| Recognizing that renewal in Canada has only recently begun to be seriously researched, the dissertation seeks to identify and analyze the most significant crossover points between the early Pentecostal revival at the turn of the twentieth century as manifested specifically in the Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada (PAOC) and the later Charismatic Movement that reached Canada in the early to mid-1960s. While there was little or no formal relationship between the two movements, key personalities, ordinary churchgoers, and influences including music and views on Spirit-baptism constituted lines of connection. The rise of Canadian Christian television under the leadership of David Mainse, a PAOC pastor-evangelist was possibly the strongest bridge between those two renewal waves. In the wake of the Charismatic Movement's emergence in Canada, numerous prayer groups arose across the country, among the most influential the Catacombs community in Toronto where some PAOC youth regularly attended or were affiliated. Student ministry played a key role as the later Charismatic Movement easily found fertile ground in already established student ministries, exemplified best in the work of Bernice Gerard in Vancouver, British Columbia. Other influences such as the Jesus People and the Full Gospel Businessmen's Fellowship International (FGBMFI) all contributed to an ethos of renewal that was present whether a group called itself Pentecostal or Charismatic and in spite of theological differences. In the final analysis, the older movement was permanently transformed through the introduction of new worship and music forms, a radically different approach to the doctrine of Spirit-baptism, a somewhat modified view of the charismata and the fading of focus on its basic theological tenets. |
