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PNEUMA 39 (2017) 55–77
Mary Johnson and Ida Anderson “Free-Free” Missionaries of the Scandinavian Mission Societyusa to Natal, South Africa
David M. Gustafson
Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, Deerfield, Illinois
dgustafson@tiu.edu
Abstract
Mary Johnson (1884–1968) and Ida Anderson (1871–1964) are described in pentecostal historiography as the first pentecostal missionaries sent from America. Both of these Swedish-American missionaries experienced baptism of the Spirit, spoke in tongues, and were called as missionaries to Africa by God, whom they expected to speak through them to the native people. They went by faith and completed careers as missionaries to South Africa. But who were these two figures of which relatively little has been written? They were Swedish-American “Free-Free” in the tradition of August Davis and John Thompson of the Scandinavian Mission Society—the first Minnesota district of the Swedish Evangelical Free Mission, known today as the Evangelical Free Church of America. This work examines the lives of these two female missionaries, their work in South Africa, and their relationship with Swedish Evangelical Free churches in America, particularly its pentecostal stream of Free-Free (frifria).
Keywords
Free-Free – Swedish Evangelical Free Church – Natal South Africa – Moorhead Min- nesota – Scandinavian Mission Society – Pentecostal – Mary Johnson – JohnThompson
Mary Johnson (1884–1968) and Ida Anderson (1871–1964) are described in pen- tecostal historiography as the first pentecostal missionaries sent from Amer- ica. They left by ship and arrived at Durban, South Africa, on January 16, 1905.
Vinson Synan in The Century of the Holy Spirit states: “Pentecostalism has seen its greatest growth in the Southern Hemisphere principally in Africa
© koninklijke brill nv, leiden, 2017 | doi: 10.1163/15700747-03901002
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gustafson
figure 1
Ida Anderson and Mary Johnson
räddningslinan, minneapolis, sept. 1909, minnesota history center, st. paul, mn
and Latin America. The first Pentecostal missionaries, Mary Johnson and Ida Andersson, left Moorhead, Minnesota, in November 1904 for South Africa, following the revival among Swedish-Americans that inspired them to mis- sions.”1 Ogbu Kalu in African Pentecostalism writes: “Missionaries were the greatest purveyors of Pentecostal spirituality and distributors of Pentecostal tracts and magazines. Some served non-Pentecostal churches; others were sponsored missionaries from Pentecostal groups such as Seymour’s Azusa Street ministry in California, or the Swedish group from Minnesota, who in 1904 sent Mary Johnson and Ida Andersson to Durban, South Africa.”2The New Inter- national Dictionary of Pentecostal and Charismatic Movementsstates: “in 1904 a Pentecostal revival emphasizing baptism in the Holy Spirit as empowerment for evangelism occurred among Swedish-Americans in the Fargo-Moorhead area on the border of North Dakota and Minnesota … In late 1904 Mary
1 Vinson Synan,The Century of the Holy Spirit: 100Years of Pentecostal and Charismatic Renewal,
1901–2001(Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2001), 88.
2 Ogbu Kalu, AfricanPentecostalism:AnIntroduction(NewYork: Oxford University Press, 2008),
47.
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Johnson and Ida Andersson departed for Durban, South Africa, apparently the first missionaries of the pentecostal movement.”3
Mary Johnson and Ida Anderson were clearly active in the revival movement among Scandinavian Americans.4Both experienced baptism of the Holy Spirit, spoke in tongues, and were called as missionaries to Africa by God, whom they expected to speak through them to the native people. Their calling to the mission field was profound; they went by faith and completed careers as missionaries in South Africa.
But who were these two figures of which relatively little has been writ- ten? Although they are described as the first pentecostal missionaries from America, they did not emerge from the tradition of Charles F. Parham and William J. Seymour as did figures like Andrew G. Johnson (1878–1965) and Louis Osterberg (1856–1933), Swedish Americans who took part in the Azusa Street revival in 1906.5 Rather, Mary Johnson and Ida Anderson were Swedish- American “Free-Free” in the tradition of August Davis, John Thompson, and the Scandinavian Mission Society—the first Minnesota district of the Swedish Evangelical Free Mission, known today as the Evangelical Free Church of Amer- ica (efca).6 This article examines the lives of these two female missionaries, their work in South Africa, and their relationship with Swedish Evangelical Free churches in America, particularly this pentecostal stream of Free-Free (frifria).
3 G.B. McGee, “Missions, Overseas (North American Pentecostal),” in The New International
Dictionary of Pentecostal and Charismatic Movements, ed. Stanley M. Burgess (Grand Rapids,
mi: Zondervan, 2002), 887.
4 Darrin J. Rodgers, Northern Harvest: Pentecostalism in North Dakota(Bismarck: North Dakota
District Council of the Assemblies of God, 2003), 13.
5 Gastón Espinosa,WilliamJ.SeymourandtheOriginsof GlobalPentecostalism:ABiographyand
Documentary History(Durham,nc: Duke University Press, 1914), 53, 61, 63.
6 David M. Gustafson, “August Davis and the Free-Free: Pentecostal Phenomena among the
Swedish Evangelical Free,”Pneuma37, no. 2 (2015): 201–223.The Scandinavian Mission Society
of Minnesota incorporated in 1898 as the Scandinavian Mission Society usa. For differences
between the Scandinavian Mission Society (“Free-Free”) and the wider Swedish Evangeli-
cal Free, see: “Protokoll,”Missions-Posten, August 1905, 1–2. Among others, Josephine Princell
distinguished between “Free-Free” (frifria) and Free (fria). Josephine Princell, ed., Skogs-
blommor: Illusterad Kalender för 1901(Chicago: Martenson, 1900), 170.
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The Early Years
Ida Anderson was born on March 18, 1871, at Center City, in Chisago County, Minnesota, to Andrew and Helen Anderson.7 She was the third of seven chil- dren.8 Her father, Andrew, was a farmer who worked a farm nestled in the Minnesota woods near Center City in Shafer Township, near the St. Croix River in eastern Minnesota. Ida attended school and became active at the Swedish Free Church at Kost, today called Kost Evangelical Free Church of North Branch.9
Ida was among Ellen Modin’s female evangelists trained in the Bible and sent out two by two to lead singing with guitars and other instruments, to offer testimonies, and to preach the gospel.10 In 1891, at twenty years of age, Ida joined the Scandinavian Mission Society of Minnesota, led by August Davis and John Thompson.11Soon she was traveling as an evangelist in various states.
In 1889, August Davis (1852–1936) had led the organizing of the Scandinavian Mission Society.12 This district organization supported the work of itinerant preachers and female evangelists and later expanded to Wisconsin and the Dakotas.13In February 1894, Ida came as an evangelist to Salem Swedish Evan- gelical Church in Minnesota, today called Kerkhoven Evangelical Free Church. She was one of several itinerant preachers there, among whom were also John Thompson, August Davis, Nelly Hall, William Melin, Fredrik Franson, J.G. Prin-
7
8 9
10
11 12
13
u.s. Passport Application, “Ida Mary Johnson,” u.s. District Court, Minneapolis, Min- nesota, No. 82810, May 14, 1919.
u.s.Census, 1880, Shafer, Chisago County, Minnesota, 463.
“Ida Anderson, [joined] 1902, missionär i Afrika.”Församlings Bok för den Svenska Fria för- samling i Kost [Minn.], 1; E.A. Halleen et al., Golden Jubilee: Reminiscences of Our Work under God, of the Swedish Evangelical Free Church of the usa, 1884–1934 (Minneapolis: Swedish Evangelical Free Church, 1934), 118; Diamond Jubilee, 75th Anniversary Kost Evan- gelical Free Church, North Branch, Minnesota, June 22–25, 1961 (North Branch: Kost Evan- gelical Free Church, 1961), 9.
Halleen,Golden Jubilee, 41; “Ida Anderson och Mary Johnson,”Räddningslinan, September 1909, 1; David M. Gustafson, “Ellen Modin: The Swedish Lady Missionary,”Pietisten28, no. 1 (Spring-Summer 2014): 10–12.
Della Olson, A Woman of Her Times(Minneapolis: Free Church Press, 1977), 44–45. “Det Skandinaviska Missionssällskapet,”Chicago-Bladet, February 11, 1890, 3; FrankT. Lind- berg, Looking Back Fifty Years: Over the Rise and Progress of the Swedish Evangelical Free Church of America(Minneapolis: Frank T. Lindberg, 1935), 61–66.
A.E. Strand, ed., A History of the Swedish-Americans of Minnesota(Chicago: Lewis Publish- ing Co., 1910), 236.
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cell, and Ellen Modin.14 A few years later, Ida and a coworker named Anna J. Johnson (later the wife of Rev. Carl O. Lilyequist) came to Ella, Wisconsin.15 Through their work, revival broke out, opening doors at nearby Pepin Hill, a work that became the foundation of what is today Pepin Hill Evangelical Free Church.16
Soon the preacher-evangelist Gustaf F. Johnson (1879–1959) called Ida to help him inTexas as he traveled about to shepherd the newly converted there.17 She went to the Lone Star state along with her coworker, Anna J. Johnson.
As early as 1895, Gustaf F. Johnson attended meetings of the Swedish Evan- gelical Free Mission in Minneapolis along with such people as August Davis, JohnThompson, C.O. Sahlström, Loth Lindquist, John Martenson, and J.G. Prin- cell.18 He ended up staying in Minnesota for nearly a year, preaching at the Swedish Free Church at East Chain, known today as East Chain Evangelical Free Church, where “he reaped a bountiful harvest for the kingdom of God.”19When he returned to Texas in 1896, revival broke out at Kimbro as well as at Austin, Decker, and Brushy.20Therefore, he called both Ida and Anna to work at Kim-
14
15 16 17
18
19
20
Treasurer Book, Swedish Evangelical Church, Salem (Kerkhoven), Swift, Minnesota, 31, Swen- son Center Archives, Rock Island, Illinois; Minnesskrift utgifven med anledning af Svenska evangeliska frikyrkans i Amerika trettioårsjubileum i Rockford, Ill., 10–14 juni, 1914: 1884–1914 (Minneapolis: Swedish Evangelical Free Church, 1914), 159–160, 242.
Bref-Dufvan, July 1918, 6; Olson,Woman of Her Times, 62.
Halleen,Golden Jubilee, 196.
Naemi Reinholdz, “En Guds plöjersak: Mary Johnsons liv och verksamhet,” Trons Segrar 34 (August 23, 1968): 10; Olson,Woman of Her Times, 61; Missions-Posten, September 1902, 6; Kimbro Evangelical Free Church: 50th Anniversary, 1897–1947, Kimbro, Texas (Kimbro Evangelical Free Church, 1947) 5; James Christianson, ed., Swedes in Texas in Words and Pictures, trans. Christine Andreason (New Sweden: Austin Area Committee, 1994), 88, 118.
Minnesskrift: Utgifven med anledning af Svenska Evangeliska Frikyrkans i Amerika tret- tioårsjubileum (Minneapolis: Swedish Evangelical Free Church, 1914), 51. Gustaf F. John- son attended the Swedish Evangelical Free Mission’s annual meeting June 3–6, 1903, in St. Paul, Minnesota, with people such as John Thompson, August Davis, William Melin, C.O. Sahlström, A.A. Anderson, P.J. Elmquist, Frank T. Lindberg, and G.A. Young, many of whom were Free-Free. Missions-Posten, August 1903, 3; Minnesskrift, 92–93. For G.A. Young’s view of Spirit-baptism as a work of God separate from conversion see G.A. Young, “Dopet med den Helige Ande,” Missions-Posten, April 1902, 3; May 1902, 1–2; Halleen, Golden Jubilee, 26.
Missionstidningen, July 15, 1919, 1; John Carlstig et al., Gustaf F. Johnson: Mannen med det brinnande hjärtat (Jönköping:samFörlaget, 1965), 19.
John Herner, “Texas bref,”Missions-Posten, Sepember 1902, 6. One observer reported: “G.F.J. had not spoken long … [when] from the door to the platform, people everywhere were
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bro, and for the next three years they served as permanent pastors of what is today the Kimbro Evangelical Free Church.21
After her time in Texas, Ida continued her work as an evangelist in Min- nesota and Wisconsin, working with others such as Annie Peterson and Ellen Mortenson of Moorhead.22 In May of 1901, she and coworker Sofia Evenson were ministering near Evansville, Wisconsin, “where their work was crowned with salvation of souls.”23In 1902, Ida became a member of the church in Min- neapolis at which August Davis served as pastor, commonly referred to as the “Davis-church,” known today as First Evangelical Free Church.24
Mary Johnson was born on July 5, 1884, to Karl and Karin Johnson (Janson) at Harwood, North Dakota, a farming community ten miles north of Fargo.25 Mary’s parents were Swedish immigrants and struggled to provide for their four daughters.26 After Karl suffered a nervous breakdown and was admitted to a sanitarium, Karin (Carrie) and her four daughters moved south to Moor- head in western Minnesota, living in the section of the city known as “Swede town.”
In Moorhead, the Johnsons learned of the Swedish Free Church, where Mary went to Sunday school and later became a member.27 In the same neighbor-
21
22 23 24
25
26 27
kneeling and weeping. People were stopped in their path of sin and the Holy Spirit took control of the meeting.” Carlstig, Gustaf F. Johnson, 20. For Gustaf F. Johnson’s account of pondering the apostle’s exhortation “Be filled with the Spirit,” and an encounter with “Holy Jumpers” (heliga hoppare), see Carlstig,Gustaf F. Johnson, 69–70.
