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41
Pentecostalism
in
Belgium
David D.
Bundy*
The Pentecostal movements in
Belgium
are small. There are about
2,400
adherents in Flanders and about
3,600 in Wallonia. But perhaps
because of its smallness and because of its
position
at a “crossroads” of
Europe,
the
foreign
influences and internal struc- tures,
both official and
unofficial,
are rather
complicated.
The intent of this article is to sketch the
beginnings
of the Pentecostal movement in Wallonia and then the
quite
different
development
in Flanders. Because of the different international
spheres
of influence and the distinct cultural traditions in
Belgium,
the two areas must be considered
separately.
There is no pretension here of exhaustiveness in detail or
bibliography.
In addition to the
organizational complexity (there
are 8 Pentecostal denominations in
Wallonia;
7 in
Flanders;
this does not count at least nine
foreign
churches affiliated with
foreign Pentecostal
churches),
there is the
problem
of sources. Since there is no “umbrella”
organization
or organ of communication between
these
groups,
and since no individual or institution has assembled extensive archival
materials,’ important periodicals
are not to be found.
Books, pamphlets,
and tracts are found but
rarely
in personal
and
theological
libraries. The
interpretation
of the diverse and
dispersed
sources is complicated
by the problem
of definition. The
amorphous agglomerate
that is Pentecostalism in
Belgium shares
only
three common foci.
Firstly, they
adhere to various formulations of the Pentecostal doctrines of the
“baptism
in the Holy Spirit” (with
or without
glossalalia)
and a
concept
of Christian
piety
defined in terms of “spiritual
gifts”
and “fruit of the Spirit.” Secondly,
there is the self-definition as Pentecostals implying
a
rejection
of both the Protestant and Roman Catholic theological syntheses, though borrowing
from both.
Finally
there is an identification with the 1906 Pentecostal revivals and the derivative world-wide movement.2
‘
.
Status
Quaestionis
‘
The
Pentecostal
movement in
Belgium
has been mentioned in works
dealing
with the world-wide Pentecostal movement.
Stanley H. Frodsham
quotes
from a letter of Douglas R. Scott
(see below) in which he states that there were 13 Pentecostal assemblies in Wallonia.3 Leonhard Steiner
reported
that there had been
meetings
‘
1
42
in Brussels from 1923 and a small church from 1928 which
grew
out of those
meetings.
He claims to have located 24 churches, 12 pastors and 3500 members.4 Nichol traced the
origins
to the
ministry
of Douglas
R. Scott and discussed . the then new Emmanuel Bible College
at Andrimont.s
Walter J.
Hollenweger
deserves the credit for first
articulating the structure of the movement.
Following Steiner,
he notes the efforts of the Dutch
evangelist
Potma in the
early
1920’s. The missionary groups
active in the
country
are listed with the name of the
leaders,
the number of
churches, working
and
organizational
relationships
as are the
Belgian organizations.6
More complete, partly
because it was written a decade later is the unpublished
thesis of
Hugo Haegemans.7
This work is
heavily influenced
by
G. Schwartz8 which leads him to assume the Pentecostal movement to be a “fundamentalist oriented sect.” He makes no
clear
distinction between the Pentecostal
groups
and those such as the
Belgische Evangelische Zending (BEZ)
and the Salvation
Army.
Three denominations are discussed: Assemblkes de
Dieu, tglises Independents
de
Pentecôte,
and the Volle Evangelie Gemeenschap.
All statistics are based on the work
by Du Meunier and Overbeke.9 The
theological
and
ideological
frame- work of the
movement,
its structure and
organization,
its
worship and the social status of its members are understood in
light
of Schwartz,
John Sherrill’° and Arthur Wallis. ? ? He seems never to have understood the Pentecostal
theological language
and filters the entire movement
through
his
sociological
“sect”
theory.
In
1978,
an extensive
bibliographical, prosopographical,
and . historical
study
was
begun
which resulted in “Pentecostalism in Belgium:
A
Bibliographic Essay,.”‘2
Then in
1981,
Daniel Brandt produced
a detailed
study
of the
origins
and
development
of the Pentecostal movement in
francophone Belgium.13
It
supplies extensive
bibliography
and
helpful organizational
charts. The text is replete with information but the documentation is less than one would
hope for, partly
because it is a
synthesis (though
an invaluable
one) relying heavily
on interviews.
