David du Plessis (1905—1987)
Country of Origin
-
South Africa
Countries/Regions of Ministry
- South Africa
- Western Europe
- United States
Traditions
- Pentecostal
Ministries
- revivalist
- pastor
In the spring of 1960, a Methodist bishop and twenty of his superintendents and officials sat together in a room to meet a very different kind of clergyman: David Johannes du Plessis. Though he was living in the United States by then, du Plessis had spent the first four decades of life in South Africa, where sharp lines were drawn between blacks and whites and between mainline denominations and Pentecostals. His hosts that day, however, sought renewal. He recounted:
The great complaint was a "powerless ministry" and "churches that are spiritually dead." As I sat where they sat, I was astonished to hear the humble confessions of men that hunger for a real heaven-sent Holy Spirit Revival. Such contrition cannot go without the reward of the Lord.
Du Plessis spoke with clarity about the work of the Holy Spirit to the Methodist council, saying “The New Testament is not a record of what happened in one generation, but it is a blueprint of what should happen in every generation, until Jesus comes. Every generation must be regenerated by the Spirit.” Questions followed, of which the last was perhaps the most telling. The leaders asked him, “Why is it that you are the only Pentecostal we have yet found who will come to us in love and show such an interest in our spiritual welfare?”
Du Plessis frankly admitted that, ten years earlier, he likely would not have joined the meeting. In his autobiography, The Spirit Bade Me Go, he told about a similar gathering in Connecticut:
I could remember days when I had wished I could have set my eyes upon such men to denounce their theology and pray the judgment of God upon them for what I considered their heresies and false doctrines…. [But] after a few introductory words, I suddenly felt a warm glow come over me. I knew this was the Holy Spirit taking over, but, what was He doing to me? Instead of the old harsh spirit of criticism and condemnation in my heart, I now felt such love and compassion for these ecclesiastical leaders that I would rather have died for them than pass sentence upon them.
Decades earlier, in 1936, du Plessis had received a bold prophecy from British evangelist Smith Wigglesworth, that a change of focus in his ministry would come. Following World War II, du Plessis helped bring various Pentecostal groups together in world conferences (e.g., Zurich 1947, Paris 1949, London 1952). Notably, when he reached out to the Presbyterian president of Princeton Theological Seminary, John Alexander Mackay, about critical remarks regarding Latin American Pentecostals, du Plessis was kindly received there—and invited to an upcoming meeting of the International Missionary Council in Germany. There he met dozens of traditional leaders and was asked to speak. It was the beginning of his presence at many World Council of Churches (WCC) events.
Soon du Plessis was giving lectures at major seminaries including Yale, Union, and Princeton. His listeners started calling him “Mr. Pentecost.” At the WCC’s Commission on Faith and Order meeting in St. Andrews, Scotland, in August 1960, he was the Friday night speaker. He traced the rise of the worldwide Pentecostal movement but quoted reputable mainline scholars; it was an appeal for interaction, not isolation.
Du Plessis chose his words carefully. He often spoke about tongues as a "consequence" or "confirmation" of the Holy Spirit’s infilling, rather than the traditional "evidence" used in many Pentecostal statements of faith. His bridge-building made some Pentecostals nervous, as they recalled the expulsions their forefathers had endured by churches that du Plessis was now befriending.
In 1961, the National Association of Evangelicals magazine called him to back away from his ecumenical work. The president of the magazine was at the time the general superintendent of the Assemblies of God, with which du Plessis held ordination. Du Plessis prayed about the matter and sought counsel. When, the next year, the Assemblies of God asked him to surrender his credentials, he quietly complied. (The denomination reversed itself on this in 1980.) Wherever du Plessis went, he advised mainstream colleagues to keep being a voice for the Spirit-filled life in their present environments. He told an interviewer from Fuller Theological Seminary, that when asked what Pentecostal group someone filled by the Spirit should join, he would say: “Stay in your church, because I believe I have a very clear assignment from the Lord never to invite anybody out of his or her church or suggest any change of churches. Stay in your church. God is going to do a wonderful thing….”
Later, du Plessis played in a role in negotiating the concerns over the Episcopalian Father Dennis Bennett's reception of the Holy Spirit. When Bennett asked for advice about whether he should leave the denomination or ask his Bishop for another assignment, du Plessis recommended the latter. He believed with all his heart that “to be Pentecostal you have to be ecumenical, and to remain Pentecostal you have to be ecumenical…. You cannot create unity. You cannot organize unity. But you must expect unity to come about by a creation of the Holy Spirit.”
Du Plessis was subsequently invited by a Catholic cardinal to attend the third session of Vatican II. He helped a Benedictine monk, Fr. Killian McDonnell, put together the International Roman Catholic-Pentecostal Dialogue and served as its co-chair for the first ten sessions. Over the years, du Plessis was given audiences with three different popes (John XXIII, Paul VI, and John Paul II). In 1983, the papacy bestowed upon him the golden Benemerenti (“Good Merit”) medal for excellent “service to all Christianity.” He was the first non-Catholic in history to receive this honor and paved the way for gracious Pentecostal-Catholic dialogue to continue and bear fruit.
Further Reading
- The Spirit Bade Me Go.