From our General Superintendent
Let's Celebrate
David Wells
100 Years of Pentecostal Passion
We have arrived at a very meaningful season in the history of The Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada family. On June 9, Pentecost Sunday, we will be commemorating the 100th anniversary of the incorporation of this Fellowship in May 1919. Across the country we will tell the story of how God raised up a movement of people and churches who humbly and passionately sought more of God in their lives. The Lord honoured that hunger with experiences of the Spirit’s presence, baptism and empowerment so that Jesus—the Saviour, Healer, Baptizer and Soon-Coming King—would be lifted up across Canada and around the world.
As we commemorate our past, it is of fundamental importance that those core aspects of our family DNA remain evident in who we are today and well into the future. We are still passionate for a loving relationship with our heavenly Father. Jesus must be the centre of our lives and churches. His good news must be proclaimed and practised with the Spirit’s enablement that He promised.
Communication is a key means to focus on these core family messages. We are marking the testimony magazine’s 100th year of publication. For the past century, it has been a vehicle for writers to share both our personal and corporate stories of the Spirit at work and of the gospel of Jesus being proclaimed throughout Canada and around the world. This issue marks the first edition of our combined testimony/Enrich magazine. Moving forward, a combined edition of testimony and Enrich will be produced each quarter that tells the story of God at work among us, speaks to the realities of being a disciplined follower of Jesus today, and provides insight for leaders among us, both credentialed and volunteer. I trust you will be informed, inspired and challenged by this special centenary edition.
You’re Invited!
Another way we are celebrating our historic story while committing to write many more chapters of God at work among us is to welcome the Pentecostal church—both in Canada and around the world—to join us from August 27 to 30, 2019, in Calgary, Alberta, for the 25th Pentecostal World Conference (visit 25pwc.org). This once-in-a-generation opportunity to gather with the global and national Pentecostal church allows us to convene key credentialed and volunteer leaders, as well as congregational members, to have “ears to hear” what the Spirit is saying to the church globally. A few things of note about 25PWC:
- You will have opportunity to hear 50+ influential speakers and leaders in plenaries, breakouts and forums. These highly respected communicators will come from every continent, reflect multiple ethnicities, and be both young and old, women and men.
- In a dozen affinity breakouts over two days, you will be able to interact with peers in your area of calling including Pentecostal theology, pastoral leadership, doing justice, children, youth and family ministry, global mission, impacting our societies, stewarding the Spirit’s work as a leader, and several other topics of high priority.
- We will join in communion led by Canadian church leaders on Wednesday, experience a service of healing and the miraculous on Thursday, and join with our brothers and sisters in Korea and Singapore for a live global prayer meeting on Friday morning. On Friday night, we will be sent out globally after a memorable service of challenge and commissioning.
Enjoy this centenary edition of the testimony, plan to celebrate Pentecost with your church on June 9, and register to be with us in Calgary in August. What a great way to celebrate being 100!
This article appeared in the April/May/June 2019 issue of testimony/Enrich, a quarterly publication of The Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada.