In an earlier post I noted that discipleship includes more than just telling people to read the Bible and pray, yet it seems that this is often the primary focus when it comes to discipling people (especially new Christians). That is, we tell them to read the Bible and pray every day and send them […]
The PAOC has published another booklet: Generosity Changes Everything…Even Us: Perspectives from a Benevolent Fellowship (2014). I am encouraged to see that the PAOC recognizes that discipleship includes more than just telling people to read the Bible and pray—among other things, it also includes helping people to form proper attitudes and actions. This small book […]
I gave a talk recently on Christianity and the World Religions. My presentation focused on the three most popular world religions outside of Christianity: Islam, Hinduism, and Buddhism. As I prepared my talk, two things struck me. 1. Pluralism doesn’t work I’m defining pluralism here as the idea that there are various religious paths to […]
Here is an excellent article on the idea of apostles in the NT, throughout history, and today, by a well respected and Pentecostal senior scholar: http://pneumareview.com/apostolic-practice-by-vinson-synan/ It isn’t a short one but it is worth the read.
What makes a Pentecostal a Pentecostal? …particularly a PAOC Pentecostal. In the earliest days of the Pentecostal movement in Canada, most of the people attending a Pentecostal church would have spoken in tongues. In fact, the reason that many Christians joined a Pentecostal church was that they were no longer welcome in their previous churches […]
Ephesians 5:24-25 says, “Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything. 25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her.” Usually verse 24 gets all the attention, but I pondered recently what it might mean for me to […]
While I appreciate the fact that some sermons don’t lend themselves to having an altar call, it seems to me (and others that I talk to) that altar calls are becoming less common in Pentecostal churches today (at least in North America). At first less frequent altar calls might seem to be a problem, but is it? […]
Each year for my Church history class I have my students attend Orthodox or Catholic worship services and write a reflection paper on their experience. As I have graded their assignments, I have been struck by their observations regarding worship. These served as important reminders for me. 1. Worship should involve reverence for God A […]
I had a friend ask me for some suggested reading on Christian evaluations of homosexuality (from more than one perspective). I thought I would share my response here. The links in the titles take you to Amazon. Some of the books are also available for partial viewing on googlebooks (for example, see here). BOOKS […]
The PAOC currently has an initiative to encourage “Every Day Faith” (see their web page here). The idea is that people would Pray, Read, Give, and Share every day. This year at my college (Horizon College and Seminary) I led my small group through a discussion series of “Every […]