For
Flanders,
there is the
magnificent
work of Cees and Paul van der
Laan
which for the first time described the
development,.’4 Building
on
this, Ignace
Demaerel
presented
a detailed
profile
of the
individual
local churches
focusing
on the
period
after World War II.’5 This work is devoid of
bibliographic
or other source references and so needs to be
supplemented
and verified.
2
43
Wallonia
Setting
the
Stage.
The arrival of Pentecostalism in France and in Wallonia cannot be
separated
from the revivals of the last two decades of the 19th and the first three decades of the 20th
century
in France and the influence that filtered into the
Borinage
area of Belgium.’6
Influenced
by the Keswick Movement in England (or
as it was known on the
continent,
the Oxford
Movement), 17 higher
life concerns were
heightened.
Writers such as Otto
Stockmayer, Wilfred
Monod,
Theodore
Monod, Tommy Fallot,
Jessie Penn- Lewis,
A. J.
Gordon,
S. D.
Gordon,
A. B.
Simpson,
Andrew Murray
and R. A. Torrey were
important
as were C. G. Finney, Asa Mahan,
R. P. and H. W. Smith, Francois
Coillard,
Alfred
Boegner, the
Blumhardts,
and C. Dieterlen
in defining
the nature of the renewed Christian life and the
expectations
thereof.’8 It is no coincidence that this same
synthesis provided
the
ideological framework for Pentecostalism in the
U.S.A., Scandanavia,
.
Germany
and The Netherlands as well as Flanders!
As this revival in France
progressed,
two distinct
perspectives developed.’9
The first was more restrained in its
expression
and more oriented toward the renewal of
society
while
retaining
a pietistic
outlook on spirituality and
theology.
For these the
writings of T. Fallot and W. Monod were seminal. It was within this
group that Dalliere
(see below)
would find his spiritual home. This
group was
Methodist, open
and flexible. The second was more Calvinistic and
totally
inflexible in what it regarded as orthodoxy and from its ranks evolved La
Brigade
de la Drome.20 This
evangelistic organization
was
very
traditional and orthodox and
produced
an extensive literature. The
Brigade
would
eventually oppose
vocifer- ously
the revival in the Ardeche
(France)
as well as the missions of Douglas
Scott and other Pentecostal
evangelists throughout France and
Belgium.
It contributed
greatly
to the alienation of the Pentecostal movement from the Protestant churches.
Other influences must be mentioned. Both the “Exclusive Brethren” of Darby and the
“Open
Brethren” of Muller were active and influential not so much
through
their numbers but
through their translation and
propagation
of
Darby’s writings.2′ Darby, together
with
Hugh
E. Alexander22 would contribute to Pente- costal fundamentalism. The Salvation
Army
and Holiness temperance groups provided
both
leadership
and
quarters
for the . new movements. Thus,
through
the influence of Keswick and the American Holiness
movement,
the
pietistically-oriented
Protestants of Northern France and Southern
Belgium
were conditioned to think
3
44
in terms of revival and of miracles of conversion.
They
had a heightened hope
and
expectation
of the imminent return of Christ. And,
more
importantly, they
had
accepted
the
“perfectionist persuasion”
of the
Anglo-Saxon
world.
The Arrival
of
Pentecostalism in Wallonia. It is
impossible
to ascertain when the Pentecostal
understanding
of
Christianity
was first
presented
in French-speaking
Belgium.
It is certain that Leon Viquerat,
Swedish
missionary
from the “Gilead” Pentecostal church of
Goteborg,
was active in Brussels and Charleroi from 1928.23 The earlier date of 1923
posited by
Steiner for a church in Brussels
probably
refers to a Flemish
group (see below). Viquerat was
joined by
Th.
Lopresties,
who had
attempted
to work with Norton of the
Belgian Gospel
Mission
(Belgische Evangelische Zendig),
and several of his
parishioners
from the Brethren Church. Toward the end of 1930,
Lopresties registered
the Mission
Evangel- ique Populaire:24
This was the first
independent francophone Pentecostal church in Belgium. Most
studies, however, erroneously date the
beginning
of the movement in Wallonia from the arrival of Douglas
R. Scott in
Jemappes
and his visit to
Dampremy
at the invitation of
Lopresties.25
In addition to
Viquerat
and
Lopresties,
two other
figures
are important
for the
early history
of the movement before and after Scott’s arrival: Louis Dalliere and H. T. de Worm.
Louis Dalliere
(1897-1976)26
was the son of an international banker,
born in
Chicago
and
baptised
in an
Anglican
church in Nice. At
age
13 he experienced a conversion and two
years later,
in 1912,
was
accepted
into the Reformed Church. He read
copiously the works of G.
Frommel,
W. Monod and T. Fallot.
Early
in
1915, . Dalliere
experienced
a second
conversion,
sensed a call to the pastoral ministry,
and enrolled at the
Faculty
of Theology in Paris where he
remained,
with
interruptions
for
military service,
until 1921. He
spent
a year studying at Harvard
University
under W. E. Hocking
and then returned to Paris to
complete
his licentiate in theology
and
prepared
to do his doctorate. In the
meantime,
he was named
parish pastor
at Charmes-sur-Rhone
(1925).
He
began
to read
Augustine,
St. John of the
Cross,
Theresa of
Avila,
John Wesley and
John
Henry
Cardinal Newman. He believed that his studies with
Hocking
had delivered him from “Kantianism” and opened
the door to Christian
spirituality.2′
William Ernest
Hocking,28
an idealist of the American
type, sought
to
express
how
God,
the
wholly other,
is known
directly
and intuitively.
He affirmed that God is known in a personal
sensory and emotional
experience,
but he retained a role for the intellect. This
part
of the
person
was to clarify and correct
pragmatically
the perceptions
of God.
.
.
‘
–
‘ .
_
,
4
45
at
Montpellier
series
Dalliere
taught
this
synthesis
which translate and restated
of articles
source
Protestant
His, D’Aplomb
tome, widely
and
published
a
the ideas of of
experience
as a
Hocking.29
Without a doubt this exaltation
for
theological authority helped provide
an
interpretative framework within which the French and
French-Belgian
churches could
appreciate
the Pentecostal movement and the other
higher
life
proponents.
This is seen in the efforts of Dalli6re as an
apologist
for the new revival and his role as an advisor to
Douglas
Scott
during
the
early period
of that revival.
sur la Parole de Dieu30 was written
following
a visit to
England
to examine the Pentecostal revivals there.3? The small
circulated in Belgium and
France,
is one of the better apologies
for the Pentecostal movement ever written. Dalliere
the movement as a revival, not interested in establishing religious empire, emphasized
the biblical orientation and the ideas of the
“gifts
and
signs
of the
Spirit,” the
presented
discussed exposition “baptism
sigence.
a
lack of a “human
founder,” nature of the revival. He
an
and the international and
spontaneous
in depth the Elim Church in
England,
and
presented
of the “fourfold
gospel”
and of the
concept
of the
in the
Holy Spirit.”
This vision fell
apart mostly
because of Scott’s lack of
theological understanding
and
personal
intran-
Dalli6re
eventually
limited his involvement, and after 1939 he withdrew to an international
prayer
center.32
The second
person
whose influence and
experience
were
for the
early
Pentecostal revivals in Belgium was Henri Theophile
de Worm
(1893-1964).33
De Worm did his
university work in
Montpellier
which was a center for
“higher life” concerns within the French Protestant church. In 1924 he was
important
(c. 1921-1924)
Edinburgh,
by prayer meetings evangelistic founded
organized
where after a study sabbatical in
by
appointed pastor
at
Paturages,
he
sought
to
regularize
the
liturgy
and church attend- ance. The church
disintegrated.
It was to be slowly rebuilt
through the
persistence
of the
pastor,
a general increase in piety encouraged
de Worm and
especially
the
activities carried on
throughout
the
Borinage.34
He
in 1929 a periodical, Son de nos
cloches,
to
spread
news of . revival activities
throughout Belgium
and
sponsored meetings
with the
Brigade
de la Drome. De Worm noted that their
messages
on the “fulness” of the
Holy Spirit greatly
intensified the
spiritual thirst of the
congregation.
Son de nos cloches would in the
spring
of 1931 introduce
Douglas
R. Scott
(1900-1967)
and
publicize
details of his evangelistic activities.35 In September, Scott was invited
by de Worm to hold an
evangelistic campaign
at
Paturages. By May
de Worm would be alienated from his erstwhile collaborates in evangelism and
would,
with Louis
Dalli6re, begin
a new
monthly
et
vie,
to
promote
the Pentecostal revival.
1932,
periodical, Esprit
5
46
From this
point,
the
activity
and influence of
Douglas
Scott grew.
He held
campaigns
in
Brussels, Liege,
Charleroi and in the Borinage.36
After each
campaign,
he organized converts
willing
to leave the Protestant or Catholic Churches into Pentecostal
churches and
appointed pastors.
Like
Scott,
these
appointees
were enthusiastic
evangelists. Unfortunately,
like
him, they
had neither the
theological
formation nor the
training
needed to function as pastors. They
were
loyal
to Scott as though he were a bishop, and they
considered de Worm to be a “compromiser” because he was unwilling
to lead his church at
Paturages
out of the Protestant
union.
Thus,
as Scott’s influence
increased,
de Worm found himself increasingly
isolated from and
rejected by
his fellow Pentecostal
revivalists.
By 1939, he,
as did
Dalliere,
ceased involvement with . the Pentecostal movement.
‘
From that
point,
it was Scott who
decisively
marked the Wallon Pentecostal movement. An entensive,
though
not
always critical, study
of Scott’s life and
ministry
has been
published by George Stotts.3′ Suffice it here to note that his numerous
evangelistic
and healing campaigns
in
Belgium
contributed
greatly
to the movement’s
high visibility
and
early success, building
on the base laid
by
de
Worm,
the
Darbyists,
the Methodists and Salvation Army.
His efforts were the
catalyst
for the
spread
of the revival throughout Belgium, especially
to
groups
such as miners and laborers who were less well served
by
the other churches.
The war of 1939-1944
depleted
the Pentecostal
churches,
as it did in other areas of Europe, when
pastors
had to flee
(e.g.,
E. Gunter [see below]
of
Brussels)
or were interned as the war was
fought
in areas where the Pentecostal churches were
strongest.
After the
war, Scott returned to
Belgium
as
part
of the
missionary
influx following
the conflict. The influence and effect of the
foreign missionary enterprises
in Belgium
during
the
post
World War I I era has not
yet
been studied and is too involved to be entered into here. It will be the
subject
of another
study.
It should be noted, however, that there are missionaries from at least nine countries
working
in Wallonia, usually
without
regard
for the
existing
church
bodies,
or with
only
token condenscension. The
foreign
missionaries
together with
refugees
and
“guest
workers” have
spawned Polish, Italian, Spanish, Korean, Chinese, Portugese
and
English-speaking churches.
The
story
of Wallon Pentecostalism does not
stop,
of
course, with Scott. Maurice
Knops,
for
example, pastored
a church in Brussels from 1955 to 1968 and
published
from
1948-1982
the periodical,
La Voix
Chretienne,
which achieved a circulation of 10,000 copies. Alfred Amitie
from near
Dampremy, pastored
in
6
47
Nivelles from 1948-1954 and then at Fleurus-Baulet
(1954-1959) before
becoming
the first director of Institut
Biblique
Emmanuel in Andrimont,
a position which he held until 1968 when control of this school
passed
to the Assemblies of
God,
U.S.A. The school was moved to
Brussels, temporarily
to the church of which Amitie was then the
pastor,
“internationalized” and
designated
Continental Bible
College.
Amitie has remained as a
part-time
teacher. In addition to his
other responsibilities,
he
prepared
Christian Education
materials,
L’Etudiant Adulte
( 1954-1971)
which became Sources Vives ( 1971-1976). This
project
was taken over
by another Assemblies of God U.S.A.
missionary
in 1976.
Other
important figures
include J. B. Van Kesteren
(see below) who did extensive
evangelistic
work
throughout Belgium establishing
churches in
Liege
and
Brussels,
J. and E.
Neusy,
M. Verlinden,
J. Verlinden and D. F. van den Abeele
pastors
and founders of several churches.
‘
Pentecostalism
in Flanders
The earliest reference to Pentecostalism in
Belgium
is found in Confidence
where in
1911,
A.
Boddy reported:
,
On
Wednesday
3 August, we visited
Belgium.