Reinholdz, Trons Segrar 34 (August 23, 1968): 10; Kimbro Evangelical Free Church, 9. Halleen, Golden Jubilee, 41, 184–185; Jannette Hassey, No Time for Silence: Evangelical Women in Public Ministry around the Turn of the Century (Grand Rapids, mi: Zondervan, 1986), 88.
Bref-Dufvan, July 1818, 6.
Missions-Posten, May 1901, 4.
Medlems-Bok, Scandinavian Church of Christ, Minneapolis, Minn., 3–4, Swenson Center Archives, Rock Island, Illinois; Återblick öfver Skandinaviska Ev. Fria Missions-Försam- lingens fyrtio-åriga verksamhet, Minneapolis, Minnesota, “Ebenezer” 1884–1925(Minneapo- lis: First Evangelical Free Church, 1925), 40. Review of the Activities of the Scandinavian Ev. Free Mission Church, Minneapolis, Minnesota, 1884–1925, “Ebenezer” (Minneapolis: First Evangelical Free Church, 1925), 45.
William Melin, “Mary Johnson,” Bref-Dufvan (April 1918): 4; Bref-Dufvan was the organ of the Scandinavian Mission Society usa, which began publication in 1909 and ended 1933. When the Society discontinued the publication, information was communicated in Missionsvänner, in the section titled “Från Brevduvans horn.”
Reinholdz,Trons Segrar 32 (August 9, 1968): 10.
Ibid., 11.
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hood, Rev. John Thompson and his wife lived with their five children, including daughter Julia and son Peter.28
In 1898, at age fourteen, Mary surrendered her life to Christ during the church’s annual mission festival, which included preaching by female and male evangelists.29 Earlier she had received a guitar from some friends and learned how to play it. Now she was invited to accompany Pastor Thompson as well as his daughter Julia to play and sing when he held revival meetings in western Minnesota and eastern North Dakota.30
During this time, female evangelists with Helgelseförbundet (Holiness Union) from Sweden such as Nelly Hall and Ida Nihlén visited the Swedish Mis- sion Church in Moorhead, finding favor with many of the Swedish Free Mission churches in America.31 In 1900, when Mary was sixteen years old, an evange- list named Adla Ostlund came to live with the Johnson family.32 People often noticed Adla’s joy in God, which awakened in Mary a longing for such joy too. After persistent prayer, God answered Mary’s request. She explained: “At two o’clock in the morning, heaven’s window was opened.”33 In the morning she could not fully describe what had happened, but Adla and others knew that “she had met the living God.”
On several occasions Mary met with Ida Anderson, who had been “God’s instrument for revival in many places.”34They began to work together in 1903, when Mary was nineteen years of age.35 For nearly two years, Mary accompa- nied Ida on her travels in order to assist her by leading singing and playing music at evangelistic meetings.36Ida, who had worked as an evangelist and pas- tor for several years, now had a younger comrade in Mary, who was “full of zeal for the things of God.”37
28
29 30 31
32
33 34 35 36 37
u.s. Census 1900, Moorhead, Ward 3–4, Clay County, Minnesota, “Rev. J. Thompson.” Thompsons lived at 821 7th Ave.s., Moorhead. Missions-Posten, October 1904, 7–8. Bref-Dufvan, April 1918, 4; Reinholdz,Trons Segrar 33 (August 16, 1968): 11.
Ibid., 10.
Ibid. Cf. David Bundy,Visions of Apostolic Mission: Scandinavian Pentecostal Mission to 1935 (Uppsala: Uppsala Universitet, 2009): 113–115.
Reinholdz, Trons Segrar 34 (August 23, 1968): 10; u.s. Census 1900, Moorhead, Ward 3–4, Clay County, Minnesota.
Reinholdz,Trons Segrar 34 (August 23, 1968): 10.
Ibid.
Ibid. Ida and Anna traveled together for four years, until 1901. Bref-Dufvan, July 1918, 6. Reinholdz,Trons Segrar 34 (August 23, 1968): 10.
Räddningslinan, September 1909, 1.
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Society (Sällskapet) Meeting 1904
In October 1904, Ida Anderson and Mary Johnson attended the fourteenth annual meeting of the Scandinavian Mission Society held on October 29 at Lake Eunice, Minnesota.38 In connection with the Society’s annual meeting, other meetings for “testimonies about Jesus” began on Thursday, October 27, and continued through the following Sunday.39 In a series of articles in Trons Segrar, NaemiSvenssonReinholdzdescribed Mary’sspiritual experienceat this meeting, writing:
There, God met Mary with the baptism of the Spirit (Andens dop). She also received the gift to speak in tongues (gåvan att tala i tungor). Ida had this experience several years earlier.40
At this meeting, Ida and Mary expressed their interest to be sent as missionaries to South Africa to which the Lord had called them, and members of the Society agreed to support them. William Melin (1866–1960), who was secretary of the Society and pastor of the Scandinavian Free Mission Church in Windom, known today as Windom Evangelical Free Church, wrote an account in Bref- Dufvan, the organ of the Society, saying:
It was in the autumn of 1904, and strictly speaking October 29, when sister Mary Johnson was called, not by any human being or through any human instrument but by God, to go out as a missionary to Africa. God’s Spirit came in such power upon sisterjthat she was beside herself (honvarutom sig) for a long time. But God’s power not only came upon her greatly— when the Spirit of God came over her—but upon the whole meeting.41
38 39 40
41
Reinholdz,Trons Segrar 34 (August 23, 1968): 10.
Missions-Posten, Oct. 1904, 7.
Reinholdz, Trons Segrar 34 (August 23, 1968): 10. The translation of Darrin J. Rodgers states, “Andersson had the experience several years later,” but the correct translation of flera år tidigare is several years earlier. Rodgers, Northern Harvest, 14, 217. The Swedish spelling “Andersson” by Reinholdz marks this series of articles in Trons Segrar as the source for Mary Johnson’s and Ida Anderson’s tie by pentecostal historians to pentecostal historiography.
Bref-Dufvan, April 1918, 4. William Melin was born December 14, 1866, in Dalarne, Sweden, came to America at sixteen, and lived in Minneapolis, where he studied under August Skogsbergh and August Davis.Minnesskrift, 182; Halleen,GoldenJubilee, 148;WrightCounty Journal Press, May 19, 1960, 1.
