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Zelma and Beulah Argue: Sisters in the Canadian Pentecostal Movement, 1920-1990

In April 1925, The Pentecostal Testimony reported on the Argue sisters’ American Midwest tour, citing a “wonderful meeting,” and “prais[ing] God for this great meeting.” This paper traces the lives of Zelma Argue and Beulah Argue Smith, who traveled widely in evangelistic crusades in Canada and the United States. Zelma, better known in Pentecostal circles today, remained single; Beulah married a well-known Canadian Pentecostal minister and had four children. Based on the sisters’ work as portrayed in The Pentecostal Testimony (the national denominational magazine of the Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada) 1920-1990, my paper considers the gendered aspects of the Argue sisters’ ministries, how their lives reflected themes in the larger story of North American Pentecostal women during the first half of the 1900s. Zelma Argue, born in 1900 in North Dakota, was the eldest daughter of Andrew Harvey (A.H.) and Eva Phillips Argue. Beulah was born six years later, after the family’s move to Winnipeg, where they played a major role in the Canadian Pentecostal movement. In 1939, on the death of their mother, the PT made it clear that the entire Argue family was heavily involved in ministry; they were: