Editorials

From the Editor STACEY MCKENZIE Grace and Glory

Holding Space for the Ultimate Goal In tracking the Scriptures from Genesis to Revelation, we can see our Creator’s intentionality behind His design for us and our lives. No matter who we are or the circumstances we face, we can continually refocus on His promises for us and have peace as we consider His thoughts about our future—there is always hope when He is in it. In the beginning, He said, “Let us make human beings in our image, to be like us. They will reign over the fish...

From our General Superintendent DAVID WELLS Affirming the Value of Leadership

Leadership is a given dimension of our lives, whether in government, family, church, sports, work, or multiple other contexts. We all have opinions on what makes for good leadership and decide which leaders to follow or not follow, including who we vote for, who we work for, who we cheer for, and who we worship with. Followers of Jesus recognize that the qualities of leadership we are to emulate are rooted in the One who created us, who, by His will, delegates those who will lead in a way consi...

From our General Superintendent DAVID WELLS The Randomness of Sovereignty

I am currently on a journey that many people go on annually. This adventure involves reading the entire Bible during the calendar year. As you read it chronologically, one has a heavy initial engagement with Genesis, Exodus and Job. Pondering the purposes of God and studying His involvement with Job, Abraham and Isaac, Moses, and others, has, once again, stirred up the marvel I experience at what I call “The Randomness of Sovereignty.” This is not a disrespectful nor theologically a...

From the Editor STACEY MCKENZIE A Brighter Day

God’s Heart for Today and Tomorrow There is no greater joy in day-to-day life than sharing the truth about who Jesus is with someone who has shown an interest in hearing it. Sometimes, the opportunity may come about through a series of direct questions in a spontaneous conversation and at other times through a clear Spirit-led moment that may have been years in the making. In this season, we celebrate Jesus’s life and His obedience in laying down His life for us and rising again so t...

From our General Superintendent DAVID WELLS Focus, Fasting and “Infobesity”

GS CHECK-IN | A WORD FROM OUR GENERAL SUPERINTENDENT, DAVID WELLS “Then he said to them all: ‘Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it” (Luke 9:23-24). Like never before, denying yourself is countercultural. The Christian understanding of self is that our full potential is realized as we focus our devotion on Jesus and live...

From the Editor STACEY MCKENZIE A Faith of Substance

Jesus’s Promises Will Endure A Christian music class participant once asked me: “Miss, how did you keep your commitment to Jesus over a long period of time?” I didn’t have to think very long about the answer. “I really don’t feel like I can take any of the credit. At all the right times, He always came along to encourage me, and I took to heart whatever He said or did and discerned Him leading me in the right direction.” I described that I would often co...

From the Editor STACEY MCKENZIE Cycles and Seasons

Trusting God’s Word to see us through “All people are like grass, and all their faithfulness is like the flowers of the field. …The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God endures forever” (Isaiah 40:6b, 8). “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away” (Matthew 24:35). The cycles or seasons of human life are familiar to us: birth, infancy, childhood, ...

From our General Superintendent DAVID WELLS The “EveryOne” Trajectory – From Vision to Reality

Call them dreams, call them inspired ideas, call them visions—people, especially in leadership, tend to have a number of end results they would like to see become reality. I know I do! The inevitable challenge is that for the desired vision to be fulfilled, there are essential steps of faith, obedience and sacrifice that need to be taken. This is clearly seen as we continue to pursue our shared mission as a Fellowship including our call to “EveryOne.” A reminder that the PAOC, ...

From our General Superintendent DAVID WELLS Foundations: Who We Are

On May 14, 2024, I was humbled that in our biennial General Conference business meeting, I was elected to serve another four-year term as general superintendent of The Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada (PAOC). Susan and I are very grateful for our Fellowship’s confidence and loving, prayerful support. In a future article, I will reiterate the areas of vision I continue to share with our various leadership groups within the PAOC. In this article, I share from a clear conviction that we need...

From the Editor STACEY MCKENZIE God Uses Everything

Taking our places in God’s plan for our times A recent issue of Faith Today summarizing faith trends featured a Wycliffe College study of Canadian adult converts to Christianity. The study noted the pathways they took on the way to conversion and how believers helped them get there. Thirty-nine per cent of respondents described their conversion as a process with no single moment of conversion, and 38 per cent as a process with a specific turning point.1 For those who said it was a process,...