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Clearly, this was a holy moment for Mary that she described to others. But as William Melin said, it was a holy moment for all who attended the meeting. He wrote:
This happened at the Scandinavian Mission Society’s annual meeting held at Lake Eunice, Minn., and it happened during the business session. Sometimes people complain that business meetings are dry and boring but this one was completely different; this meeting was far from dry. For during this time it seemed that every eye was moistened with tears, and it was far from boring too since everyone there wanted to thank and praise God. And when the meeting ended, and normally the secretary [Melin] would read the minutes, it was nearly impossible for him to do so, for such wonderful grace had come upon us all.42
This was a time of outpouring of the Holy Spirit that was seen also in the ministry of Pastor Thompson of Moorhead.43John Thompson (1854–1940) was active in the Scandinavian Mission Society and worked closely with August Davis and those known as the Free-Free.44 William Melin first heard John Thompson preach in the spring of 1890 at a mission meeting in Minneapolis, held at the so-called “Davis-church.”45 Thompson was one of seven leaders to sign the Society’s articles of incorporation.46
John Thompson (Jan Thomasson) was born at Södra Finnskoga, Värmland, Sweden, on August 10, 1854.47 Shortly after marrying his wife, Karin, in 1880, the couple emigrated from Sweden to America, arriving at Sacred Heart, Min-
42
43
44 45
46 47
Bref-Dufvan, April 1918, 4. For meeting minutes see Missions-Posten, January 1905, 2–3. Peter Thompson spoke of revival at Lake Eunice, saying: “God poured out His Spirit upon the sons and daughters, and they began to speak in other tongues and prophesy, and became zealous for God and were the instruments the Lord used in bring their loved ones to Christ.” Peter B. Thompson, “A Pentecostal Outpouring of Thirty-four Years Ago,” Pentecostal Evangel (November 27, 1937), 8.
The Swedish Free Mission in Moorhead was formed in 1883 and during its first decade was served by itinerant and short-term pastors. John Thompson accepted the pastorate fulltime in 1899, and served until 1910, and then again from 1915 to 1927. Halleen, Golden Jubilee, 141.
Gustafson, “August Davis and the Free-Free,”Pneuma, 219.
William Melin, “Strödda drag ur John Thompsons lif och verksamhet,”Missions-Vännen, February 1940.
Chicago-Bladet, February 27, 1940.
Ibid.
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nesota, where they lived the first summer.48 In the fall they moved to Cokato, and later relocated to Annandale, Minnesota, before coming to Moorhead in 1899.
John Thompson was converted to faith in the fall of 1889.49 Immediately, he became “unusually happy in the Lord (ovanligt lycklig i Herren) so that he could not conceal the joy and delight that came to him through salvation in Jesus.”50He also testified about his faith to others with boldness, both privately and publicly. Through his preaching as an itinerant preacher with the Society (Sällskapet) in western Minnesota, many people came to faith in Christ. Henry H. Ness wrote:
Another of early Pentecostal outpourings of the Holy Spirit in America took place in the Swedish Mission Church, Fourth Ave. and Tenth St. n., Moorhead, Minn., where the Rev. John Thompson was pastor. This spiritual revival began in 1892 and continued many years. There were remarkable healings, and very often as Pastor Thompson was preaching, the power of God would fall, people dropping to the floor and speaking in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance … Not only in Moorhead was the Spirit poured out at that time but also at Lake Eunice, Evansville, and Tordenskjold, Minn. Both the Rev. Mr. Thompson and many of the saints who were witnesses to those great manifestations of the power of God, are still active [ca. 1936] in the Lord’s service.51
Chicago-Bladet, organ of the Swedish Evangelical Free Church, described the Moorhead congregation in the early years of Thompson’s ministry, saying: “They had a wonderful, glorious time, when souls were saved, sick were healed, and God’s Spirit was so mightily poured out upon old and young that they spoke with tongues and praised God greatly, and great grace was in truth over them all.”52Missions-Vännengave a more detailed report, stating:
God’s Spirit was so powerfully present at the meetings that it was nearly impossible for an unsaved person who attended to leave without giving himself to the Lord. Some would get up and walk out, only to have God
48 49 50 51
52
Ibid.
Ibid.
Ibid.
Henry H. Ness, Demonstration of the Holy Spirit (Seattle: Gospel Publishing House, n.d.), 11.
Chicago-Bladet, February 27, 1940.
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meet them on the way home, and so they would return to the church and give their lives to Him. This too was the first place in the northwest where God poured out his Spirit so that there was prophecy and speaking in tongues (tungotal) and interpretation of what was spoken with tongues, the sick were healed through prayers of faith, and great grace was over them all.53
Such pentecostal phenomena were experienced by Free-Free even earlier, as with Ida Anderson mentioned above, but also with August Davis, John Thomp- son, and Jacob Bakken.54For the Swedish Free Mission at Moorhead, however, especially between 1900 and 1903, such a movement of the Spirit was experi- enced by many in the congregation.55PeterThompson (1890–1946), son of John Thompson, described these days of “heaven-sent revival.”56InPentecostalEvan- gel, he wrote:
God graciously poured out His Spirit with signs following. Many received the glorious Baptism in the Holy Ghost speaking in other tongues as the Spirit of God gave utterance. At that time we had not heard of any other places having received a like experience, but later we heard of people in California and Winnipeg, Canada, having received a like precious out- pouring of the Holy Spirit. Now a characteristic of this outpouring of the Holy Spirit of promise was that when many of the older Christians of that day could not understand the phenomenal experience that those who believed were receiving, God began to fill the hearts of the children, God’s little ones, and they began to speak in other tongues and prophesy as the Spirit of God gave them utterance. Praise God, the spirit of revival was manifested in every service.57
53 54
55 56 57
Missions-Vännen, March 5, 1940, 3.
Reinholdz,Trons Segrar 34 (August 23, 1968): 10. It is likely that August Davis’s expression “utter unintelligible sounds” (utstöta orediga ljud) refers to speaking in tongues. Chicago- Bladet, October 20, 1885. Cf. Oliver J. Thatcher, A Sketch of the History of the Apostolic Church (Boston and New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1893), 75–76. On one occasion, William Melin identified Ida Anderson writing in an unknown language, saying: “And right there, while the sister [Ida] writes, the Spirit takes her hand, and she writes a line in the letter, which is neither Swedish, nor English, nor the Zulu language, but something that the Spirit teaches.” “Från Södra Afrika,” Chicago-Bladet, November 5, 1940, 7. For more about Davis and Bakken see Gustafson, “August Davis and the Free-Free,”Pneuma, 210, 221. Thompson, Pentecostal Evangel, 8.
Ibid.
Ibid.
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It was during these days of “heaven-sent revival” that Ida Anderson and Mary Johnson were called and sent as missionaries to South Africa.58At the Society’s annual meeting in 1904 these Free Mission Friends promised to stand by them, backing them with as much financial support as they could provide, although they did not decide on an amount.59Thus, Ida and Mary went to Africa by faith, “knowing that God would not fail in his promises to them.”60
Furthermore, since Ida and Mary were “very happy in the Lord,” they believed that God would give them the language of the people without lan- guage study—xenolalia.61Moreover, before arriving in Africa, Mary had a spir- itual vision of a place called Pondoland, which she believed was where she should work, even though at the time she did not know if any such place existed.62Peter Thompson wrote:
Mary Johnson had a vision of the dark-skinned Africans to whom she was to minister in South Africa. She saw them with large horns protruding from their heads. She afterwards found that these were animal horns of different kinds made into headgear. A vision was given her also of the boat in which she was to sail to Africa, and the name of the part of Africa where she was to labor was given her. It was Pondo Land.63
Already in December 1904, Ida and Mary were ready for the journey to South Africa.64While it was a joy-filled departure, many people thought it happened all too fast and that nothing would ever come of their mission, thinking that “they would, no doubt, sober up.”65There was no special visa needed to travel to South Africa at the time, but a sum of £20 would be payable upon arrival. This money, as well as travel money, came in time just before their departure.66
58 59 60 61
62 63 64 65 66
Bref-Dufvan, April 1918, 4; Missions-Vännen, February 1940.
