- Graham Pulkingham
-
The Reverend W. Graham Pulkingham (September 14, 1926 - April 16, 1993)[1] was the rector at the Church of the Redeemer in Houston, Texas, from 1963 until 1975.[2][3] He and his wife Betty began the developments that led to the founding of the Community of Celebration and the worship band The Fisherfolk. He wrote several influential books including They Left Their Nets, and spoke worldwide at meetings and conferences.[4][5]
Contents
Birth, childhood and education
W. Graham Pulkingham was born on September 14, 1926, in Alliance, Ohio, and brought up in Ontario, Canada. He pursued graduate studies in music at the University of Texas and later received his training for the priesthood at the Seminary of the Southwest in Austin, Texas. He graduated in 1956 after having served in the U. S. Navy during the Korean War. [6][7]
Building up a run down church in Houston
Graham Pulkingham took over as rector at the Church of the Redeemer in September 1963 and found it in a very poor state. Few people attended, and although the institutional forms were still carried out weekly, there was a sense of terminal decay. By 1966 there was a thriving community providing practical and spiritual needs and reaching out to the people living in the surrounding area. And by 1972 the average weekly attendance figure had reached 2,200.
The Church of the Redeemer, unable to carry out the extensive repairs needed on the building, closed in 2011 with a congregation of 70.[8] However, while the physical church building closed its doors, the congregation continues to worship and minister to the community. They are currently sharing a worship space with a nearby Lutheran church. [9]
International ministry
The work at Houston became widely known through speaking engagements and publications. Out of this grew a developing international ministry of praise and worship, community living, music, and a worldwide teaching and preaching role for Graham Pulkingham throughout the 1970s and 1980s.[10] He was influential in South Africa, Australia and New Zealand between 1970 and 1975, encouraging Christians there to recognise their part in the worldwide renewal of the time.[11]
Leading figure in the Charismatic movement
He was one of a number of key people involved in the early days of the Charismatic movement, writing a number of books, recording teaching cassettes, and speaking at many international events. In 1972 Graham Pulkingham moved to Scotland where he set up a community at the Cathedral of the Isles in Millport on the Isle of Cumbrae.[12] The Community of Celebration begun by him and his wife is still in existence.[13]
Circumstances of death
On April 1, 1993, while he and his wife were shopping in a Winn Dixie Supermarket in Burlington, North Carolina, a gunman fired upon store employees, killing one person. During that attack Pulkingham suffered a heart attack and died following complications on April 16, 1993.[14][15][2] Prior to his death, in 1992, he was suspended temporarily from the priesthood after admitting he had an affair with a man, whose wife said the relationship destroyed their marriage.
Bibliography
Books published by Graham Pulkingham include the following:
- Pulkingham, W Graham: "Gathered for power". New York, Morehouse-Barlow Co. 1972. ISBN 0819211303
- Pulkingham, W Graham: "They Left Their Nets: A Vision for Community Ministry". Hodder and Stoughton Limited, 1974. ISBN 0 340 18553 8
- Pulkingham, Graham, Hinton; Jeanne: "Renewal: an emerging pattern". Celebration Publications, 1980. ISBN 0906309107
References
- ^ Duin, Julia (September 2009). Days of Fire and Glory: The Rise and Fall of a Charismatic Community. Baltimore, MD: Crossland Press. ISBN 978-0979027970. OCLC 426816935.
- ^ a b "Ailing minister dies two weeks after shoot out". April 17, 1993. http://docs.newsbank.com/g/GooglePM/GB/lib00157,0EAF84E2C9DD3155.html. "Complications from a heart attack he suffered during an April 1 grocery store shoot-out."
- ^ "Episcopal Leader Scheduled at Truro". Washington Post. February 13, 1971. http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/washingtonpost_historical/access/157094762.html?dids=157094762:157094762&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&date=FEB+13%2C+1971&author=&pub=The+Washington+Post&desc=Episcopal+Leader+Scheduled+at+Truro&pqatl=google.
- ^ Pulkingham, W Graham: "They Left Their Nets: A Vision for Community Ministry". Hodder and Stoughton Limited, 1974. ISBN 0 340 18553 8
- ^ Harper, Michael: "A new way of living; how the Church of the Redeemer, Houston, found a new life-style". Plainfield, N.J., Logos International, 1973. ISBN 0882700669
- ^ Duin, Julia (2009). Days of Fire and Glory. Crossland Press. ISBN 10:0-9790279-7-7.
- ^ The Voice of Integrity, Vol. 2 No. 4, Fall 1992 (retrieved March 27, 2008)
- ^ Kate Shellnut, HOUSTON: Unable to pay millions needed for repairs, East End Episcopal Church will open doors for last time, Houston Chronicle Feb. 25, 2011.
- ^ Kate Shellnut, Joyful noise is going silent. Unable to pay millions needed for repairs, East End church will open doors for last time, Houston Chronicle Feb. 25, 2011.
- ^ Episcopal News Service Archive (retrieved July 1, 2007)
- ^ Breward, Ian: "A History of the Churches in Australasia". Oxford University Press, 2001. pp 329-330, ISBN 0 198 26356 2
- ^ Celebration UK, Library (retrieved July 1, 2007)
- ^ "Episcopal priest admits his role in sex scandal". Denver Post Religion. August 30, 1992. http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_product=DP&p_theme=dp&p_action=search&p_maxdocs=200&p_topdoc=1&p_text_direct-0=0EB1DB441399C491&p_field_direct-0=document_id&p_perpage=10&p_sort=YMD_date:D&s_trackval=GooglePM.
- ^ Duin, Julia (2009). Days of Fire and Glory. Crossland Press. ISBN 10:0-9790279-7-7.
- ^ "Gunman Kills One in Busy Market", Peter Khoury and Donal Patterson, Greensboro News and Record, April 2, 1993
External links
Categories:- American Charismatics
- 1926 births
- 1993 deaths
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.
