Henry Excelsior Wiggins (13 May 190618 March 1993) was a notable minister, third principal and an integral part of the formation of the Assemblies of God churches in Australia.
He was born in Oxford,
Oxfordshire
Oxfordshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the north west of South East England. It is a mainly rural county, with its largest settlement being the city of Oxford. The county is a centre of research and development, primarily ...
, England where he was raised by his mother Annie Claire Wiggins and his father Ernest Wiggins until he left home in his early twenties. He attended the
University of Oxford studying law, but never finished as he decided to become a minister instead.
He originally was in conservative church circles but when his mother became involved in the
pentecostal movement around the
Lake District
The Lake District, also known as the Lakes or Lakeland, is a mountainous region in North West England. A popular holiday destination, it is famous for its lakes, forests, and mountains (or ''fells''), and its associations with William Wordswor ...
area of England, Henry started to look into what this movement was about. Though originally wary of this movement, after attending meetings of
Smith Wigglesworth he became convinced that the pentecostal movement was his calling from god. He traveled around England and attended many revivalist meetings where he eventually met his future wife who was at the time Laura Anne Markham. Shortly after their marriage they moved to
Nambour, Queensland, Australia to expand the Assemblies of God churches overseas.
He pastored a church in Nambour and along with his wife taught at the Assemblies of God bible college. He became an editor of a pentecostal magazine and published many articles on theological views and eventually became the principal of the college. After pastoring churches in both England and Australia, ministering as the principal of the assemblies of God churches in Australia, he died after suffering from
Alzheimer's disease
Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegeneration, neurodegenerative disease that usually starts slowly and progressively worsens. It is the cause of 60–70% of cases of dementia. The most common early symptom is difficulty in short-term me ...
.
Theological Views
Henry Excelsior Wiggins theological views were very much of the early pentecostal movement under figures such as Smith Wigglesworth. He believed in the use of spiritual gifts by churches and in views on women was more open to letting women speak in church services. His articles that contain a lot of his theological views were published onto the internet after his death in 1993.
References
External links
*https://web.archive.org/web/20130512133135/http://webjournals.ac.edu.au/authors/henry-excelsior-wiggins/
*https://web.archive.org/web/20120320114248/http://www.acc.org.au/AboutUs/OurHistory.aspx
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1906 births
1993 deaths
People from Oxfordshire (before 1974)
Evangelists
Neurological disease deaths in Australia
Deaths from Alzheimer's disease