Many pastors in North America have complained that the college or seminary that they attended didn’t adequately prepare them for the realities of pastoral ministry—when they graduated, they didn’t feel competent for all aspects of the “job.” Hence, last year, Horizon College & Seminary (where I teach!) made a significant change from time-based education (i.e., […]
Why do some people get healed immediately after prayer, but others never get healed, even after praying for a long time? The short answer is, we don’t know why God chooses to heal some, but not others—at least not for each individual case. Hence, I’m hesitant to ever answer the question beyond this. While there […]
On a couple occasions I’ve been asked about where one might read good theology online. Roger Olson’s Blog: This is the (only) blog that I read most regularly. He is an evangelical Baptist, a former Pentecostal, and a significant voice for Arminian theology in the evangelical world. He writes on theological topics like, John Piper’s Christian Hedonism, […]
In December 2015 the PAOC released another small book. Overall, I was encouraged by the key theme running through this book—theology and mission must and do meet. However, I will focus here on some specific points that stuck with me. Pentecostals and Experience There is no doubt that at the core of Pentecostalism are experiences […]
Following up on the October 2014 survey of PAOC credential holders, Adam Stewart and I had an article called “Missional Vitality and the Future of the PAOC” appear in the Fall 2015 issue of Enrich: The Leadership Magazine of the Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada, p. 22-25. Click on the picture or here to view the article. *Posted here with […]
I was away from home, so I took the opportunity to attend two historic and liturgical churches. One of them was very traditional, while the other church was a little more contemporary, even including a familiar Chris Tomlin song in their worship. As I participated in the liturgies of these services, I took note of […]
Dr. Adam Stewart and I published an article on “Spiritual Vitality among PAOC Credential Holders” in Enrich. One thing we didn’t comment on in the article is an interesting shift regarding the spiritual practices of PAOC credential holders according to their education levels. Back in 1985/86 Carl Verge concluded that “those clergy of the PAOC […]
On the odd occasion my theology class discusses the theology of worship songs. Yesterday a student asked me about the song Days of Elijah, wondering if it seemed to be okay theologically since one church objected to him singing the song. I imagine many people have wondered about this, but even more so what on […]
Some people think of theology as dry. However, theology is found in anything that expresses our ideas of God and all things in relation to God. Hence, theology is found not only in textbooks—it is also found in places like art and music. With respect to worship and music specifically, it is important for us […]
One might think that the experiences of being slain in the Spirit (or “falling under the power of God”) or trembling in the presence of God have only happened in the last hundred years during the contemporary pentecostal-charismatic movement. However, there is a long history of such experiences and they are no stranger to the […]