2.1 How Did the Pentecostal Movement Come to Canada?

[Deleted User]

The unorganized spread of Pentecostalism in its early days does not surprise me. I have often found that God works in very unique ways and the Spirit coming upon people would not follow a specific pattern or rhythm. Pentecostals are a bit more open and free moving with their decisions in comparison to other denominations, so I am not surprised by this fact. I think that the early resistance to organization both helped and hindered the spread of Pentecostalism. I think it helped it by allowing the Spirit to freely move and impact whoever he wanted to. But, I think some leadership and central organization may have helped members to feel more connected to each other and to not feel as alone in what they were experiencing. I think Pentecostals eventually began to organize themselves to build community and to have a group of believers who believe similar things to grow together and learn together.

[Jaylen]

I would say it does not surprise me that they were unorganized at first. It seems the whole nature of such a charismatic movement would generally be unorganized and flighty. Since it was new and fresh, also based on letting the Spirit interfere this open-minded perspective would have certainly affected the broader pace that the movement went about it.
I would think they began to organize things a bit more because ultimately people are drawn to order. When the movement grew and people all over the country were hearing about it, it’s only natural that they’re was an eventual push to organize things so that communication could be had more seamlessly.

[Melany]

The unorganized spread doesn’t surprise me, it can be seen even in the early church. I think people would have been afraid of quenching what God was doing through organization, but with time they realized they would have a far bigger and better reach if some organization and structure was put into place

[Kimberly]

I think that not organizing right away helped give more space for the Holy Spirit to move. Instead of being organizational with a system in place, Holy Spirit was able to direct people easier, and leaders were likely paying more attention to Holy Spirit and the voice of God than they might have if they were following a man-made plan or system.