This Week in AG History -- August 10, 1969

“Prayer and Pentecost are intimately related.” Robert C. Cunningham made this observation in a 1969 Pentecostal Evangel editorial column in which he encouraged readers to “keep in vital touch with God through prayer.” Cunningham explained, “Pentecostal people know something about the power of prayer. All we have received from God has come through the avenue of personal prayer.”

However, Cunningham expressed concern that Pentecostals, in some quarters, had lost their spiritual vitality. He warned against prayerless Pentecostalism, which he described as “a dried-up stream devoid of power and beauty.” Without prayer, he wrote, “our lives will be empty and our testimony a hollow echo.” He described prayerless Pentecostals as “miserable” and noted that “we can go through Pentecostal ritual, but without prayer it will be as dry as dust.”

How should Pentecostals pray? Cunningham pointed to Acts 1:14 as a scriptural model: “The disciples were worshiping God, mixing praises with their prayers. They prayed through until their souls burst forth in a torrent of praise.” When the disciples prayed in this way, they encountered God in a miraculous way. He wrote, “They magnified God; their souls became enveloped with the divine glory; the Holy Ghost took full control of their enraptured souls and it was then they began to speak in other tongues the wonderful works of God their souls had been contemplating."

In Cunningham’s estimation, prayer was as important to the disciples as preaching.

What happened when the disciples prayed? The lost were saved, the sick were healed, those who had been arrested and persecuted by hostile authorities were delivered, and the church grew. According to Cunningham, this kind of prayer — that which is powerful and effective (James 5:16) — continues to be needed today. 

Read the entire editorial, "Prayer and Pentecost," on page 4 of the Aug. 10, 1969, issue of the Pentecostal Evangel.  

Also featured in this issue:

• "Revival News Hits the Front Pages," by Arlo A. Johnson

• "What May We Expect of Prayer?" by John W. Everett

• "Revival Comes by Looking," by Dale Harmon  

And many more!

Click here to read this issue now.

Pentecostal Evangel archived editions courtesy of Flower Pentecostal Heritage Center.

Darrin J. Rodgers

Darrin J. Rodgers has served as director of the Flower Pentecostal Heritage Center (FPHC) since 2005. He earned a master's degree in theological studies from Assemblies of God Theological Seminary and a juris doctorate from the University of North Dakota School of Law. He previously served at the David du Plessis Archive and the McAlister Library at Fuller Theological Seminary. He is the author of Northern Harvest , a history of Pentecostalism in North Dakota. His FPHC portfolio includes acquisitions, editing Assemblies of God Heritage magazine, and conducting oral history interviews. His wife, Desiree, is an ordained AG minister.