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A History of William Sowders'
Ministry From Its Pentecostal
Foundations To The Gospel of the Kingdom By September, 1994 Almost a
score of years ago, as the result of a most unusual experience with the Lord,
my thoughts were turned toward the kingdom of heaven. Some how -- I didn't
then understand why -- it seemed important that I investigate the life and
work of William Sowders. Realizing that the memory of this man was scattered
among a number of people and sources, and that many of these people were
already falling asleep, I determined that I should interview these people and
write a full and complete account of this man's history and ministry that it
might be preserved for the people of God. This project has become known in
several churches deriving from his ministry; and many people have been
helpful in providing materials so as to make this project possible. These,
and others who have heard about this project, have been eagerly waiting for
me to show some results. I have not finished this project, and I certainly
hesitate to write much when I have not completed collecting and studying all
the available information. Still, there are certain areas of William Sowders'
ministry about which, now, I can write with some degree of confidence. In the
recent ministers meeting at Some may
wonder, "What is the purpose of all this history, all this attention to
Brother Sowders?" They may agree with Henry Ford, "History is
bunk." It ain't salvation. You don't need to
know all that. Well, maybe. But, it might be that you will need to know this
story in order to be saved. This, after all, is the story of the gospel of
the Kingdom, which will be preached to all the
world. Biblical religion is distinguished from all other religions in that it
is much concerned with history -- the creation of the world, its corruption
by sin, the incarnation of Christ, and the restoration of the world through
Christ. These are things which actually happened, which someone had to tell,
which you need to know. Real history is about people. The Bible itself
focuses on individuals, not only Jesus, but Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob,
Joseph, Moses, Samuel, David, Elijah, John the Baptist, Peter, and Paul.
Since the time of Paul individuals have continued to be important to the
preservation of the faith, and to the restoration of the truth: John Wycliff, Martin Luther, George Fox, John
Wesley. Understand, my purposes for doing this history is not to compose a
sentimental history of the man for old timers, or for those who live only in
the past. Neither is it to develop a sanitized organizational history of one
of the several movements connected with his faith and works, making
everything in the past sound glorious, trying to connect the present
leadership to the glorious past. Rather, I was hungry to know the reality of
those wondrous works of God surrounding this man, and to know something of
the roots of my own faith. Someone
had a dream about this fellowship connected with the faith and work of
William Sowders. After Sowders death, the people came to a fork in the road.
The vast majority of the people took the wrong turn at that fork. They went some
ways down the wrong road until they came to a bridge. The bridge itself was
broken down, and there was a great wreck at the bridge. After the wreck
people began to turn back in the direction in which they came. Eventually
they got back to the fork, and then they took the right road. The
interpretation of this dream should be rather plain to everyone who knows
about the history of this group of people in the past forty years. This
explains why for the past few years it seems that the body of Christ has been
going back to its roots. This does not mean that it is going to go back to
the forks and not move ahead. It is going back to Sowders simply to get on
the right road. One of the
teachings of Brother Sowders concerned the importance of walking in the
"present truth" or the "present light". What this means
is that God works in accordance with the particular situation and a
particular time, and therefore one must continue to seek God for new
situations and conditions. This revelation is in contrast with traditional
Christianity's idea that the church is the blessed possessor of eternal
truth. The notion of development and progress is completely absence from the
official churches. Why, after all, is there any need for these blessed
possessors to seek truth since they already have it? If there is any place
for a spiritual journey, it belongs solely to individuals. There is no idea
of all the people being led by God from situation to situation, and from
dispensation to dispensation. Those blessed possessors couldn't possibly be
the Israel of God. If the
truth is all in hand there is no goal at the end of the journey for the
people as a whole. By contrast with this dead and static concept of the
church, Brother Sowders had what can be described as an historical understanding
of the church. In recent years, certain scholars have noted that the concept
of history itself derives from the Bible. God is a God who acts in history.
He makes history. He created the world; destroyed the first civilization by a
great flood; chose Abraham by whose descendents he would bless all the
peoples of the world; delivered his people from Egypt through mighty acts by
which they were to remember from generation to generation. Finally, he sent
his Son into the world -- into history -- for the means of salvation of all
men. That salvation does not come through an eternal truth separate from
himself which Jesus proclaimed, but that salvation can only be obtained
through trust in the historical Jesus, who is the living Lord. Nor is he merely
-- I say merely because I do not deny that he is in part a mystical Christ
separated from history or manifesting himself in various appearances, though
only as himself -- but the salvation of every individual depends on this one
thing that happened about two thousand years ago: the obedience of Jesus to
death on the cross. |