Reinholdz,Trons Segrar 34 (August 23, 1968): 10.
Ibid.
Women’s Missionary Society of theefca, Free Church Mission Work in Africa: Free Church Field, Natal, and Swaziland (January 1945), 5; Missions-Posten, August 1905, 3; Reinholdz, Trons Segrar 35 (August 30, 1968): 6–7.
Missions-Posten, August 1905, 3; Free Church Mission Work in Africa, 5.
Thompson, Pentecostal Evangel, 8.
Bref-Dufvan, April 1918, 4.
Ibid.
Reinholdz,Trons Segrar 34 (August 23, 1968): 10.
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Mission in South Africa
On their way to New York, they made several stops to say farewell to friends and churches.67 They boarded a ship of the White Star Line that took them to Liverpool, England, and after a few days boarded another ship bound for Africa. On the ship they gathered daily for Bible reading and prayer with other missionaries also traveling to Africa.
On January 16, 1905, Ida and Mary stepped onto land at Durban, South Africa.68 As soon as the first evening, they attended the Scandinavian Chapel on West Street. At the service “they sang and testified about the Lord and Savior who sent them and provided for them.”69
And certainly God provided for them, mainly through the efforts of John Thompson and the Scandinavian Mission Society.70 Brother Thompson received, as he said, “a calling from the Lord to receive and send means for the outgoing support of the missionaries.”71 They also received support from the “the Davis-church” in Minneapolis as well as from other Swedish Evan- gelical Free churches. In fact, in 1909 the majority of financial contributions to the Society reported in Bref-Dufvan came from members at Lake Eunice, Kost, Moorhead, Buffalo, Windom, Minneapolis, St. Paul, Rush City, Torden- skold, Kerkhoven, Benson, Forreston, Bock, and Spruce Hill, Minnesota, as well as Enderlin, North Dakota.72 All of these towns and cities had Swedish Evan- gelical Free churches with ties to John Thompson, August Davis, and itinerant preachers of the Scandinavian Mission Society.73
At Durban, Swedish missionary Hans Nilsson of Helgelseförbundet (Holi- ness Union) introduced Ida and Mary to some of the local people by taking the newly arrived missionaries to sugarcane barracks to preach the gospel.74
67 68 69 70 71
72
73 74
Ibid.
Free Church Mission Work in Africa, 5; Reinholdz,Trons Segrar 34 (August 23, 1968): 10. Reinholdz,Trons Segrar 34 (August 23, 1968): 11.
Free Church Mission Work in Africa, 5.
Chicago-Bladet, February 27, 1940. John Thompson served the Scandinavian Mission Soci- ety for thirty years, during which time approximately $50,000 was raised for the mission work in Africa. Cf.Bref-Dufvan, December 1917, 8. For sixty-five years William Melin served as treasurer of the Society “devoted to work in Africa.”Wright County Journal Press, May 19, 1960.
Bref-Dufvan, December 1909, 8. On the list of preachers of the Society are: “Missionary Miss Ida Anderson, Enquabeni, Port Shepstone, Natal, So. Africa, and Missionary Mary Johnson, Natal, South Africa.”
Minnesskrift, 241–243; Halleen,Golden Jubilee, 141–157.
Reinholdz,Trons Segrar 34 (August 23, 1968): 11.
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They found the barracks crammed full of half-clothed men. At this moment, Mary and Ida faced the challenges of reaching these people and “wondered in their hearts whether these people really could be saved.”75Hans Nilsson trans- lated for them but before Ida began to preach she turned to Mary with a look of despair on her face and whispered: “But what should I say to these people?”76 The distressed condition of the Zulu people was worse than she could ever imagine.
After language study according to the normal pattern for missionaries to acquire the native language (a reality that Mary and Ida discovered), they traveled next to a mission outpost of Helgelseförbundet near Itshe Mahlamvu, outside Port Shepstone, and arranged to live with a native family there.77They stayed two years, teaching the local people to read and write, but also shared the gospel and witnessed some who came to believe in Jesus.78
The Swedish Free Church of Moorhead and Scandinavian Mission Society also sent Augusta Johnson to South Africa.79Augusta left Moorhead on April 25, 1905, and sailed with Christina Carlson, a travel companion from New York to Durban, arriving on June 11 of that year.80 Augusta worked at Uhmlangeni near Betania.81According to Peter Thompson, Augusta was the first member of the Moorhead church during the congregation-wide revival of 1900 to 1903 to receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit.82After spending a number of years near Betania, she was compelled on account of failing health to return to America.83
AlthoughMary and Ida weresupportedbythe ScandinavianMission Society, other mission societies in Africa, including the Scandinavian Alliance Mission of America, invited them to join their work.84In 1906 they met with its founder,
75 76 77
78 79 80 81 82
83
84
Ibid.
Ibid.
Harry and Ester Thorell, “Mary Johnson: In Memoriam,”Trons Segrar28–29 (July 12, 1968): 13; Reinholdz,Trons Segrar 35 (August 30, 1968): 6.
Ibid.
Bref-Dufvan, December 1909, 8.
Missions-Posten, July 1905, 1–2.
Bref-Dufvan, December 1910, 8.
Thompson, Pentecostal Evangel, 8. It appears that H.H. Ness confuses (fuses together) details of Augusta Johnson and Mary Johnson. Ness, Demonstration of the Holy Spirit, 11. Missionstidningen reported: “Sister Augusta Johnson, missionary from South Africa, is at present in Kerkhoven, Minn.”Missionstidningen, July 6, 1910.
Pondoland, Natal, and Zululand had nine societies at work already in 1880. Bengt Sundkler and Christopher Steed, A History of the Church in Africa (Cambridge, uk: Cambridge University Press, 2000), 402–403.
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Fredrik Franson, when he was in South Africa.85 He asked them to join their work in Swaziland but Mary and Ida declined, discerning that it was not God’s will.
