the Garrs and Robinson made their case to him. His response was that he could not simply walk away from the young orphanage he had help open in Falcon or the recently launched periodical the Apostolic Evangel<\/em>. Yet King grew increasingly preoccupied with this notion and described it as \u201ca burden so heavy that I could scarcely bear it.\u201d2<\/sup><\/p>\n King went on to tell of divine intervention during the December 31, 1909, Watch Night service in God clearly and miraculously opened the way for me to go with Brother Britton to Greenville, Texas…. While there God gave me a message in tongues and the full interpretation to the effect that I should leave, or begin to make preparation to leave in the spring.3<\/sup><\/p><\/blockquote>\n With missionaries in tow, King left San Francisco in September 1910. Much has been made about King\u2019s many accomplishments in Asia, but neither these exploits nor the memorable visit to Jerusalem, Palestine, will be recounted here. We will move along quickly toward the end of his two-year tour when he made his mark on the fledgling Pentecostal Movement in Europe.4<\/sup><\/p>\n J. H. King (center) with church leaders in front of During his months of travel across Europe, King would go to Switzerland, England, Holland, Norway, Denmark, Finland, and Scotland, while passing through Italy, Germany, and Sweden. The launching pad for his most influential work in Europe started with the historic conference in Sunderland, located in northeast England.<\/p>\n J. H. King (center) with Barratt, founder of European Pentecostals, to his right and Barratt\u2019s assistant, Rev. Anderson, in Oslo, Norway.<\/p><\/div>\n Yet it must be noted that King cemented a firm relationship with T. B. Barratt of Norway, who late in And to get a flavor of his other stops, consider his preaching in Helsinki, Finland. Here King would link up with a Lutheran Revival Movement and preach to a group called the Narvaitic Lestadians, who had experienced an outbreak of speaking in tongues, prophecy, and healing 50 years prior to the Azusa Street Revival in Los Angeles, California. Even prior to this in Finland was the Savonj\u00e4vi outpouring with tongues-speech and the like in 1796. King\u2019s meetings were moved to the largest auditorium in Helsinki, and, with Gerhard Smith, he consecrated the first of many Pentecostal missionaries from Finland.5<\/sup><\/p>\n A look inside the Workers\u2019 Hall in Helsinki in 1908, with smaller chairs than used today. (Image scanned from brochure identified as Helsinki Auditorium)<\/p><\/div>\n A reporter for the Lutheran church magazine Kotimma<\/em> (8 July 1912) praised King\u2019s preaching and said that it was sound. The reporter was pleased that King spoke about mistakes and biases that had taken place in many Pentecostal meetings around the world as some practitioners abused the privilege of their claim to a baptism in the Holy Spirit. \u201cThere are many who fancy that they have received Spirit baptism even though they had not yet become conscious of their own sinfulness and do not know anything about the biblical awakening and cleansing of their conscience.\u201d<\/p>\n The reporter went on to say he was encouraged to know that among leaders of the Pentecostal Movement were \u201copen-minded men as pastor King\u201d (Kotimaa<\/em>, 10 July 1912).<\/p>\n Our sojourn with J. H. King in Europe has taken us to what he called \u201cThe Land of a Thousand Lakes,\u201d many of which he discovered while preaching at Tampere and traveling over to Turku, Finland. For now, let us return to Helsinki for a prayer meeting held during the early summer 1912 at the Fire Brigade Hall with both T. B. Barratt and J. H. King present.<\/p>\n A prayer meeting for believers was announced [for] 8 o\u2019clock in the morning. All were assembled for quiet and voiceless prayer. This time there was no reading, no singing, but everyone worshipped quietly before the Lord. About 11-12 o\u2019clock at noon a strong humming was heard, like a whole big crowd of worshippers had stood up and gone out of the room. At that moment I lifted my head and wondered if worshippers had gone away already. However nobody had come in and the Holy Spirit had filled the room where we were worshipping.<\/p>\n Consequences were seen immediately: people got up under the power, some asked us to pray for their sicknesses, and nine seekers received Spirit baptism. Signs followed those who believed.6<\/sup><\/p><\/blockquote>\n Rev. A. A. Boddy, vicar of All Saints\u2019 Church in Sunderland, sponsored his fifth Whitsuntide Conference, which always attracted prominent Pentecostal leaders in Europe and attempted to bring unity to the Pentecostal Movement whilst being sensitive to the best course for these diverse groups to endorse. These meetings were made of no small importance due to notices then reports in Boddy\u2019s widely read paper, known simply as Confidence<\/em>, which was first published in 1908.<\/p>\n As the body gathered for the meeting in May 1912, J. H. King was not simply counted among their number but was an honored guest and keynote speaker. And of no little consequence was his signing of a document forged by the newly organized International Pentecostal Council (1912-1914).<\/p>\n Although this group had been foreshadowed in the 1908-1911 Leaders\u2019 Meetings and came to an untimely end with the advent of World War I, it is nonetheless seen as having laid the foundation for what today is known as the Pentecostal World Fellowship (PWF).7<\/sup> The PWF finally got its start in Switzerland in 1947 and was once led by IPHC Presiding Bishop James D. Leggett. Currently, IPHC Presiding Bishop Beacham is Secretary of the PWF.<\/p>\n
\nwas in Falcon, North Carolina, in 1909 when his close associate A. E. Robinson implored him to come to Columbia, South Carolina. At first, Robinson did not expose his motive, and King replied that heavy responsibilities and lack of travel funds made the trip impossible. Robinson then told him that Mr. and Mrs. A. G. Garr, who were well-known Pentecostal missionaries to China, were holding services at the Oliver Gospel Mission and that King\u2019s travel expenses would be covered.<\/p>\n
\nthat battered the Azusa Street Revival to becoming one of the revival\u2019s leading lights, particularly in Asia but also in parts of the southeastern United States. Even before meeting King in person, they had a \u201cconviction\u201d that he should visit Pentecostal centers outside the U.S.<\/p>\n
\nFalcon. When the service was over, King\u2019s \u201ccall\u201d to undertake a world tour was sealed. But this was not the
\nlast chapter, for when King left the Falcon Holiness School in January 1910, he received confirmation of his world mission tour while at Texas Holiness University. He wrote in The Bridegroom\u2019s Messenger<\/em>:<\/p>\n<\/a>
All Saints Church in Sunderland, England, 1912.<\/p><\/div>\n<\/a>
\n1906 introduced the message from the Azusa Street Revival to Europe. King not only corresponded with Barratt; he visited him twice in Christiania (Oslo).<\/p>\n<\/a>