Bernt Berntsen (Chinese: , January 1, 1863 – October 16, 1933), also known as Brother B. Berntsen, was a

Norwegian-American Norwegian Americans () are Americans with ancestral roots in Norway. Norwegian immigrants went to the United States primarily in the latter half of the 19th century and the first few decades of the 20th century. There are more than 4.5 milli ...

Protestant Christian missionary to

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

. In 1904, Berntsen and his wife Magna were able to preach along with several other

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in Pennsylvania, United States * Independentes (English: Independents), a Portuguese artist ...

Norwegian missionaries in a

mission station A Christian mission is an organized effort to carry on evangelism, in the name of the Christian faith. Missions involve sending individuals and groups across boundaries, most commonly geographical boundaries. Sometimes individuals are sent and ...

in Damingfu of

Zhili Province Zhili, alternately romanized as Chihli, was a northern administrative region of China since the 14th century that lasted through the Ming dynasty and Qing dynasty until 1911, when the region was dissolved, converted to a province, and renamed ...

. Influenced by the 1906

Azusa Street Revival The Azusa Street Revival was a historic series of revival meetings that took place in Los Angeles, California. It was led by William J. Seymour, an African-American preacher. The revival began on April 9, 1906, and continued until roughly 191 ...

, he later founded the Apostolic Faith Mission in China (later amalgamated with the

Assemblies of God The World Assemblies of God Fellowship (WAGF), commonly known as the Assemblies of God (AG), is a global cooperative body or communion of over 170 Pentecostal denominations that was established on August 15, 1989. The WAGF was created to provi ...

) with a group of American missionaries associated with the

Pentecostal movement Pentecostalism or classical Pentecostalism is a movement within the broader Evangelical wing of Protestant Christianity that emphasizes direct personal experience of God through baptism with the Holy Spirit. The term ''Pentecostal'' is derived f ...

. His evangelism had a profound influence on the early co-workers of the

True Jesus Church The True Jesus Church (TJC) is a non-denominational Christian Church, with Oneness Pentecostal theology, that originated in Beijing, China, during the Pentecostal movement in the early twentieth century. The True Jesus Church is currently one ...

, namely Zhang Lingsheng and Paul Wei, and he is regarded as one of the early missionary progenitors of

Pentecostalism in China Pentecostalism or classical Pentecostalism is a movement within the broader Evangelical wing of Protestantism, Protestant Christianity that emphasizes direct personal experience of God in Christianity, God through Baptism with the Holy Spirit#Cl ...

Early life

Bernt Berntsen was born in

Larvik Larvik () is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Vestfold county, Norway. It is located in the Traditional districts of Norway, traditional district of Vestfold. The administrative centre of the municipality is the Larvik (town) ...

, in

Vestfold Vestfold () is a county and a current electoral district in Norway. Located on the western shore of the Oslofjord, it borders Buskerud and Telemark counties. The county administration is located in Tønsberg, Norway's oldest city, and the larg ...

county,

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

. Married to Magna Berg (1867–1935), he emigrated to the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

in 1893 and was employed as a storekeeper in a local

grocery store A grocery store ( AE), grocery shop or grocer's shop ( BE) or simply grocery is a retail store that primarily retails a general range of food products, which may be fresh or packaged. In everyday US usage, however, "grocery store" is a synon ...

.R. G. Tiedemann, ''Handbook of Christianity in China: 1800 to the Present'', p.550 He resided in Chicago,

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its west, and the Wabash River, Wabash and Ohio River, Ohio rivers to its ...

, for seven years and was naturalized as a

United States citizen Citizenship of the United States is a legal status that entails Americans with specific rights, duties, protections, and benefits in the United States. It serves as a foundation of fundamental rights derived from and protected by the Constitu ...

at the

Circuit Court Circuit courts are court systems in several common law jurisdictions. It may refer to: * Courts that literally sit 'on circuit', i.e., judges move around a region or country to different towns or cities where they will hear cases; * Courts that s ...

Cook County, Illinois Cook County is the List of counties in Illinois, most populous county in the U.S. state of Illinois and the List of the most populous counties in the United States, second-most-populous county in the United States, after Los Angeles County, C ...

