50 Years Ago: The Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada Celebrated its 50th Anniversary

R. W. Taitinger (left), General Superintendent of the PAOC, welcomes Governor General and Mrs. Roland Michener to the closing rally of the Jubilee Celebration. James Montgomery, Jubilee coordinator, is standing on the right.

This Week in AG History — August 3, 1969

By Glenn W. Gohr

Originally published on AG News, 1 August 2019

Fifty years ago the Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada (PAOC) commemorated its 50^th anniversary with a “Jubilee Celebration,” which involved several different Jubilee rallies throughout Canada held during the spring of 1969.

The closing events included a rally at the Bethel Pentecostal Church in Ottawa on May 17, which started with a large parade representing 15 mission fields supported by the PAOC.  This was a 30-minute pageant with the theme: “Let the Earth Hear His Voice.” Rev. Carman W. Lynn, Executive Director of Overseas Missions highlighted missions work in the PAOC. Robert W. Taitinger, General Superintendent of the PAOC, gave a challenge at the end of the service.

On Sunday, May 18, all executive officials of the PAOC assisted in services in various PAOC churches in the Ottawa area. Rev. C. H. Stiller, General Secretary Treasurer, and Rev. R. M. Argue, Executive Director of Home Missions, each spoke at special Jubilee services at Bethel Pentecostal Church.

The final Jubilee Rally took place at Glebe Collegiate Auditorium in Ottawa on Monday, May 19, Victoria Day. It was attended by some 600 Pentecostals from the two Ottawa congregations as well as about 50 visitors from the Ottawa Valley and other places in Canada and the U.S. Governor General and Mrs. Roland Michener were honored guests for this service. Governor General Michener, the Queen’s vice-regal representative in Canada, gave the Scripture reading from the second chapter of Acts. Rev. Taitinger concluded the program with a dramatic Jubilee declaration with audience participation.

The declaration stated in part: “Recognizing that the year 1969 marks the Jubilee of the Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada and that the evident hand of God has rested these 50 years upon The Fellowship, we do acknowledge with grateful thanks the goodness and blessing of the Lord and do reaffirm our committed allegiance to the great God for the church in the world today, and our significant place in His purpose.”

Looking back on PAOC history, in 1909 an early attempt was made to create an organization among Canadian Pentecostals, but that did not materialize. About 10 years later, the PAOC was formed in Eastern Canada, receiving its charter on May 17, 1919 in Ottawa, Canada. About this same time, Pentecostals in Saskatchewan and Alberta, Canada joined the U.S. Assemblies of God and became what was called the Western Canadian District. By 1925 this district had dissolved and those ministers and churches had joined the Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada.

From about 20 congregations in 1919, the PAOC increased to approximately 900 congregations by 1969. Pentecostal work began in Ottawa with a church established by the late R. E. McAlister in 1908 which was one of the congregations that joined the new organization. Toronto and Winnipeg were other early centers of Pentecostalism in Canada. McAlister served as the first general secretary of the PAOC from 1919 to 1932. Because of its close connections with the U.S. Assemblies of God, the PAOC adopted the same statement of fundamental truths which had been approved by the General Council. R. E. McAlister published the Assemblies of God’s statement of fundamental truths in the February 1926 of the Canadian Pentecostal Testimony. The PAOC made changes to their statement of faith in later years.

It is significant that not only was the PAOC chartered in Ottawa, but for its first four years (1919-1922) Ottawa was the national headquarters for the PAOC. Ottawa was also the first location that published the PAOC national magazine, The Pentecostal Testimony (now Testimony magazine). The PAOC International Office is now located in Mississauga, Ontario.

David Wells, current General Superintendent of the PAOC, stated, “In 2019 we move into our centennial year as a Pentecostal Fellowship in Canada. Anniversaries such as a centennial provide an excellent opportunity to reflect on the faithfulness and passion of those who have gone before us and to move into the future with vision, committed to the values that have produced a legacy of fruitfulness.”

Read more about the 50^th anniversary of the PAOC on page 14 of the August 3, 1969 issue of the Pentecostal Evangel.

Also featured in this issue:

• “Why God Raised Up the Assemblies of God,” by G. Jeffreys Williamson
• “Good News Crusade in Salisbury, Rhodesia, South Africa”
• “Three Words of Conversion,” by Oswald J. Smith

And many more!