In August 1908 Ida and Mary moved to Filipi, where they established a mission station consisting of a school and church.86 While at Filipi, Mary learned that Pondoland—the name of the place in her vision—was just six miles away, across the Umtamvuna River over steep hills and thorny valleys.87 Despite difficult travel, Mary visited Pondoland regularly, sharing the gospel with the people there, being zealous in evangelistic work.88
After seven years, Ida and Mary became troubled in their hearts over the number of native people still bound in sin and the pagan way of life. Thus, calling on the God of heaven for mercy and for the salvation of the Zulu people, they prayed that more might be saved.89The result was that a “glorious revival broke out at their station,” something that renewed them in body and soul.90 Ida wrote:
I have worked among the Zulu-Kaffirs for eleven years in Natal, South Africa, where several different mission societies are represented … After seven years of labor among a hard and wild tribe, my comrade Miss Mary Johnson and I, got to see around eighty receive the gospel. How nice it was when we gathered together at our church made from grass and earth to see them all clean, simply dressed, praying to God, giving testimony to him, and praising him with their songs of praise.91
85
86 87 88
89 90 91
Reinholdz, Trons Segrar 35 (August 30, 1968): 6. Fredrik Franson advocated pentecostal phenomena, writing: “Besides, who would dare to maintain the speaking in other tongues, laying hands on the sick and making them well, and other remarkable things belong only to the apostolic era?” Fredrik Franson, “Prophesying Daughters,” trans. Sigurd F. Westberg, TheCovenantQuarterly(November 1976): 33. Moreover, Franson had “the curious idea that God would give him the gift of tongues so that he might preach to the Chinese even though he did not know their language.” Herbert E. Palmquist,TheWit andWisdom of Our Fathers: Sketches from the Life of an Immigrant Church(Chicago: Covenant Press, 1967), 167. Räddningslinan, December 1909, 3.
Missions-Posten, August 1905, 3; Brev-Dufvan, November 1922, 7.
Free Church Mission Work in Africa, 5; Harry and Ester Thorell,Trons Segrar 28–29 (July 12, 1968): 13.
Bref-Dufvan, April 1918, 4.
Ibid.
Ida Anderson, “Det mörka Afrika,” in Missionsröster: Illusterad Missionskalender, ed. John E. Melin, 1919, 29. In this article Ida reported how God often revealed himself to people through an experience when “heaven was opened” to them.
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Peter Thompson later wrote about this, saying:
Mary Johnson and Ida Anderson, after they arrived in Africa, reported that they did not believe the heathen Christians would understand the Baptism with the Holy Spirit, so they did not instruct them in the same; but God put them to shame by baptizing these Kafirs in the Holy Spirit. They spoke in other tongues, just as we did in Moorhead. Praise God, it is real as on the day of Pentecost.92
In 1916, when Ida and Mary began the twelfth year at Filipi, they knew full well that they had to return home for a time of rest.93 They traveled by way of Sweden to see the country where their parents were born and to meet relatives.94 Since they traveled during the World War, when they arrived at Bergen, Norway, they learned of battles being fought in the North Sea just as they had passed by.95 From Bergen they traveled by train to Sweden, and after visiting family they attended the Torp Conference of Helgelseförbundet.96
The women departed from Bergen and arrived in America on July 31, 1916.97 In August of the same year, they continued to Minneapolis, where Ida stayed.98 From there Mary continued to Moorhead. At home she and her mother embraced with tears, and she also learned of her father’s death. After a short time of greeting, Mary and Ida spoke to the Swedish Free Missions Friends, telling them what God had done on the mission field in hopes of interesting others in the work.99Ida reported in Brev-Dufvan:
92 93
94 95 96 97
98
99
Thompson, Pentecostal Evangel, 8.
Standia Thompson, the major source of a report, told of Ida’s illness with rheumatism and how she could not walk, and how she was healed at Port Shepstone by a certain woman who prayed for the sick. Free Church Mission Work in Africa, 5.
Reinholdz,Trons Segrar 36 (September 6, 1968): 10.
Ibid.
Ibid.
Bref-Dufvan, April 1918, 4; List of u.s.Citizens, Sailing from Bergen, Norway, Arrival, July 31, 1916, to Port of New York, No. 38: Ida Mary Anderson, last place of residence, North Branch, Minn. Arrival: July 31, 1916, Ship of travel, Bergensfjord, from Bergen, Norway. Mary Johnson, last place of residence, N. Moorehead [sic], Minn.
Reinholdz,Trons Segrar36 (September 6, 1968): 10; Passenger Arrival List,s.s.Bergenfjord from Bergen, Norway, arriving at New York, July 31, 1916. Ida Mary Anderson, 924 East Twenty-Fourth Street, Minneapolis.
Reinholdz, Trons Segrar 36 (September 6, 1968): 10; Bref-Dufvan, May 1917, June 1917, 4. Elsie Henderson of Spruce Hill and Edith O. Lind of Robbinsdale, Minn., were set apart
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We visited Windom, Beresford, s.d., Brooklyn and Komstad. On the way to Minneapolis we stayed one night in Kerkhoven and May 13 we were at home in Kost. Since then we have been in Lowry, Farwell, and Ashby. From there Mary went home to Moorhead and then to Evansville and last Sunday to La Grand … Now we have been in Clarissa.100
While Mary and Ida were in America enjoying much needed rest, they were not content because their hearts were still in Africa.101They could not get Africa and God’s work there off their minds. As a result, they decided to return sooner. However, since the war in Europe was moving at devastating speed, it was impossible for them to get the required documents to return.102 Not until the beginning of March 1918 did Mary receive her papers for passage on an Indian ship. Because of the war, the ship took an indirect route, arriving at Durban on May 24, 1918.103
For Ida, her time at home was double—four years—because she could not get passage on a ship either. Therefore, she made use of her time traveling and visiting Swedish Free Mission Friends, especially to raise finances for a church building at Filipi.104 Her travels took her to Seattle, Washington, Turlock and Los Angeles, California, Denver, Colorado, Phelps Center, Nebraska, and Moor- head and Lake Eunice, Minnesota, just to name a few.105 As she traveled east, she served as a substitute for a pastor at McKeesport, Pennsylvania, where she formed several valuable contacts.106 She was also introduced to the Women’s Missionary Society of the Swedish Evangelical Free churches whose members promised to support the mission in Africa.107
Ida sailed to South Africa on July 15, 1920, and returned soon to Filipi.108The work seemed more promising when two new missionaries arrived.The first was
100 101 102 103 104 105
106 107 108
as missionaries to South Africa, but apparently due to the World War their mission was never realized. Bref-Dufvan, June 1918, 3–4.
Bref-DufvanJune 1917, 4.
Bref-Dufvan, April 1918, 4.
Ibid.; Reinholdz,Trons Segrar 36 (September 6, 1968): 10.
Bref-Dufvan, April 1918, 4; Reinholdz,Trons Segrar 36 (September 6, 1968): 10. Bref-Dufvan, June 1919, 4.
Bref-Dufvan, July 18, 1918, 6; May 1919, 6. At Turlock Ida visited Mrs. C. Lilyequist, formerly Anna J. Johnson.
Reinholdz,Trons Segrar 37 (September 13, 1968): 10.
Ibid.; Free Church Mission Work in Africa, 5–6.
Reinholdz,Trons Segrar 37 (September 13, 1968): 10. After her return, Ida wrote about the influence of evil powers and the need for brothers and sisters not to forget to pray for her and the work at Filipi. Missionstidningen, October 1, 1921, 2–3.