, on September 6, 1904. His son, Henry Berntsen, was born at Chicago in August 1900.

Commitment to service

In 1904, along with his wife and two young boys, Berntsen sailed for China and joined the

non-denominational A non-denominational person or organization is one that does not follow (or is not restricted to) any particular or specific religious denomination. The term has been used in the context of various faiths, including Jainism, Baháʼí Faith, Zoro ...

South Zhili Mission which had been founded by Horace William Houlding in Damingfu of

since 1901.

Pentecostal encounter in America

In December 1906, Berntsen came across an early publication of ''The Apostolic Faith'' from Los Angeles which detailed the events of the

. In 1907, he journeyed to the Centennial Missionary Conference in Shanghai with the hope of finding someone who had experienced the Baptism of the Holy Spirit, the people there told him it was the 'work of the devil'. Although he was convinced that there was more to it than what the critics were saying, he nevertheless returned to the place of his ministry. After receiving a letter from a friend in Chicago who wrote that she had received the Baptism of the Holy Spirit, Berntsen sailed back to America to see this revival firsthand. In August 1907, he made a trip to

Seattle Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...

where he encountered Martin L. Ryan holding group prayer meetings there. Although Berntsen sought for the baptism of the Holy Spirit but did not receive it. He then journeyed to

Oakland, California Oakland is a city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area in the U.S. state of California. It is the county seat and most populous city in Alameda County, California, Alameda County, with a population of 440,646 in 2020. A major We ...

, and attended prayer meetings held by William F. Manley, but again he did not receive it. Berntsen ultimately travelled to Azusa Street Mission in Los Angeles where he received the

Baptism of the Holy Spirit In Christian theology, baptism with the Holy Spirit, also called baptism in the Holy Spirit or baptism in the Holy Ghost, has been interpreted by different Christian denominations and traditions in a variety of ways due to differences in the doctr ...

through

speaking in tongues Speaking in tongues, also known as glossolalia, is an activity or practice in which people utter words or speech-like sounds, often thought by believers to be languages unknown to the speaker. One definition used by linguists is the fluid voc ...

on September 15, 1907. After the Mission leaders heard his testimony, they agreed to give some financial support to his missionary work in China. Upon his trip back to Seattle, Berntsen and a group of eleven adult Pentecostal missionaries gathered together to form a non-denominational ''

Apostolic Faith Mission Apostolic Faith Mission is the name of several Pentecostal congregations and denominations, and may refer to: * Apostolic Faith Mission (Brooklyn), New York City *Apostolic Faith Mission of South Africa * Apostolic Faith Mission Church of God, Mobi ...

''.

Return to China

They sailed to

in 1908 to form the

Zhengding Zhengding (), originally Zhending (), is a county in southwestern Hebei Province, North China, located approximately south of Beijing, capital of China. It is under the administration of the prefecture-level city of Shijiazhuang, the capital of t ...

Mission in

Hebei Province Hebei is a Provinces of China, province in North China. It is China's List of Chinese administrative divisions by population, sixth-most populous province, with a population of over 75 million people. Shijiazhuang is the capital city. It bor ...

. Due to the lack of fluency in the language, four of the missionaries later left for Shanghai to learn the

Chinese language Chinese ( or ) is a group of languages spoken natively by the ethnic Han Chinese majority and List of ethnic groups in China, many minority ethnic groups in China, as well as by various communities of the Chinese diaspora. Approximately 1.39& ...

whilst Berntsen and his wife along with several others began spreading the Pentecostal message to the local populace. Berntsen encountered considerable resistance from some established missionary groups, nevertheless he always hoped to convince other Western missionaries. He wrote: He rented a store building where he held meetings during the morning and evening, drawing good-sized crowds especially from among the poor. In January 1910, Berntsen had led a number of the poorest people in the region to the Lord and described his work as a "rescue mission". By March that same year, he was caring for thirty orphaned children and a number of people who were disabled, blind, mute, and other outcasts. Between April and November 1910, Berntsen visited Norway, Sweden and Denmark before returning to China directly from Northern Europe.Department Passport Application of Bernt Berntsen, dated September 4, 1919 Berntsen also maintained contacts with the emerging Pentecostal movement in Norway, led by

Thomas Ball Barratt Thomas Ball Barratt, also known as T. B. Barratt, (22 July 1862 – 29 January 1940) was a British-born Norwegian pastor and one of the founding figures of the Pentecostal movement in Europe, bringing the movement, or baptism in the Holy Spirit ...

and Erik Andersen Nordquelle. His daughter Ruth (1910–1947) was born in

Guangxi Guangxi,; officially the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, is an Autonomous regions of China, autonomous region of the China, People's Republic of China, located in South China and bordering Vietnam (Hà Giang Province, Hà Giang, Cao Bằn ...

in August 1910. In 1912, they printed a Chinese-language publication named ''Popular Gospel Truths'' which emphasized on the importance of receiving the

baptism of the Holy Spirit In Christian theology, baptism with the Holy Spirit, also called baptism in the Holy Spirit or baptism in the Holy Ghost, has been interpreted by different Christian denominations and traditions in a variety of ways due to differences in the doctr ...

. They remained at the Zhengding Mission until 1916. Among those baptised were Zhang Lingsheng (in 1910) and Paul Wei (in 1916).

Later life

Starting from 1914 onwards, Berntsen and many of the Apostolic Faith Mission missionaries in China became affiliated with the Assemblies of God. During 1916, Berntsen was approached by Zhang Lingsheng, who after having read tracts published by the

Seventh-day Adventists The Seventh-day Adventist Church (SDA) is an Adventist Protestant Christian denomination which is distinguished by its observance of Saturday, the seventh day of the week in the Christian (Gregorian) and the Hebrew calendar, as the Sabba ...

, advised Berntsen that he also keep the Seventh-day worship. He agreed to do so and on September 1, 1916, Berntsen announced on the thirteenth edition of the ''Popular Gospel Truth'' publication that they would be holding Seventh-day worship from now on. In 1917, Berntsen published a tract titled "The Viewpoint on Seventh-day Sabbath worship in China", which mentioned that worshipping on the Western Sabbath day is equivalent to worshipping on Sunday in China. He reasons: . However Paul Wei was opposed to keeping the Sabbath on a Sunday and dismissed the tract's viewpoints of the Sabbath as "erroneous". Zhang Lingsheng travelled to Beijing to peacefully persuade Paul to change his stance, but after several discussions together, Zhang himself understood and gradually accepted Paul's viewpoint. Hence in the spring of 1918, Zhang and Paul cooperated as co-workers, announced at the

Tianjin Tianjin is a direct-administered municipality in North China, northern China on the shore of the Bohai Sea. It is one of the National Central City, nine national central cities, with a total population of 13,866,009 inhabitants at the time of the ...

chapel that they were to be keeping the Sabbath worship on a Saturday and thus formed their independent

Pentecostal Pentecostalism or classical Pentecostalism is a movement within the broader Evangelical wing of Protestantism, Protestant Christianity that emphasizes direct personal experience of God in Christianity, God through Baptism with the Holy Spirit#Cl ...

Sabbatarian Sabbatarianism advocates the observation of the Sabbath in Christianity, in keeping with the Ten Commandments. The observance of Sunday as a day of worship and rest is a form of first-day Sabbatarianism, a view which was historically heralded ...

''. During the middle of 1919, Berntsen clarified his viewpoint regarding the Sabbath on the ''Popular Gospel Truth'' publication, . By 1919, Berntsen had become affiliated with the Pentecostal Assemblies of the World, Church of God.

Death

Berntsen died at the German Hospital at

Beiping "Beijing" is from pinyin ''Běijīng,'' which is romanized from , the Chinese name for this city. The pinyin system of transliteration was approved by the Chinese government in 1958, but little used until 1979. It was gradually adopted by various ...

, China, on October 16, 1933, due to

heart failure Heart failure (HF), also known as congestive heart failure (CHF), is a syndrome caused by an impairment in the heart's ability to Cardiac cycle, fill with and pump blood. Although symptoms vary based on which side of the heart is affected, HF ...

.Death of Mr. Bernt Berntsen in China
See "Report of the Death of an American Citizen", date-stamped on August 27, 1935

Published works

* ''Popular Gospel Truths'' (Chinese: , , 1912)

References, notes and further reading