‘Equipped to serve’: The British Pentecostal Movement's early attempts at training for mission work

Abstract

Training for mission in early British Pentecostalism was a ‘norm’. With Cecil Polhill, a member of the China Inland Mission (CIM) and one of the famed Cambridge seven who went to China in 1887, as their leading coordinator, the principles and practice of Faith Missions were inculcated into the early Pentecostal Missionaries. Indeed some principles were more radical than even those of the CIM.2 See L. Goodwin, ‘The Pneumatological Motivation and Influences of the Cambridge Seven’,JEPTA 30.2 2010 pp. 21-38 Within the first years of establishing the Pentecostal Missionary Union (PMU), there were two schools, one for men and one for women. We trace here their development and influence on long term mission.