Development of ACOP Doctrine

[Zach]

The label “ordinary men with no special training, but they had been with Jesus,” would aptly sum up large parts of the Pentecostal movement in the US and also Wales in the same time frame. People with no education, no schooling were seeking God and finding him, and the Holy Spirit was being poured out. It is no surprise to me that schools and Bible colleges came later, as the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Truth who leads us into all truth, would have certainly been pushing people on into greater depths of clarity and articulation of what they had seen and heard. For me, the baptism of the Holy Spirit, as an experience subsequent to salvation, is not only often evidenced by speaking in tongues, but brings with it a passion and clarity to give witness to who Jesus is and what He has done. This of course doesn’t always lead to formal training, but the unction and passion that accompany this experience often makes articulating Jesus’s work and presence in our lives much more powerful and relevant than without it.

[Jaylen]

I think nowadays Pentecostals are generally more biblically literate than some of the apostles were. Although, Paul and many others seemed to have an intimately deep and profound understanding of the fundamental teachings of Christ. Whereas we today have more resources to understand the scriptures and are able to study and see the biblical timeline from a retrospective perspective. This may come with its own downfalls for us though, one being getting our priorities out of order.
My understanding of Baptism in the Spirit has always been whatever I was taught at my PAOC bible college, and it seems there are some disagreements as to how it all works. For the most part, I’m not really sure where I stand on the matter. It seems each argument has a “but does that mean this…” which I can’t really get away from. For example, Billy Graham was not Baptized in the Spirit yet he led thousands to Christ, shall we say he wasn’t operating with the Holy Spirit empowerment? I’m not saying that’s a checkmate, but I just don’t know the argument follow that.

[Deleted User]

• This verse in Acts 4 could also be used to describe early Pentecostals because as mentioned in this video, the early Pentecostals did not have a lot of formal biblical training. But, they were recognized as people who had been with Jesus. They started a large movement of Pentecostalism.
• My understanding of the baptism of the Spirit has come very slowly over time. I did not grow up in a church that emphasized the Baptism of the Spirit and it has only been in recent years that I have had a fuller understanding of the Baptism of the Spirit. My understanding does align with what is being presented in this video because I would regard that it is a subsequent work in conjunction with salvation.

[Kimberly]

I think that the key part for the disciples being ordinary men that did not have training had so much to do with the fact that they did spend time with Jesus. Early Pentecostals were paving the way, and they had to be their own teachers – diving into the Word without formal educators. Now, I definitely see an uprise in people attending Bible College to either build or strengthen their foundation in Christ. I think that Bible College also serves as way to help people learn how to be with Jesus. I personally know many people that have attended a Bible College not for the basis of working in a ministry context, but for the bonus of strengthening their relationship with Jesus Christ.