Lewi Pethrus (born ''Pethrus Lewi Johansson'') (11 March 1884 – 4 September 1974) was a

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

Pentecostal Pentecostalism or classical Pentecostalism is a Protestantism, Protestant Charismatic Christianity, Charismatic Christian movementminister who played a decisive role in the formation and development of the Pentecostal movement in his country. In 1964, he founded the political party the

Christian Democrats __NOTOC__ Christian democratic parties are political parties that seek to apply Christian principles to public policy. The underlying Christian democracy movement emerged in 19th-century Europe, largely under the influence of Catholic social tea ...

Life

Pethrus was born in 1884 in

Vargön Vargön is a locality situated in Vänersborg Municipality, Västra Götaland County, Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the ...

Västergötland Västergötland (), also known as West Gothland or the Latinized version Westrogothia in older literature, is one of the 25 traditional non-administrative provinces of Sweden (''landskap'' in Swedish), situated in the southwest of Sweden. Väs ...

. He held manual jobs from the age of ten, being

apprentice Apprenticeship is a system for training a new generation of practitioners of a trade or profession with on-the-job training and often some accompanying study (classroom work and reading). Apprenticeships can also enable practitioners to gain a ...

d to a shoe factory in 1899. That year, he was

baptized Baptism (from grc-x-koine, βάπτισμα, váptisma) is a form of ritual purification—a characteristic of many religions throughout time and geography. In Christianity, it is a Christian sacrament of initiation and adoption, almost i ...

in the

Baptist church Baptists form a major branch of Protestantism distinguished by baptizing professing Christian believers only (believer's baptism), and doing so by complete immersion. Baptist churches also generally subscribe to the doctrines of soul comp ...

Vänersborg Vänersborg () is a locality and the seat of Vänersborg Municipality, Västra Götaland County, Sweden with 23,882 inhabitants (out of a municipal total of 39,591) Until 1997 it was the capital of Älvsborg County, which was dissolved in 1998. Sin ...

. After emigrating to

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of ...

in 1900, he became co-pastor of the

Arendal Arendal () is a municipality in Agder county in southeastern Norway. Arendal belongs to the region of Sørlandet. The administrative centre of the municipality is the city of Arendal (which is also the seat of Agder county). Some of the notab ...

Baptist Church in 1902, along with Adolf Mildes. He started

speaking in tongues Speaking in tongues, also known as glossolalia, is a practice in which people utter words or speech-like sounds, often thought by believers to be languages unknown to the speaker. One definition used by linguists is the fluid vocalizing of sp ...

, believed by Pentecostals to be evidence of having received the

baptism of the Holy Spirit In Christian theology, baptism with the Holy Spirit, also called baptism in the Holy Spirit or baptism in the Holy Ghost, has been interpreted by different Christian denominations and traditions in a variety of ways due to differences in the doctr ...

after a series of meetings in Lillestrand. He claimed that the experience happened to him spontaneously and that he did not understand at the time what was happening to him. Pethrus became pastor of a small Baptist church in

Bengtsfors Bengtsfors () is a locality and the seat of Bengtsfors Municipality, Västra Götaland County, Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name ...

, Dalsland, Sweden, in 1903, but did not seek formal theological training until 1904, when he enrolled at the Bethel Seminary () in

Stockholm Stockholm () is the capital and largest city of Sweden as well as the largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people live in the municipality, with 1.6 million in the urban area, and 2.4 million in the metropo ...

. He was later to say that his training was detrimental to his faith. Exposure to the writings of liberal philosopher

Viktor Rydberg Abraham Viktor Rydberg (; 18 December 182821 September 1895) was a Swedish writer and a member of the Swedish Academy, 1877–1895. "Primarily a classical idealist", Viktor Rydberg has been described as "Sweden's last Romantic" and by 1859 was ...

temporarily undermined his faith in the divinity of

Jesus Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label= Hebrew/ Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and relig ...

, but claimed to have regained it after meeting Jesus personally in a

vision Vision, Visions, or The Vision may refer to: Perception Optical perception * Visual perception, the sense of sight * Visual system, the physical mechanism of eyesight * Computer vision, a field dealing with how computers can be made to gain und ...

. After graduating from seminary, Pethrus completed his compulsory military service at ,

, in the autumn of 1906. That year, he became pastor of the Lidköping Baptist Church. Pethrus joined the Pentecostal movement in 1907 after meeting the Norwegian Pentecostal minister

Thomas Ball Barratt Thomas Ball Barratt, also known as T. B. Barratt, (22 July 1862 – 29 January 1940) was a British-born Norwegian pastor and one of the founding figures of the Pentecostal movement in Europe, bringing the movement, or baptism in the Holy Spirit, ...

Oslo Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of ...

. It was then that the doctrine of the baptism in the Holy Spirit and speaking in tongues became clear to him; he claimed: "From that moment I was part of the Pentecostal Revival". Pethrus became pastor of the Seventh Baptist Church in Stockholm in 1910 and of the Filadelfia Church in 1911. In 1913, the year in which he married Norwegian Lydia Danielsen, his church was expelled from the Swedish Baptist Union due to disagreements about speaking in tongues and

holy communion The Eucharist (; from Greek , , ), also known as Holy Communion and the Lord's Supper, is a Christian rite that is considered a sacrament in most churches, and as an ordinance in others. According to the New Testament, the rite was instituted ...

(his church practiced

open communion Open communion is the practice of some Protestant Churches of allowing members and non-members to receive the Eucharist (also called Holy Communion or the Lord's Supper). Many but not all churches that practice open communion require that the ...

). This was the beginning of a separate Pentecostal movement in Sweden. During the same phase of his life Pethrus wrote the words and music for his

gospel song Gospel music is a traditional genre of Christian music, and a cornerstone of Christian media. The creation, performance, significance, and even the definition of gospel music varies according to culture and social context. Gospel music is com ...

"" ('The promises cannot fail'). The Filadelfia Church started a Bible school in 1915 and a weekly magazine, ' 'The Gospel Herald', in 1916. In the same year, the church sent its first

missionaries A missionary is a member of a religious group which is sent into an area in order to promote its faith or provide services to people, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development.Thomas Hale 'On Being a Mi ...

Samuel Samuel ''Šəmūʾēl'', Tiberian: ''Šămūʾēl''; ar, شموئيل or صموئيل '; el, Σαμουήλ ''Samouḗl''; la, Samūēl is a figure who, in the narratives of the Hebrew Bible, plays a key role in the transition from the bib ...

and Lina Nyström, to

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

, helping the

Assembleias de Deus The Assembleias de Deus () are a group of Pentecostal denominations in Brazil founded by Daniel Berg and Gunnar Vingren, who came to Brazil as missionaries from the Swedish Pentecostal movement. The Assembleias de Deus are related to the world ...

. Pethrus and his Filadelfia Church sent many missionaries to Africa, Latin America and continental Europe, and kept ties with the North American Scandinavian Pentecostals belonging to the

Fellowship of Christian Assemblies The Fellowship of Christian Assemblies ''(FCA)'' is a Pentecostal Christian association with roots in a revival during the 1890s among the Scandinavian Baptist and Pietist communities in the United States. In 1907 most of those congregations that ...

and the

Independent Assemblies of God, International The Independent Assemblies of God International (IAOGI) is a pentecostal Christian association with roots in a revival of the 1890s among the Scandinavian Baptist and Pietist communities in the United States. ''Independent Assemblies of God Intern ...

. Pethrus sponsored the founding of a high school in 1942 and '' Dagen'', a daily newspaper, in 1945. A credit fund was established in 1952 and a radio station, (now IBRA Media) in

Tangier Tangier ( ; ; ar, طنجة, Ṭanja) is a city in northwestern Morocco. It is on the Moroccan coast at the western entrance to the Strait of Gibraltar, where the Mediterranean Sea meets the Atlantic Ocean off Cape Spartel. The town is the capi ...

Morocco Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to A ...

, in 1955. The same year, the Filadelfia Church hosted the

Pentecostal World Conference The Pentecostal World Fellowship is a fellowship of Evangelical Pentecostal churches and denominations from across the world. The headquarters is in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Its leader is William Wilson (Tulsa, OK). History The Pentecostal World Fel ...

. Pethrus resigned from the pastorate on 7 September 1958. He continued preaching as an itinerant preacher, and established the () in 1959. In 1964, he spearheaded the founding of Sweden's

Christian Democratic Party __NOTOC__ Christian democratic parties are political parties that seek to apply Christian principles to public policy. The underlying Christian democracy movement emerged in 19th-century Europe, largely under the influence of Catholic social tea ...

. He had moved more into the sphere of politics since the 1940s, after denouncing it wholly during the early years of his ministry. The Christian Democrats were culturally conservative but supported the welfare state. His wife Lydia died on 30 December 1966. A year before his own death, he was made a Knight Commander of the

Order of Vasa The Royal Order of Vasa () is a Swedish order of chivalry, awarded to citizens of Sweden for service to state and society especially in the fields of agriculture, mining and commerce. It was instituted on 29 May 1772 by King Gustav III. It was u ...

. His last sermon was delivered at the annual Nyhem Week Pentecostal convention in 1974, shortly before his death on 4 September. His autobiography, ('a storied life') was published in 1976.

Cultural references

In 2001,

Per Olov Enquist Per Olov Enquist, also known as P. O. Enquist, (23 September 1934 – 25 April 2020) was a Swedish author. He had worked as a journalist, playwright and novelist. Biography Enquist was born and raised in , a village in present-day Skellef ...

published a novel, ,(Stockholm: Norstedts), ; English translation by Tiina Nunnally as ''Lewi's Journey'' (New York: Overlook Press, 2005), . which is in part about the interactions between Pethrus and Sven Lidman.

References

External links

Some important dates in the life of Lewi Pethrus
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Pethrus, Lewi 1884 births 1974 deaths People from Vänersborg Municipality Conservatism in Sweden Swedish Protestant hymnwriters Swedish Pentecostal pastors