Is the Wesleyan Church Going to Become Pentecostal?

The Wesleyan Church recently had their General Conference with the theme: "Unleashed." It took place on May 23-25, 2022 and represented a potentially significant identity shift. The last decade or so, the Wesleyan Church has undergone some major shifts in polity and practice (moving to one General Superintendent instead of three, dropping their requirement to abstain from alcohol from their membership requirements, and narrowly preserving the requirement to abstain from alcohol for their clergy and church board members, etc). 

As in every General Conference there were a number of "Memorials" that were proposed. A "memorial" is an amendment or proposed change to some part of the book that details their beliefs, polity, and practice called "The Discipline of the Wesleyan Church". It is much like the Church of the Nazarene's "Manual". Some of the memorials were simply seeking to streamline the denominational infrastructure and polity as the church moves to a regional (versus district) model and some memorials were restating or rearticulating various stances. Many were benign, but Memorial 52 proposed a fundamental change to a long held historic and biblical position by every denomination birthed or shaped by the Holiness Movement of the 1800's.

Memorial 52 transitions the Wesleyan church from a Holiness denomination to a Charismatic denomination. The basic difference between a Charismatic church and a Holiness church has to do ultimately with how the gift of tongues is defined. Part of the committee that developed this Memorial shares an explanation about it in a video found on YouTube. They explain their process and reasoning behind the memorial. The proposed memorial was accepted by the Wesleyan delegates of the General Conference by a vote of 264 to 70 (over 80%). Here is what the memorial stated:

"To promote love, the common good, and orderliness in Christ’s church with reference to the use of the spiritual gift of tongues. The Wesleyan Church believes in the gifts of the miraculous use of tongues and the interpretation of tongues. Speaking, praying or singing in tongues, whether done privately or publicly, is the divinely enabled ability some believers experience to communicate to God words of thanksgiving, praise, and adoration in a language not previously learned. While The Wesleyan Church recognizes that the gift of tongues is given to some believers, there is no single gift that is given to all as evidence of the Spirit’s infilling. The greatest expression of this work is a heart purified by the Holy Spirit and an empowered life of love and service to God and people. If speaking in tongues occurs publicly in a church gathering, Scripture requires one person to speak at a time and an interpretation to be provided so all in attendance, especially unbelievers, may understand and be edified. Pastors and leaders are to exercise discretion in light of these instructions to ensure our gatherings bear the fruit of unity and order in a manner helpful and intelligible to those hearing the Gospel."

A little history: The holiness movement birthed the Pentecostal movement in 1906 during a revival service at Azusa Street in Los Angeles, California. The most significant difference between the Holiness movement and the new Pentecostal movement was the definition of the spiritual gift of speaking in tongues. Throughout church history, at least until 1906, the gift of tongues was understood as overcoming the language barrier. In 1906, the Pentecostal movement, created a linguistical barrier that was without precedent. The definition of the gift of tongues adopted by the Pentecostals had never been articulated in the history of the universal church.

The Pentecostal movement eventually evolved into both the Pentecostal and Charismatic movements. I will not seek to define them in this article as there may a bit of debate on how they would be distinguished from one another, but their definition of the gift of tongues is the same. And this definition is very different from the holiness definition. I do not have time to delve into the issue in this article but can refer you to this article referencing the problem the early Pentecostals had in their new "gift" that required them to redefine the gift of tongues.

The fledgling Pentecostal Church of the Nazarene, founded officially in 1908, dropped the word "Pentecostal" from their name in 1919 at their General Assembly so as to not identify with the "Pentecostal movement." That movement, they would claim, was creating confusion and division among the holiness movement. After the rise of the Pentecostal movement, the Holiness movement quickly responded by strongly opposing this new definition of the gift of tongues for those reasons. The Holiness Movement quickly began to publish a number of books and articles rejecting the new definition of "speaking in tongues." Books like "The Bible Versus the Tongues Theory" or "Spiritual Gifts- Healing and Tongues" (by W. T. Purkiser) or "Speaking in Tongues: A Biblical Analysis" (by Donald Metz) and many, many more.

Memorial 52 serves as an about face for the Wesleyan denomination. It would serve as a total abandonment of their long held current stance for the exact opposite perspective. 

The original statement on tongues in Section 265:10 of the Wesleyan Discipline states:

“To preserve the fellowship and witness of the Church with reference to the use of languages. The Wesleyan Church believes in the miraculous use of languages and the interpretation of languages in its biblical and historical setting. But it is contrary to the Word of God to teach that speaking in an unknown tongue or the gift of tongues is the evidence of the baptism of the Holy Spirit or of that entire sanctification which the baptism accomplishes; therefore, only a language readily understood by the congregation is to be used in public worship. The Wesleyan Church believes that the use of an ecstatic prayer language has no clear scriptural sanction, or any pattern of established historical usage in the Church; therefore, the use of such a prayer language shall not be promoted among us.”

After a strong debate on the floor of the 2022 General Conference, Memorial 52 passed. Since it is a constitutional matter it required a two-thirds vote and it also requires a two-third aggregate vote of the district conferences who must approve it before it will be referred to the Philippines General Conference and the Caribbean General Conference. This Memorial impacts the international charter of the Wesleyan Church and thus must be approved on a number of different levels beyond the General Conference held on May 2022 in Missouri. 

Will the Wesleyan Church leave the Holiness movement for the Pentecostal/Charismatic movement? Or has this General Conference "unleashed" a change that will be rejected by the districts and other international parts of the church?

Check out these other articles:

I Sin Everyday!

What Sanctification is Worth

Cursing, Profanity, and the Tongue