Daewon Moon Delivers “Spring” Doctoral Lecture
Daewon Moon, a second-year doctoral student at the School of Theology, gave an inspiring and thought-provoking presentation on the East African Revival, titled “The Remarkable Partnership in the East African Revival” at the Spring Semester Doctoral Lecture and Lunch CGCM sponsored on Wednesday. The “partnership” referred to is that between a British medical missionary, Joe Church, and indigenous African leaders, mostly from Buganda. It had a profound effect in East Africa and spread internationally.
After briefly introducing the origin and development of this 1930s-era Revival, he suggested four distinguishing characteristics of the revival: First of all, small group fellowship meetings, not large-size rallies, were crucial means of spreading the movement. Second, the Revival was Christocentric, with emphasis on the authentic experience of the saving power of Jesus and confessing sins, not on the experience of the second blessing, which is normally called the baptism of the Holy Spirit, although it was influenced by the Keswick movement. Third, the church was unified throughout the Revival, not begetting new independent sects. Finally, the Revival provided the participants a new identity as a new clan in Christ.
His clear and sparkling presentation was evidently very stimulating to the audience and was followed by numerous questions/follow-up questions that produced a lively discussion among the students present.