Click here to read this issue now.

Pentecostal Evangel archived editions courtesy of the Flower Pentecostal Heritage Center.

Do you have Pentecostal historical materials that should be preserved? Please consider depositing these materials at the Flower Pentecostal Heritage Center (FPHC). The FPHC, located in the Assemblies of God national offices, is the largest Pentecostal archive in the world. We would like to preserve and make your treasures accessible to those who write the history books.

Flower Pentecostal Heritage Center
1445 North Boonville Avenue
Springfield, Missouri 65802 USA
Phone: 417.862.1447 ext. 4400
Toll Free: 877.840.5200
Email: archives@ag.org
Website: www.iFPHC.org

Review : Frank Bursey Biography

Morgan, Calvin E. The Skipper: Remembering Pastor Frank “FG” Bursey. Belleville, Ontario, Canada: Essence Publishing, 2013.

“Few figures in the history of the Pentecostal Assemblies of Newfoundland and Labrador loom larger than F. G. Bursey.  He was a man of unwavering commitment to the cause of evangelism and church planting.  For the first time, his life and ministry are now being told for future generations.  Cal Morgan has made a lasting contribution to the history of Pentecostalism in his home province and is to be commended for his careful and patient research into the life of a man whose legacy lives on.”
–Rev. Ewen Butler, Pastor, Church on the Hill, Cobourg, Ontario

Paperback, 260 pages. $20.99 retail. Order from: Essence Publishing.

Autobiography of Canadian Missionary Evangelist John Abraham

Abraham, John. Living in the Supernatural Dimension: Right Choice Now—Best Life Forever. [Laurence M. Van Kleek, Editor]. Bloomington, IN: WestBow Press, 2012.

A new autobiography of missionary evangelist John Abraham, Living in the Supernatural Dimension, shares the story of his worldwide ministry that has extended over six decades. The ministry of Abraham, who is ordained by the Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada, can be divided into two segments: during his first 35 years his focus was in the Western world; during the past 26 years Abraham and his wife, Shirley, have focused on global missions.

Born in Northern Ireland to Plymouth Brethren parents, Abraham was converted to Christ as a child and filled with the Holy Spirit as a teenager. He was personally tutored by renowned Brethren biblical scholar Dr. F. F. Bruce. Since childhood Abraham had a passion to win people to Christ. He was a child preacher and later became loved as a pastor’s pastor around the world.

In one of his many providential “forks in the road” Abraham left Ireland to study in a Pentecostal Bible college in Canada. Upon graduation he became an associate evangelist in the United Kingdom for six years with John Wesley White, who later served as an associate evangelist of Billy Graham. Abraham has a deep passion for the gospel, which he internalized. God has worked throughout Abraham’s ministry through the gifts of the Holy Spirit. From the time that he ministered on the streets of Northern Ireland as a teenager God used John in all of the gifts of the Spirit recorded in 1st Corinthians 12—especially the gifts of healings and the working of miracles.

In one humorous anecdote, Abraham recalled that, after a revival meeting in Southeast Asia, the organizers had to pay a surcharge to a clean-up company, because of the large quantity of crutches, braces and wheelchairs that had been left on the rented field. Abraham noted that all he could do was stand by in amazement and watch the miracles occur.

David R. Wells, General Superintendent of the Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada, wrote the preface. Laurence M. Van Kleek served as editor and also wrote the foreword. Living in the Supernatural Dimension is inspiring and challenging Christian reading and will be particularly well-received by charismatics and Pentecostals.

Submitted by Laurence M. Van Kleek, MDIV, MA, MLS
Van Kleek serves as Librarian/Administrator of Summit Pacific College (Abbotsford, BC Canada)

Paperback, 297 pages. $22.95 retail. Also available in hardcover and Kindle. Order from: Amazon.com

The Apostolic Messenger (Winnipeg, Canada)

A. H. Argue

The FPHC now has The Apostolic Messenger (Winnipeg, Canada), an early and very rare Canadian periodical published by Andrew H. Argue, digitally available online: http://bit.ly/ApostolicMessenger

Please let us know if you have any copies of The Apostolic Messenger (Winnipeg, Canada) to preserve!