From the Editor STACEY MCKENZIE The Power of Story

Sharing our testimonies about Jesus As a believer, how often do you share your testimony of meeting Jesus? Do you feel that it is compelling? Or do you feel that it is underwhelming compared to what you’ve heard from others? How often do you experience God’s activity in a way that causes such excitement that you need to share it with others? We can never underestimate the power of story in the hearts and minds of those around us—particularly narratives where God’s involv...

From our General Superintendent DAVID WELLS The Next Obedient Step

There are ideals that each of us would long to see realized personally, in our relationships or the life of the church. A decision must be made regarding what the next step will be to address the gap between our ideal and the current reality we see. Do I let it go and give up? Do I grow cynical and critical, continually pointing out the gap with angst and perhaps anger? A response I have felt called to make when I face the gap between the ideal and the real is to take the next obedient step the...

From the Editor STACEY MCKENZIE Trauma and the Mission Field

Getting to know ourselves and our neighbours Another year has begun with reminders everywhere that creation groans for the return of Jesus, our Saviour (Romans 8:22). Diane Langberg, globally recognized for her work with victims of trauma, suggests that “the trauma of this world is one of the primary mission fields of the twenty-first century.”1 Her encouragement to us as God’s people is for each of us to dig deeper into the heart of the Saviour, allowing Him to shine His ligh...

From our General Superintendent DAVID WELLS Show Me Your Glory – Presence and Purpose

Divine purpose and calling are a strong focus for our family of churches and ministries at this time. Without called people—volunteer or credentialed—the mission we have been given as God’s people will not be accomplished. We are “The Called Ones” who only demonstrate the Lord’s greatness, love and grace when we align with His purposes. How we respond as a church or ministry—individual or family—when confronted by a major setback will inevitably d...

From our General Superintendent DAVID WELLS Passion and Purpose – Updates from the Global Church

The privilege of being at Empowered21’s Amsterdam2023 conference this past June continues to overwhelm me. The opportunity to gather with global church leaders and hear and experience what the Lord is doing by His Spirit, in and through the many-faceted people of God, has impacted me in a deep manner. It is deeper than sentimentality. “Deep calls unto deep” (Psalm 42:7, NKJV). What I longed for in my heart and mind for the global church was experienced as we gathered, leaving a...

From the Editor STACEY MCKENZIE Keeping Things Simple

Preserving the wonder of calling While I’m often surrounded by veterans in ministry, I also regularly meet people who are just starting out. Early ministry days are usually filled with excitement and great anticipation for what lies ahead. But as we experience an ever-widening variety of people and circumstances, we often become less sure that we’re doing things correctly. I recognize how valuable it is to share what we have learned with others so that they can benefit and even avoid...

From our General Superintendent DAVID WELLS The Responsibility of Representation

Recently I was privileged to represent the Pentecostal community as general superintendent of The Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada, and to a degree, the broader Christian community, at an international summit in Jerusalem. Along with my colleague, Dr. Wayne Hilsden, we presented on “The Importance of Christian-Jewish relations.” An article on that topic itself would certainly be worthwhile, but this opportunity caused me to consider the broader concept of representation, which is a...

From the Editor STACEY MCKENZIE Great is Thy Faithfulness

A well-placed hope in uncertain times I can remember a friend teasing me about being an “old soul” when I was not much more than 10 years old. Always curious about what was going on in the world, stories of deep human trauma and suffering would stay with me. Years later, that tendency has remained, with awareness of global events made easy by Internet connectivity. I’ve been thinking about the fear and uncertainty that hovered over many nations, including Canada, in the wake o...

From our General Superintendent DAVID WELLS A Culture of Honour

I stand in a room of leaders from across our continent, diverse in age, race, nationality, giftings and personality. Women and men that are all “leaning in” to one another with loving respect and a commitment to unity. A room where honour rules. So moving, so meaningful, so much like God intends for His people to experience. In the kingdom of God, honour is not reserved for those who are perceived as “great”—the powerful, or those who hold position and wealth. Honou...

From the Editor STACEY MCKENZIE A Long Range View

“Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom” (2 Corinthians 3:17). In God’s sovereignty, after coming into a dynamic relationship with Christ, I got a three-dimensional view of church and ministry life from early on—many of its joys, challenges and mysteries. The one thing that continues to be a foundation for me, apart from faith in Christ Himself, is His promise of the presence and power of the Holy Spirit. If I could describe one ...