“Re-vival, Re-newal, Re-union. Pentecostalism isn’t about God doing a new thing, it is about a Re-turn to apostolic doctrine, experience and mission.” – Ruthie Oberg
What does it mean to have a Reunion of our Pentecostal Identity, and where are the Pentecostals in Newfoundland and Labrador headed?
Rev. Ruthie Oberg from the Assemblies of God Flower Heritage Centre spoke this year at both our Pastors Prayer Summit and Prime Time Retreat, and emphasized frequently that if you want to discern where you are in the present, and where you might be headed in the future, you need to pay close attention to the past. I am with Rev. Ruthie. While it is important to reflect on our specific history here in NL, it is even more essential to interpret our shared experience through the much more ancient Pentecostal narrative in the book of Acts. I want to reflect in this article specifically on Presence, Pioneering, and Passion for the Lost as viewed through these two lenses (a microscope and a telescope, if you will).
Presence is the heart, not only of Pentecostalism, but of all of the scriptures. The hope from the first verse of Genesis to the last word of Revelation is that the presence of God would flood the whole earth, that we would experience the kingdom of God on earth as it is in heaven. A foundational text for Pentecostals, Acts 2:17 is quoted from an ancient prophecy in Joel, and is anticipated throughout the older testament – the hope of God pouring out His Spirit on all people.
Pentecostals value the presence of God, the call to piety, and how these anticipate our blessed hope. All of our significant stories of formation in early Pentecostalism here in Newfoundland and Labrador showcase this value. There was an emphasis on personal holiness, and spiritual disciplines like prayer, study, worship, fasting, testimony, and tarrying (waiting on God).
You will find that vibrant Pentecostal churches across our province today still hold this value as central. The songs, prayer meetings, Bible study methods, and forms of testimony may have changed to reflect their context, but the heart remains. These churches are attractive because this Pentecostal value resonates with the deep need of people today – to experience the reality of God, and to be formed in a community that genuinely lives like He is real and working in the world.
Our core doctrine of Baptism in the Holy Spirit is connected both to our value of the Presence of God and our passion for lost people. Again and again in the book of Acts, believers are filled with the Spirit for the sake of others. The pouring out of the Spirit resulted in people being saved (2:41), boldness to speak (4:31), needs being met (4:34), commissioning (9:17), the challenging of our ideas of who is in and out (10:44-47), and of apostles being sent throughout the world (13:3).
There are Pentecostals in our province today because of one woman who was filled with the Holy Spirit, and inspired by the Holy Spirit to go. Passion for lost people, birthed in us through the Baptism in the Holy Spirit, is the reason that we have grown to 100 churches and tens of thousands of Pentecostal believers in our province today. I would argue that while tongues is the initial sign of being filled with the Holy Spirit, the greatest evidence of Spirit Baptism is an others-orientation of our lives. Do we love the lost?
This leads to pioneering. In Acts, the Holy Spirit is a sending agent. My first week in office as MDSI Director, I took the time to re-read “The History of the Pentecostal Assemblies of Newfoundland” by Burton Janes. In that volume, you will find story after story of ordinary people (usually lay people), who made extraordinary sacrifices to bring the Pentecostal message to new places. Through dreams and visions, conversations, words of knowledge at prayer meetings, and seemingly serendipitous circumstances, despite great personal sacrifice, our early pioneers established communities of faith and new preaching points at an explosive rate.
My heart is that we would recapture this value in our day. And it is happening. We celebrate today the churches that are planting other churches, or who have outreach pastors in strategic communities, our Home Missions pastors who have a vision bigger than just their community, our multiplying Campus Ministry, our first PAONL church planting cohort, and every disciple who is making disciples here in the PAONL. The Holy Spirit is the most creative Person in existence. As we pray, ask, and seek after His Presence, He will develop in us a genuine Passion for lost people that will lead to a new wave of Pioneering here in Newfoundland and Labrador and around the world. It is simply an outworking of who we are in Him.
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