Tales of Visiting a Oneness United Pentecostal Church

Oneness Pentecostal Pulpit

It was early Sunday morning, and we were driving down the highway just outside the city to an “Apostolic” church that is a part of the largest Oneness denomination in the world—the United Pentecostal Church International (UPCI). This was about to be my first experience in a Oneness worship service. As we turned into the church driveway, I thought that this could be [. . .]

Speaking in Tongues as Encoded Spiritual Information (Non-Language)

Speaking in Tongues Encoding Information

Linguists who analyze glossolalia (speaking in tongues) generally conclude that in many cases it does not fully meet the characteristics of human language. Critics sometimes use this finding to dismiss tongues completely. In contrast, an examination of what constitutes spiritual information can help us affirm tongues as Spirit-enabled communication […]

Pentecostal Women in Ministry: Ambiguity and Affirmation in the PAOC

Pentecostal Preaching Woman

Some Pentecostals are proud to say that Pentecostals affirm women in ministry. They might point to the leadership of the Azusa Street Revival in Los Angeles (one of the most influential centers of early North American Pentecostalism), where about half of the leaders were women. As Pentecostal denominations formed, some churches continued to give prominent place to women leaders. Most, however, placed restrictions on women’s ministry and leadership in some form […]

The Changing of the PAOC’s Statement of Faith … Again [with Video]

History of the PAOC Statement of Faith SOFET

The Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada (PAOC) is in a process of again refreshing its Statement of Fundamental and Essential Truths (SOFET). The denomination has a long history of refreshing its statement of faith, even with minor revisions as recent as 2014. This time the PAOC’s Theological Study Commission has begun steps toward refreshing the whole […]

#MeToo and the Church

#PentecostalSistersToo

God silent

The lid began coming off last Fall: #metoo. We heard numerous, painful stories from seemingly all walks of life. We Pentecostal women waited for the response of our leaders. It seemed to me to be low-hanging fruit; I mean, how hard is it to name the sin of rape? But….crickets. […]