In Antwerp
we found a small Pentecostal center. Here we met Sister
. Esselbach,
a woman of a holy character, with a strong belief
in God, who nearly alone carried the Pentecostal
message
in this spiritually darkened
city. She received the Baptism
of the
Holy Spirit
in Holland…. 38
This woman and her husband worked as missionaries to seamen under the
auspices
of the
Anglican
Church.39 What became of this effort is not known. It was however with this same woman that Gerrit Polman, the Dutch Pentecostal
pioneer corresponded
in 1920: “We have written Sister Esselbach about our
plan
to
begin also in
Belgium
a Pentecostal work.1140
It was 1923 before Polman
began
to hold
meetings
in a hall rented from a Reformed Church and in 1924 he reported in
Spade Regen tat the
group
was
slowly growing.41 However,
toward the end of 1925, Cornelius
Potma
( 1861-1929),
to whom Polman had confided his
ministry
in
Belgium,
would tell Johannes
Rietdijk (see below) that he (Rietdijk) was the first to receive the
“baptism
in the
Holy Spirit” accompanied by glossalalia.
Pentecostal efforts in Antwerp were
buoyed by
a
week-long campaign
of
George Jeffreys,
the British Elim
evangelist,
in
1926,
at the end of which
eight
were baptized.42
7
48
Potma had
originally attempted
to work with Norton of the Belgian Gospel
Mission.43
However,
Norton could not
t,olerate the Pentecostal
understanding
of Potma, and after Gabriel
d’Hondt,
a student at Norton’s Bible School in Brussels became
Pentecostal, cooperation
came to an end. From 1922 until 1929 when
he returned to
England
to raise funds and
died,
Potma traversed Flanders as an
evangelist accompanied by Rietdijk, d’Hondt and Robert
Taylor (an English missionary assistant). Although
the object
of frequent persecution by the
populace (i.e.,
his evangelistic wagon
was set on
fire),
he had some success in Ghent and in and around
Antwerp.
The Potma home in Deurne
(near Antwerp)
was used for
Sunday evening
services and
regular prayer meetings.
It may
be
meetings
held
by
Potma in Brussels to which Steiner refers. 44
.
‘
After Potma’s
death,
his
evangelistic
team disbanded. Johannes Rietdijk (1901- )45
and his wife Anke
Rietdijk-van
Hoften
(1874- 1975),46
took over the work in
Antwerp establishing
the first Belgian
Pentecostal church in Kiel (near
Antwerp) early
in 1930. In 1933
they
built the first Flemish Pentecostal church in Hoboken (also
near
Antwerp)
where he would minister until 1976. “Outposts” (preaching
and
teaching centers)
would also be estab- lished in
boom, Ghent, Hemiksen, Kalmthout,
Kappelen, Niel, Merksem,
and Schelle.4′
Rietdijk
was born in
Maassluis, The Netherlands. It was within the context of the Salvation
Army
that he was converted to an evangelical understanding
of Christianity although he received his early theological
formation under the
tutelage
of Reformed ministers. Due to
appeals
in Zoeklicht, a fundamentalist
higher
life periodical,
he decided to
go to Belgium
to minister and enrolled at the
Bijbelschool
voor
evangelisatiewerk
in
België’ founded
and directed
by Norton of the Belgian Gospel
Mission.48 When
Rietdijk was
assigned
to do
evangelistic
work in
Ostend, he met Anke van Hoften. Because he was 24 and she
5 l, Norton disapproved
of their relationship
and dismissed
Reitdijk
from the school.
They
were married in 1925.
the dismissal
by
Norton was effective excommunication from the
Evangelical
churches of Belgium and The Netherlands. At loose ends, Rietdijk sought spiritual guidance
in the
writings
of R. A. Torrey
and A.
Murray
as well as from C. Potma who sent him to reflect and
pray. Rietdijk
received the
“baptism
in the
Holy Spirit” and became a commited Pentecostal Christian.
In addition to his
pastoral work,
he established a Bible school in his church which trained his co-workers as well as several who would become
pastors
in Flanders. He
published
a
monthly
.
.
8
periodical, circulation Pentecostal
De Trooster
dialogue
49
which
achieved
a wide
of
discussion. part
of the treatises defines
resolution
concerns.
the parameters Finally
a Pentecostal
( 1953-1982)
in
Belgium
and southern Holland. The need for
literature in
Flemish,
as well as the need to articulate and defend his vision for the Pentecostal movement led him to publish
some
thirty
booklets.49
These booklets were neither translations nor summaries of English,
American or German
writings. They
reveal him to be one of the most
thoughtful,
articulate and
original
Pentecostal theo- logians. Unfortunately,
his work is not
widely
known because he wrote in Dutch and his works were
privately published.
The
essays are
very
learned. He had read, and
understood, theologians
from the second to the twentieth centuries. In the
volumes,
a scholarly
is carried on with other
theologians
as the author
critically sifts, evaluates and
expounds
his
conception
the issues under
His
methodology
is
consistently
careful. The
greater
are
supplied
with an introduction in which he
the issues and
proceeds
to define the terms crucial to their
in
light
of
philosophical-theological
and biblical
He then
provides
a sort of status quaestionis, indicating
of discussion
throughout
the
history
of the church.
understanding
many imperfections that
Christian
emphasizes secondary
dogmatic
evidence”
theory promoted others,
are
overgeneralizations
of the doctrine
and/ or
issue is
of the Pentecostal
and D. Gee
among
given.
Let us look
briefly
at his
understanding
movement and of Pentecostal
worship.
It was in
reponse
to the criticism of W. H. Guiton and H. Bakker50 that
Rietdijk presented his
understanding
of the Pentecostal movement. He admits that
are to be found in the movement, but
argues
it is a revival in the tradition of Methodism,
Darbyism, Moody and the Herrnhutters. As such it sits
firmly
“on
positive
and
terrain.”5′ It is not a sect, he
says,
because a sect
concerns and
ignores
the rest of the Christian tradition. It is true that certain leaders of the revival have, in their enthusiasm over their
experience
of the
Holy Spirit,
made
and unwise claims. Doctrines such as the “initial
by
H. Norton
which will be moderated as the movement
gains
in
experience
and
maturity.5′-
He commends the balance and wisdom of the German Pentecostal J. Paul, and observes that no exclusive
ownership
claimed
citing, “Zinzendorf, Wesley,
Fletcher,
Boddy, Barth, Murray, Meyer
and the Blumhardts …”53
was at first a movement of revival.
Despite
its
intention to remain so, it became
“organized
and instructed body.”54
When it began to baptize
converts,
celebrate the
eucharist,
Pentecostalism early
theologian of the
Holy Spirit
can be
Finney, Moody,
9
50
institute elders and deacons, and choose
pastors,
it ceased to be a revival movement and became a church. The resultant
“community in
diversity”55
is to
present
the
Gospel.
It does not need to be a monolithic structure or
part
of any larger organization. These can lead to
quests
for
personal power,
result in institutional insensit- ivity
and detract from the real
purpose
of the church. This church is to be judged
by
its effectiveness in
missionary efforts, prayer
and healing.
The
liturgy
of the Pentecostal church should be biblically based. That used in the Hoboken church was derived from
Rietdijk’s understanding
of I Corinthians
14:26,
“where we find the
oldest rules and forms for the Christian
worship
service.”56 The innovations in Protestant and Catholic
liturgies
are held to be accomodations to pagan concepts and
practices.
The eucharist is to be celebrated the first
Sunday
of each month. It is a simple meal “of which Jesus Christ is the host.”5′ It is to be a time of reconciliation, of remembrance, of celebration and of hope. By it the
community of helievers
rejoices
in the salvation obtained
by
the sacrifice of a friend and
anticipates
the return of that friend.
Baptism,
the other biblical sacrament, has no efficaciousness in itself. It is an obligatory
witness of the
personal
faith of the believer, a sign of the reception
of the New
Covenant,
and a
promise
to function as a Christian. Children
may
receive a
“provisional baptism,
as an introduction and
preparation
for the full
baptism
which
may …
be chosen … later.”58
Prayer
for the sick
may
be part of the
worship service in cases of extreme needs
One of the
persons
who would come to work with
Rietdijk
was Edwin Gunter
(1909- ),60 a missionary
recruited
by
Potma and supported by the Peniel Chapel
of London. He arrived in Belgium in 1934 and worked in Hoboken for two
years
before
taking
over the
“outpost”
in Boom. He ministered here for two more
years. Finally
in
1938, he moved
to the Brussels area,
beginning
services in Schaerbeek,
Anderlecht and Sint-Gillis. Hundreds were attracted to the
services,
but when war broke out, Gunter was forced to flee to England.
When he returned in
1948,
the
congregation
was
disper- sed. In October 1949, however, the
congregation
moved into a new church and
by
1954 had the resources to
open
a retirement center and
nursing
home.61 Gunter was succeeded
by
his
son,
who
partly due to the influence of teachers at the
Belgian
Bible Institute
(the successor of Norton’s
school),
and
partly
because of concern over the “Americanization” of the Wallon Assemblées de Dieu”
(the church had become
mostly francophone),
led the church out of the Pentecostal movement and into the
Belgian evangelical
movement.
‘
.
10
51
Another of
Rietdijk’s
assistants and students was Francois Leonard de Meester
(1908- ).62
Born into a Catholic
family,
he became a Methodist, then
joined
the
Belgische Evangelisc’he Zending (Belgian Gospel Mission)
and
finally,
attracted to Rietdijk’s
church, became
a Pentecostal. From
1932, he
worked with
youth
ministries, did evangelistic work and
helped
Gunter plant
the churches in Anderlecht.
Encouraged by Gunter,
he took charge
of another of
Rietdijk’s “outposts”
at Niel
(his birthplace) and Balen in 1948, and a year later moved the
congregation
into a newly-constructed
church. This church has
grown slowly
and steadily
over the
years
to about 200 members.
“Outposts”
were maintained,
as well, in Dessel,
Leopoldsburg,
Lommel, Meerhout and Mol.63 He is now assisted
by
a
grandson
who also leads the Belgian missionary
efforts to the
Gypsies
in
cooperation
with Clement LeCossec.
Johannes Benjamin
Van Kesteren
(1905-1981)
was trained as a Methodist minister in their
theological
school in Brussels Curious about the revivals in Wallonia and France, he went, in 1931,
to Roubaix to hear
Douglas
Scott. After
counseling
with Scott and
personal searching,
he received the
“baptism
in the
Holy Spirit”
with
glossalalia.
He
accompanied
Scott on his
early campaigns
in
Belgium.
When Scott returned to France, Van Kesteren remained in Belgium to do
evangelistic
work. He founded a church in
Liege
and another in Brussels to which he would invite Donald Gee.65 From
early on,
he worked
closely
with
Rietdijk
and accepted, among other things,
his congregational
understanding
of church
government.
In
1947,
he planted a church in Menen which became one of the few effective
bilingual evangelistic
efforts in
Belgium.116
Here he published
a
periodical,
Le Lien De Schakel ”
( 1952-1962),
and organized
a Bible school
(Bejbelinstitut Thabor)
for workers in the church and
“outposts.”
In 1949 he
pioneered
a church in Ghent
‘ (with
an
outpost
in Ostend). His daughter, Suzanne Van Kesteren leads a
ministry
team of five elders in Menen. His son Paul Van Kesteren, a graduate of the International Bible
Training Institute, Burgess H ill, England,
is pastor at Ghent, now a church of about 70 . members.
.
Today,
the Pentecostal movement in Flanders
comprises
some 40 local churches and 24
“outposts.” Twenty-three
churches participate
in the
Broederschap
van Vlaamse
Pinkstergemeenten,
a non-jurisdictional fellowship.
Several of these churches
(8
of
23)
. are also
part
of
Belgische Christelijke Pinkstergemeenschap
Elim an
organization
with
jurisdictional authority
under the
leadership of Michael
Williams,
an
English missionary,
who now
pastors Rietdijk’s
church. The other seventeen churches are either
indepen- dent or
part
of other smaller
organizations.
.
.
‘
11
52
As in
Wallonia, foreign
influence is
great.
Missionaries from England, Sweden, Norway, Finland,
The
Netherlands,
and the U.S.A. are
working
in Flanders.
Also, many
of the
younger pastors have received an excellent
theological
education at the Centrale Pinkster
Bijbelschool
in Zeist
(formerly Scheveningen),
the Nether- lands. A detailed
study
of foreign mission efforts in Flanders is also in
preparation.
