Development of ACOP Doctrine

[Anna]

• In the early church, and then throughout history, the Holy Spirit made Jesus known through ordinary believers by empowering them with boldness and signs and wonders. In many parts of the world, believers still stand out in a crowd as “having been with Jesus”, however I do believe that we could stand to see more boldness, signs and wonders in Canada. I think Pentecostals today have narrowed their focus a little too much by focussing on speaking in tongues. The early church relied heavily on the Holy Spirit – not the gift of tongues – when out in ministry and the Holy Spirit gave them what they needed when they needed it.
• My understanding of the baptism of the Holy Spirit is that upon baptism, the believer is filled with the Spirit of Jesus, able to hear and to act according to His plans and purposes. That’s where the boldness comes in. The speaking on tongues was a sign to those on the outside of what was going on on the inside of a person. I don’t think my theology quite lines up with what was presented in the video because I don’t believe we should be baptize in the Holy Spirit so we can speak in tongues. I believe we should be baptized in the Holy Spirit so we can walk in the power of God, to show a very hurting world who Jesus is by speaking and living with boldness and with signs and wonders. Being joyful in all situations, rejoicing in trials and tribulations, not afraid of the Gospel or of people.

[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.