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Standia Thompson (later Mrs. J. Amos Peterson) from the Scandinavian Evan- gelical Free Church of Minneapolis, known historically as the “Davis-church,” and today First Evangelical Free.109The second was Florence Bergstrom (later Mrs. Ephraim Andersson) from the Swedish Free Church of Moorhead.110Ester Lindgren, a missionary from Sweden with Helgelseförbundet, also arrived at Filipi for language study.111 Through the financial support of the Scandina- vian Mission Society, the mission was able to buy land and build a chapel at Filipi.112
Empindweni Mission Station at Pondoland
With new workers, Mary and Ester began to ride on Sundays by horseback to Pondoland in order to share the gospel with the Zulu people.113 The path wound over difficult terrain and required them to cross a river deep in the valley. Nevertheless, a group of believers was soon meeting there.114 In 1923, Mary and Ester moved to Pondoland.115
After a visit to America in 1928, Mary returned to Africa and took up peti- tioning the government for land.116When the request was approved, they built a chapel at the top of the hill—the beginning of the Empindweni mission sta-
109
110
111
112 113 114 115
116
Bref-Dufvan, July 1921, 6–7; August 1922, 6–7. Återblick öfver Skandinaviska Ev. Fria Missions-Församlingens fyrtio-åriga verksamhet, Minneapolis, Minnesota, Ebenezer, 1884– 1925, 40. “Standia F. Thompson helped Ida Anderson at Filipi from 1922 to 1926, when she had to return to America because of ill health.”Free Church Mission Work in Africa, 5. Reinholdz,TronsSegrar37 (September 13, 1968): 10;Thompson,PentecostalEvangel, 8;Free Church Mission Work in Africa, 5. On one occasion Florence wrote: “‘He [Jesus Christ] is the same today,’ … as He draws sinners to the cross, heals the sick of various kinds, meets yearning souls, and baptizes them in the Holy Spirit.” Chicago-Bladet, November 5, 1940, 7.
Bref-Dufvan, August 1922, 4. Ester Lindgren and Standia Thompson studied the Zulu language with JohnMlambi, near the Umtamfuna Riverthat divided Nataland Pondoland. Bref-Dufvan, September 1923, 6.
Bref-Dufvan, November 1921, 8.
Reinholdz,Trons Segrar 37 (September 13, 1968): 10.
Ibid.
Free Church Mission Work in Africa, 5; Reinholdz, Trons Segrar 37 (September 13, 1968): 10.
List of United States Citizens, s.s. Stockholm sailing from Gothenburg January 5, 1928, arriving at New York, January 18, 1928; “Anna Mary Johnson,” b. July 5, 1884, Harwood,n.d., address inu.s.: 1021 5th Ave.n., Moorhead.
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tion.117Thus, for several years Ida worked at Filipi and Mary at Pondoland with only native helpers.118Yet, the two Swedish-American missionaries were often together despite the difficult journey between them.119
In 1944, when Mollie Hansen, a missionary with the Evangelical Free Mission in the Belgian Congo, visited them, Mary had been out the previous day with a crew to repair the road and in some places to cut a new road.120Mollie Hansen wrote:
Mary at age 60, and Ida at 70, are still very active. Mary rode horseback while I was there, even crossing mountain streams with the water coming up on the saddle. They have a splendid work, and I shall always think of them as two of God’s brave women missionaries. How little the world knows and credits such work as this, but God knows and that is what matters most.121
For years, Mary rode on horseback but eventually traded her horse for a motor- cycle in order to climb the steep hill to the Empindweni mission station.122
In 1949, after more than forty years of mission work in South Africa, Ida planned to return home to America.123 She hoped for the longest time that she would get help for her poor eyesight but this never happened. During her years as a missionary in Africa she had only been home once, although for four years.124
Since Mary and Ida always worked closely with Helgelseförbundet mission- aries, they decided to leave the Empindweni station to this society.125 In 1958 the work at Filipi was also turned over to Helgelseförbundet.126
When Ida returned to America, she traveled to visit Swedish Free Mission Friends, but when she could no longer do so because she was nearly blind, she
117
118 119 120
121 122 123 124 125 126
Reinholdz, Trons Segrar 37 (September 13, 1968): 10; 38; (September 20, 1968): 10; Bref- Dufvan, September 1923, 8; February 1924, 5.
Bref-Dufvan, February 1927, 7.
Free Church Mission Work in Africa, 6.
Mollie Hansen, “‘Halleen, Edwards’ Are Passwords for Mollie Hansen on Missionary Trip,” Evangelical Beacon(March 7, 1944): 7; Halleen,Golden Jubilee, 245.
Hansen, Evangelical Beacon, 11.
Reinholdz,Trons Segrar 38 (September 20, 1968): 10.
Reinholdz,Trons Segrar 39 (September 27, 1968): 12.
Ibid.
Ibid.
Ibid.
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moved to the Mission Covenant nursing home in Minneapolis.127 Ida died on August 19, 1964, at ninety-three years of age.128
After Mary suffered a stroke at nearly eighty-four years old, she died on July 11, 1968, having served sixty-one years as a missionary in South Africa.129 She was buried at Imbizani Cemetery in Southbroom, Natal.130
Conclusion
Ida Anderson and Mary Johnson were active in the revival movement of the Free-Free (frifria) led by August Davis and John Thompson. While they had experiences such as the baptism of the Spirit subsequent to conversion, spoke in tongues, and had spiritual visions, there appears to be no historical connec- tion between them prior to their departure for South Africa in 1904 and the Pentecostals who followed Charles Parham and William Seymour.131 In con- trast to pentecostal missionaries sent out from Azusa Street in Los Angeles, as Ogbu Kalu points out, Mary and Ida were sent out by the Swedish group from Minnesota.132They were “Free-Free” associated with the Scandinavian Mission Societyusa—the tongues-speaking stream of the Swedish Evangelical Free.133
127 128
129 130
131
132
133
Ibid.
“Anderson, Ida M.,”TheMinneapolisStar, August 20, 1964, 13d.She was buried at Champlin Cemetery, near Minneapolis.
Trons Segrar 27 (July 5, 1968): 13.
Report of a Death of an American Citizen, “Anna Maria (Mary) Johnson,” Durban, South Africa, September 20, 1968.
Rodgers, Northern Harvest, 14. For Swedish Pentecostalism in America, see Mark A. Gran- quist, “Smaller Religious Groups in the Swedish-American Community,” Swedish- American Historical Quarterly44, no. 4 (October 1993): 224–225. Further study is needed to determine if these two pentecostal impulses were spontaneous and independent or had some historical connection prior to 1904. Clearly the overall religious milieu at the turn of the century was sociologically fluid and complex, and correspondence between Swedish Free churches in Sweden and America and the Parham-Seymour movement was intense and swift early in the movement.
