A History of Christian Doctrine #3 - Online Christian Library

The Charismatic Movement
between Pentecostals and the mainline denominations, he
felt that God was leading him to witness to mainline
Protestants, the World Council of Churches (WCC), and
even the Roman Catholic Church. Over the years, he
developed close ties to leaders in these organizations. He
was received by three popes, he attended all the WCC
international conferences, and he spoke at a number of
mainline Protestant churches. He became known in those
circles as “Mr. Pentecost.”
In most cases, du Plessis gave denominational leaders
their first close encounter with an authentic Pentecostal.
He combined an intelligent theological presentation with
Pentecostal spirituality, contradicting the stereotype of
Pentecostals as poor, lower class, ignorant, and fanatic.
In 1962, du Plessis was forced to withdraw from the
AG, because in effect he advocated ecumenical relations
with the WCC and the Roman Catholic Church, which the
AG opposed. He sometimes made controversial statements
in his pursuit of ecumenism—for instance, commenting
favorably on the papacy and on the supposed
apparitions of Mary—and he urged Charismatics to stay
in their denominational churches. The AG was concerned
about compromise of Pentecostal theology and lifestyle,
especially by recognizing groups that denied essentials of
biblical faith by Evangelical standards. Moreover, the general
superintendent of the AG, Thomas Zimmerman, was
the head of the National Association of Evangelicals,
which was the conservative rival to the National Council
of Churches and the WCC. Eventually, however, the AG
came to accept the Charismatic movement, and du Plessis
was reinstated in 1980.
Another classical Pentecostal influence was David
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