The Pentecostal-Charismatic Churches of North America (PCCNA) and the Society for Pentecostal Studies (SPS) partnered for the first time to sponsor a joint gathering. The event took place March 26-29, 2009, on the campus of Eugene Bible College, Eugene, Oregon, under the banner: “Pentecostal Intersection: The Church and the Academy.”
The schedule for the convocation, which was the 38th annual gathering of the SPS and the 13th annual meeting of the PCCNA, featured combined plenary sessions, symposiums in which scholarly papers were presented on topics pertinent to the church and the academy, and a closing banquet for members and guests of both organizations.
A highlight of the event took place in the opening plenary session when a panel discussed ways the church and the academy can work together to perpetuate Pentecost to succeeding generations. Internationally-acclaimed Pentecostal historian and educator Dr. Vinson Synan served as moderator for the panel.
As a former SPS president, Synan’s affiliations embrace both organizations. His father, the late Bishop J.A. Synan, helped form the Pentecostal Fellowship of North America (PFNA), out of which the PCCNA was established.
PCCNA Chairman, Bishop Jerry Macklin described the objective for staging this joint venture: “Our primary goal for this historic occasion is to ask strategic questions about Pentecostal fruitfulness and growth in the 21st Century,” he said.
Additional members of the
forum included Jeff Farmer, president of the Open Bible Church (Des Moines,
Iowa), Art Gray, International Church of the Foursquare Gospel (Los Angeles,
California), and Billy Wilson, director of the International Center for
Spiritual Renewal (Cleveland, Tennessee). These Pentecostal leaders responded to
such questions as “What is the most serious issue facing the church today?”
Their conclusions ranged from biblical illiteracy to the loss of young leaders
in the church.
PCCNA was formed in 1996, following the gathering that became known as the “Memphis Miracle.” At that meeting, the all-white Pentecostal Fellowship of North America (PFNA) was dissolved, and a more inclusive association, PCCNA, came into being. The new organization’s stated purpose is to provide a framework for fellowship, dialogue, and cooperation between the various Pentecostal and Charismatic denominations, churches, and ministries in North America that agree with its purposes and goals.
SPS was established in 1970 as an organization of
scholars dedicated to providing a forum of discussion for all academic
disciplines as a spiritual service to the kingdom of God. The purpose of the
society is “to stimulate, encourage, recognize, and publicize the work of
Pentecostal and charismatic scholars; to study the implications of Pentecostal
theology in relation to other academic disciplines, seeking a Pentecostal
world-and-life view; and to support fully, to the extent appropriate for an
academic society, the statement of purposes of the World Pentecostal
Fellowship.” The society publishes
Pneuma: The Journal of
the Society for Pentecostal Studies and an
occasional newsletter.
As a side-bar to the combined forums and symposiums, the PCCNA conducted its annual business meeting, at which its BOA elected new officers to steer the organization for the next three years. At the end of the present term, new officers will include Jeff Farmer, chairman (Open Bible Churches); Jerry Macklin, co-chair (Church of God in Christ); Clyde Hughes, secretary (International Pentecostal Churches of Christ); Art Gray, assistant secretary (International Church of the Foursquare Gospel); and Randy Howard, treasurer (Church of God of Prophecy). Members at large are Ronald Carpenter (International Pentecostal Holiness Church); George Wood (Assemblies of God); David Wells (Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada); Raymond Culpepper (Church of God); Ken Bell (Church of God); and Elijah Williams (United Holy Church of America).
–Shirley G. Spencer