Kalu, African Pentecostalism, 47. For example, Andrew G. Johnson, a Swedish immigrant, took part in the Azusa Street revival in 1906 and experienced Spirit baptism. Jan-Åke Alvarsson, “Pingstväckelsens etablering i Sverige: Från Azusa Street till Skövde på sju månader,” in Claes Waern et al., Pingströrelsen, vol. 1 (Örebro: Libris förlag, 2007), 13, 16– 17. A.G. Johnson held that Spirit baptism results not only in tongues-speaking (glossolalia) but also the ability to speak other known foreign languages (xenolalia) in mission service. Mary Johnson had this same experience two years earlier.
Halleen,Golden Jubilee, 38–40.
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The Free-Free of the Scandinavian Mission Society were not merely part of a revival movement of Swedish Free churches but a pentecostal stream that began in the late nineteenth century and shared phenomena with the bur- geoning pentecostal movement at the beginning of the twentieth century.134 Among the Swedish Free churches, while speaking in tongues was not viewed as a necessary manifestation of Spirit-baptism, some, like Ida Anderson and Mary Johnson, experienced the gift. Although a few Free-Free joined newly formed pentecostal churches, including Peter Thompson, who was ordained in the Scandinavian Mission Society in 1933 and a year later in the General Coun- cil of the Assemblies of God, others remained in Swedish Free churches. These included Julia Thompson, whose husband, Rev. Alfred Stone, served Swedish Free churches in several places, including Kimbro, Texas, and Moorhead, Min- nesota.135 Despite differences between the Free-Free who were pentecostal- oriented on one end of the spectrum and burgeoning Pentecostals who were organizing themselves institutionally into denominations on the other end, there was charity and unity among them.136
In a study of doctrinal emphases of Swedish Free Church pastors, Paul J. Oskarson reported: “Some who have been acquainted with the Free Church from the beginning have indicated certain ‘Pentecostal tendencies’ which stressed the need for a ‘second work of grace’ and its manifestations.”137 The leaders of these “Pentecostal tendencies” were August Davis and John Thomp- son, known for “remarkable and strange demonstrations” in their revival ser- vices.138 Oskarson’s survey of Swedish Free pastors who served between 1930
134
135
136
137
138
Cf. William Seymour’s reference to läsare (Readers) in Sweden, in 1841 to 1843, as a group that spoke in tongues. William J. Seymour,The Doctrines and Disciplines of the Azusa Street Apostolic Faith Mission of Los Angeles, California(Joplin: Christian Life Books, 2000), 46. Tabernacle NewsTriumphs, South Dakota District Council, June-July, 1946; Halleen,Golden Jubilee, 323; Rodgers, Northern Harvest, 218.
For example, John Thompson participated in a building dedication of Fargo Gospel Taber- nacle, today called First Assembly of God, in 1930, and attended the annual conference of the Swedish Evangelical Free Church in Minneapolis with his son-in-law, Alfred Stone, June 23–26, 1932. Cf. Roger E. Olson, whose grandparents’ church, the Evangelical Free Church in Madrid, Iowa, was “intensely spiritual” in a way that prepared his mother to embrace Pentecostalism during her college years (1940s) in Des Moines. Roger E. Olson, “Pietism and Pentecostalism: Spiritual Cousins or Competitors?”Pneuma 34, no. 3 (2012): 333.
Paul J. Oskarson, “A History of the Doctrinal Emphasis of the Evangelical Free Church of America from 1930 to 1950” (b.d. Thesis, Trinity Seminary and Bible College, Chicago, Illinois, 1956), 33.
Ibid.
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and 1950 showed that in regard to the place of the Holy Spirit in faith, a very small number held to the view that a “pentecostal” type of infilling of the Spirit was necessary—most likely the remnant of the Free-Free.139 Such a remnant indicated a degree of theological latitude among Swedish Free church pas- tors, even though the predominant view of the Holy Spirit was conservative, and some even opposed these “Pentecostal tendencies.”140 Roy A. Thompson, brother of Standia Thompson and editor of The Evangelical Beacon, however, offered a mediating view, standing between “pentecostalists” and “those afraid of the Spirit’s work.”141
While Ida Anderson and Mary Johnson maintained communication with and received financial support from early Scandinavian-American pentecostal congregations, including Fargo Gospel Tabernacle, known today as First Assembly of God, and Kulm Gospel Tabernacle, known today as Assembly of God of Kulm, North Dakota, these Swedish-American missionaries remained members of their home Swedish Evangelical Free churches.142 As mentioned earlier, they received support from the Women’s Missionary Society of the Evangelical Free Church of America.143 Indeed, in 1945 a report titled Free Church Mission Work in Africaincluded “Sällskapet Work in Natal,” saying:
Previous to 1922 the Free Church had in Africa no missionary work offi- cially counted its own. However, about 1905, two Free Church women, Ida Anderson of Kost, and Mary Johnson of Moorhead, Minnesota, sailed for Africa to work among the Zulus in Natal, not far from the Scandinavian Alliance field in Swaziland.144
139
140
141
142 143 144
Ibid., 100; Table i, Tabulation of Doctrinal Survey. While ninety-two (95.8%) of respon- dents held that the infilling of the Spirit is possible after conversion, three (3.1%) held that a “pentecostal” type of infilling was necessary, and one (1%) held that it was possi- ble.
For the predominant, conservative view of the Swedish Free Church see E.A. Halleen, “Salvation: The Baptism and Filling of the Spirit,”The Evangelical Beacon5, no. 22 (July 28, 1936): 5.
Roy A. Thompson, “Pentecost: A Normal Experience,” The Evangelical Beacon 3, no. 17 (May 22, 1934): 2. This stood in contrast to classic Pentecostals, whose doctrine was “both central and specific, as a boundary line separating them from others.” Ulrik Josefsson, Liv och över nog: Den tidiga pingströrelsens spiritualitet (Skellefteå: Artos, 2005), 130–132, 414.
Rodgers, Northern Harvest, 14;The Minneapolis Star, August 20, 1964, 13d.
Rodgers, Northern Harvest, 14.
Free Church Mission Work in Africa, 5.
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Not only did Ida and Mary maintain membership in their home churches but their churches and the Women’s Missionary Society viewed them as their missionaries.145
MaryJohnsonandIdaAnderson,Free-Freemissionariesof theScandinavian Mission Society, supported by Swedish Evangelical Free churches, certainly may be considered the first missionaries of the pentecostal movement.146They proved themselves to be “two of God’s brave women missionaries” who demon- strated his power, presence, and provision as they served him as evangelists and missionaries their whole lives. They and other Free-Free of the Scandina- vian Mission Society, usa, appear to be one impulse that birthed a distinctly pentecostal form of Christianity.
145
146
“Dedication Days,” Evangelical Free Church, Moorhead, Minnesota, November 28– December 1, 1957, 7; 75th Anniversary, Kost Evangelical Free Church, North Branch, Min- nesota, Diamond Jubilee, June 22–25 (1961), 9.
McGee, “Missions, Overseas,”The New International Dictionary of Pentecostal and Charis- matic Movements, 887.
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