Conclusion
‘
The two
major
cultural and
linguistic
communities of
Belgium, Flanders and Wallonia
present
two rather different histories and traditions of Pentecostalism. Both have had to
cope
with intense infuence from outside
Belgium,
some of which has been
positive and some of which has
severely hampered
church
growth, especially
in Wallonia. From both
sides,
from the
beginning (especially
J. Van Kesteren and E. Gunter), there has been a sincere effort on the
part
of some to
provide
a Christian
bridge
across Belgium’s,
often
painful
cultural divide. That has not
always
been successful,
but there has been an increased
understanding
and sensitivity developed
between the small Pentecostal
groups
in French and
Flemish-speaking Belgium (especially
the efforts of P. Van
Kesteren,
E. van Tilt and A.
Amitie). Belgium
has also produced
a world-class
theologian
in the
person
of Johannes Rietdijk.
It is to be
hoped
that the
Belgian
Pentecostal Churches can achieve a sense of their own
identity (not
one
imposed by American,
Swedish or Dutch
missionaries)
and from that stand- point
make a contribution to the
larger
movement. It is also to be hoped
that
part
of that
identity might
be a fresh awareness of the ecumenical renewalist vision shared
by Potma,
Dalliere and de Worm.
*David
Bundy
serves as the Collection
Development
Librarian and as Assistant Professor of Christian
Origins
at
Asbury
Theo- logical Seminary.
He is a Ph.D. Candidate at the Catholic
University at Leuven in
Belgium.
[To my knowledge, the most extensive collections are those of Paul and Cees van der Laan, International
Correspondence
Institute of Rhode-St.- Genese, Belgium,
and my own.
2Walter J.
Hollenweger,
Handbuch der
Pfingstbewegung,
Diss. Geneva, 1965. Hereafer,
Hollenweger,
Handbuch. Charles E. Jones, A Guide to the Study of
the Pentecostal Movement
(ATLA Bibliography
Series, 6; Metuechen,
N.J.: Scarecrow Press,
1983), passim only reproduces
material
12
53
from Hollenweger, Handhuch on Belgium. Some more up-to-date material, although
still mostly inaccurate, is to be found in D. B. Barrett, et al., eds., World Christian
Encyclopedia. (Nairobi,
etc.: Oxford
University
Press, 1982),
169-173.
3Stanley
H. Frodsham, With Signs Following: The Story Pente-
in
of the costal Revival the Twentieth
Centuty (Springfield: Gospel Publishing House, 1946), 91.
4Leonhard Steiner, Mit Zeichen: Eine
Darstellung
der P.f7ngsthewegung, (Basel:
Mission rdr das VUlle Evangelium,
1954), 67-70, 200.
SJohn Thomas Nichol, The Pentecostals.
(Plainfield,
N.J.:
Logos, 1971), 186-187.
,’Holienweger, Handhuch,
1332-1339.
‘
7hug Haegemans, Religieu:e
minderheden in
Belgiê:
De Pinkster- hewegillg
in hm
helgische protestaniisnie.
License Thesis, Faculteit der Sociale Wettenschappen, Katholieke Universiteit te Leuven, 1973. ‘G. Schwartz, Sews: Ideologies and Social Status (Chicago:
University of Chicago Press, 1970).
9J . Du Meunier and J. K. Overbeke. Jaarboek i,ai7 cle Protestanse lierk in
BelkiP 1972 (Antwerpen: n.p., 1973), 156.
“‘John Sherrill,
Reporter van
Gods Geest (Gorkum: Gideon, n.d.) another printing: ( Hoornaar:
Gideon, n.d.) translated from English. They Speak with Oth’a
Tongues (Old Tappan,
N.J.:
Fleming H. Revell. 1964).
1 ‘Arthur Wallis, Pra.t, in the Spirit, Lottbridge Drove. Eastborne:
Victory Press. 197 I ).
‘=David D.
Bundy,
Pe/1lee’os/alisf11 in
Belgium: A Bibliographi(- £’say, polycopy.
Leuven, 1980, 25 pp. Hereafter, Bundy, £’.’ .1′.
1.1). Brandt, Un E.s.sal histariyuo sur
/’origine
et le
de’eloppme11l du mouvemelll cle pelllecote en
Belgiquefrancophone, polycopy,
Louvain-la- Neuve, ( 1981], 35 pp. plus 23 pp.
(bibliography) plus 8 charts.
Hereafter, Brandt, Essai Historique.
“C. and P. van der Laan, Pinksteren in heweging. VijJi?n_cwentik.jaur pinkstorkeschied?nis
in Nederland en Vlaan
