Echoes of the Awakening

In 1902, shortly after Pastor Willis Hoover took charge of the Valparaíso Methodist Church, an intense revival began that eventually gave rise to the Chilean Pentecostal movement. The Valparaíso revival reached its climax in 1909, but in August of that year, the sudden charismatic leadership of “Sister Elena” (Nelly Laidlaw) attracted the attention of the pastors of the First and Second Methodist churches in Santiago (Rice and Robinson). On September 12, when Elena visited both churches, the pastors refused her request to address the congregations, becoming a pivotal moment in the history of the movement. According to local accounts, Chilean Pentecostalism was born that day. Juan Kessler (1967) offers the most rigorous and influential academic reconstruction of the events of that day, although he provides a very negative evaluation of Sister Elena as well as the reasons for the Pentecostal schism. However, Kessler did not consider the story or the reflections put forth by Enrique Jara in the newspaper Chile Evanjelico (Concepción, November 19, 1909), published under the title “Echoes of awakening in Santiago.” This chapter will introduce and revisit Jara’s account of the events of that fateful day.