Month: September 2016
Retired Foursquare Pastor
I’d like to introduce you to a dear friend of mine. His name is Geoff and he has retired to the local area. Geoff is the first to admit that he’s been around a while and yet he is one of the most positive people I know. Geoff is a living treasure of our movement. He is a retired Foursquare pastor the son of a Foursquare pastor. His roots go back to the very foundation of the pentecostal movement in Australia and despite the years, he can tell you stories about those days and the characters that made them so special. He loves to talk about his favorites, Oral Roberts, Kenneth Hagin and Kenneth Copeland. In recent times it’s everybody’s favorite aunt Joyce Meyer.
I am studying pentecostal ecclesiology right now and we had a fascinating chat this morning about the changes in the way we do church in recent times. Whilst preparing my essay I could not recall the last time that I had heard a tongue or interpretation in church, certainly not in the past 20 years or so. I asked him “When was the last time you heard them?” He said, “a few days ago in Bowraville”. He was referring to the Arena of Life Church there, where I knew that they value classic pentecostal distinctive. “OK Geoff”, I said, “I didn’t know you had been there, how about before that?” This time, I had him pretty much stumped except for a friend of his who had visited many years ago and gave a tongue and prophecy. The point of the story is that according to Shane Clifton PHD’s research, (Ref. Below), when the Assemblies of God decided to change their structure back in the late seventies to the senior pastor, mega church, model the three casualties were, small churches, women as senior pastors and gifted laity who were no longer required to participate in the decision-making process of their local churches.
This essay is proving to be tougher than I expected.
Blessings
Peter
Reference: Shane Clifton, Pragmatic Ecclesiology: The Apostolic Revolution and the Ecclesiology of the Assemblies of God in Australia, Australian Pentecostal Studies No.9, 2005/6,30
David Lim, “Spiritual Gifts” Part 5
This is more like it. Lim seems to be back on track here. It’s been quite a while since I’ve seen “wildfire” in my local church. Maybe we have taken the decency and order thing a little too far.
“Third, it is important not to react. Paul says to the Corinthians, “eagerly desire spiritual gifts” (v. 1), be zealous for them and channel the zeal to build the Church (v. 12), and don’t forbid speaking in tongues (v. 39). Fear of extremes often causes churches to shrink form a complete gift ministry. The baby is thrown out with the bath water, the fire is feared because of possible wildfire, or, as the Chinese proverb puts it, we trim the toe to fit the shoe. On the other hand, to zealously follow an untested position that has little biblical base is to ask for problems that will hinder the very revival we all seek.”
David Lim, “Spiritual Gifts,” in Systematic Theology: Revised Edition, ed. Stanley M. Horton (Springfield, MO: Logion Press, 2007), 478.
David Lim, “Spiritual Gifts” Part 4
Lim here makes a sweeping generalisation about the appropriate place to minister spiritual gifts. Since I’m writing for small country churches, I have to say that I disagree with Lim on this one.
David Lim, “Spiritual Gifts,” Part 3
Lim is referring to his grouping of the spiritual gifts based on 1Corinthians 12: 6-8 and 1Corinthians 14: 1-33
“Teaching, ministry of the body of Christ to the Church and the world, and worship are three keys to a healthy local assembly. If we have only two of these categories without the third we have imbalance and open ourselves to difficulties.
David Lim, “Spiritual Gifts,” Part 2
A balanced understanding of the trinity is essential as we move towards a mature pneumatology, again I have used a quote from David Lim to open the discussion.
“Each Person of the Trinity plays a vital part in the manifestation of gifts. Sometimes the roles overlap, but essentially the Father superintends the plan of salvation and the expression of the gifts from beginning to end.
David Lim, “Spiritual Gifts,” Part 1
I’m studying Pentecostal Pneumatology at the moment and came across some interesting ideas by David Lim in one of this week’s readings. This is the first one about gifts of the Spirit and is great to introduce the idea.
“There are various views on the nature of the gifts of the Spirit.
Welcome to my blog
Hi and welcome to the beginning of what I hope will become a useful place for Pentecostals, particularly Aussies who live in rural and regional areas to engage with some of the material that I encounter as I work towards my Batchelor of Theology degree with Alphacrucis College. As always I am accompanied by my faithful sidekick Banjo who will no doubt be making his own contribution to the debate.
