PAOC General Conference

Derrick Hamre

Lead Pastor

Emmanuel Church belongs to a network of Pentecostal Churches both nationally and globally. Within Canada that network is called the Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada (PAOC). The PAOC is the largest evangelical fellowship of churches in Canada and the third largest protestant movement. It’s a big family of about 250,000 people and 3,500 credential holders (ministers). There are about 1,200 churches and we have 265 global workers in 49 countries plus dozens of strategic partnerships. Included in our international efforts is an arm of International Missions called ERDO (Emergency & Relief Development Overseas) who responded to 10 major world crises last year, including Haiti, helping 2,068,228 people. These churches raised over $25 million last year for ministry, much of it for special foci on evangelism, church planting, next generation ministries, and global initiatives. We believe we can do more together than separate, so we operate Bible Colleges, Seminaries, Camps and administrative offices together. Although each church is completely autonomous (or self governing), we do set aside a tithe of our income that goes to our district to run programs and provincial initiatives like next week’s Historymaker youth convention in Langley. Each district (there are 8 in Canada) then tithes on its income in order to run the National Office and International Missions office in Toronto.

Every two years this big family has a national gathering called General Conference. This week that meeting was held in Edmonton and over 1,000 delegates gathered, including 3 of our pastors. We gathered for Bible preaching in the morning, break-out sessions (a kind of professional development for where people are at in ministry) and business in the afternoons, and for wonderful services in the evenings. These times were great for fellowship, refreshment and connection. The theme was Rooted in Relationship, both with God and with one another.

Two of my favourite services were in the morning. Tuesday morning I was impacted by Dr. George Wood (USA Assemblies of God Superintendent), who preached the most powerful message on Leah, the mother of half the tribes of Israel, which I’ve ever heard. He reminded us that the simple and consistent can have profound impact on lives. The following morning Dr. Ivan Satyavrata (Pastor/Leader from Calcutta, India) challenged us on doing “missions” the way Christ would do it. We are observing the rise of the “new” Christian Church. She is not a North American or European Church—she is an African & Asian Church (as that is where most of today’s Christians live). Not only is she not “white” but her leaders think differently and are now challenging the North American parent to rise to new levels of understanding and depth. Wow!