Agnes Beckdal
Agnes Thelle Beckdal (born September 27, 1876, in Andøya in Kristiansand, Norway, died January 17, 1968, in Lakeland, Florida, United States) was a Norwegian Pentecostal missionary. She married fellow missionary Christian Beckdal from Denmark.[1] Together with Dagmar Engstrøm (née Gregersen), she was one of the first two missionaries sent by the Pentecostal Foreign Mission of Norway. Beckdal and Engstrøm left for India as missionaries in 1910, which was to be her profession for over 40 years. She was also among the first to bring the Pentecostal movement to Europe, including Denmark, Germany, Switzerland, and England.
Beckdal was the daughter of Carl Thelle, captain of a factory ship for processing whales. He died shortly after she was born.
Pentecostal revival in Norway
At the end of 1906, British-born Norwegian pastor Thomas Ball Barratt returned to Norway from New York. There he had experienced baptism in the Holy Spirit and speaking in tongues after hearing of the Azusa Street Revival. Upon his return to Norway, he began holding revival meetings and became a key figure in the country's burgeoning Pentecostal movement. Beckdal soon felt a desire to be baptized in the Holy Spirit herself.
Mission trip in Europe
The European Pentecostal revival first began in Norway and led many Europeans to travel to Oslo to experience it. During a private gathering with pastor T.B. Barratt, he was asked if some of the Norwegians who had experienced baptism in the Holy Spirit could come to Germany. It was decided that Beckdal and Engstrøm would go. At the end of 1907 they embarked on a mission trip to countries including Denmark, Germany, Switzerland, England and Scotland. They contributed to the spread of the Pentecostal revival and the beginnings of the Pentecostal movement in Germany. Engstrøm was the guest of honor at the 70th anniversary of the German Pentecostal movement in 1977.
The two traveled to five countries in six months and held revival meetings to packed houses. In England they were present at evangelist Smith Wigglesworth's baptism in the Holy Spirit. In Edinburgh, Scotland, their meetings continued to be well-attended. Arthur Booth-Clibborn, son-in-law of William Booth (Methodist preacher and founder of the Salvation Army), heard about the Norwegian women and the revival in Edinburgh. There he received baptism in the Holy Spirit and began speaking in tongues. Back in Norway, Beckdal and Engstrøm visited several parishes.
India
Together with Engstrøm, Beckdal left for India on March 4, 1910, as part of the Norwegian Pentecostal Foreign Mission. They began in the district of Banda, in northern India, 600 kilometres (370 mi) southeast of New Delhi. The area had approximately one million inhabitants at the time.
Banda, India was chosen due to an experience at a prayer meeting in a home in Oslo, where a young woman was said to have been filled with the Holy Spirit. The woman cried out under prophetic inspiration to Engstrøm: "Dagmar, Dagmar, I will send you to the dark place of Banda".[2]
Beckdal and her husband lived in Nanpara, India.[1] In 1954, after over 40 years in India, she moved to Pinellas Park, Florida. She spent her last days at Bethany Retirement Home in Lakeland, Florida, where she died in 1968 at 91 years of age.
See also
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Norsk pinsekristendom og karismatisk fornyelse. Oslo: REFLEKS-Publishing. 2008. p. 15. ISBN 978-82-996599-8-7. Search this book on
- ↑ Dagmar Engstrøm – trosforkynner og misjonær.
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