Interviu ocazionat de un an de la lansarea cărții „Răscumpărarea memoriei”
Cu ocazia împlinirii unui an de la lansarea cărții Răscumpărarea memoriei. Cultul Penticostal în perioada comunistă, autorul acesteia, Vasilică Croitor, a acordat un interviu pe această temă. Jurnalistul „a fost interesat de ceea ce a urmat în anul care s-a scurs de la lansarea cărții, precum și de perspectivele de viitor ale acestui demers”.
Dorin Dobrincu, Vasilică Croitor, Mihail Neamțu
Sursa: Răscumpărarea memoriei
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“Rascumpararea memoriei” – un an de la lansare (7.IX.2010-7.IX.2011)
Pe 7 septembrie 2011 s-a implinit un an de la lansarea cartii “Rascumpararea memoriei”. O carte care tratează istoria cultului penticostal în perioada comunistă, dar și societatea și regimul politic. Cele 387 de pagini ale lucrării cuprind 12 capitole, anexe, bibliografie, indice de nume și indice de locuri. În partea de început cititorii pot parcurge referințele critice, cuvântul înainte, prefața precum și argumentul unde autorul își motivează demersul.
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150 de persoane s-au botezat la Toflea
Vasilică Croitor relatează în cadrul unui articol trezirea care a avut loc între țiganii din localitatea Toflea. Ca o noutate față de anii trecuți majoritatea celor care și-au îndreptat inima spre Domnul au fost tineri.
De mai bine de 10 ani, între țiganii din localitatea Toflea (jud. Galați) are loc o mișcare ce nu poate fi ignorată. Sute de oameni se botează anual și se alătură bisericii penticostale din localitate, astăzi mai mult de jumătate din cei 6.000 de locuitori ai comunei fiind penticostali.
La botezul de ieri, încă 150 de persoane au mărturisit credința în Domnul Isus. Ca o noutate, față de anii trecuți, cei mai mulți erau tineri. Dimineață slujba s-a desfășurat într-un cort imens, montat la marginea satului.
http://rascumparareamemoriei.wordpress.com/2011/08/22/botezuri-la-toflea/
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Church of God Celebrates 125 Years
 R.G. and Barbara Spurling. Courtesy of Harvest Temple |
The Church of God is celebrating its 125th anniversary in August. The following article describes how the denomination was born.
One and a quarter centuries ago Richard Green Spurling, best known as R. G. Spurling, issued a call to form what is now the Church of God. From the eight who responded to his invitation, our movement now numbers almost 7 million members in 181 nations and territories. Following his challenging message on Aug. 19, 1886, Spurling concluded: “As many Christians as are here present that are desirous to be free from all men-made creeds and traditions, and are willing to take the New Testament, or law of Christ, for your only rule of faith and practice; giving each other equal rights and privilege to read and interpret for yourselves as your conscience may dictate, and are willing to sit together as the Church of God to transact business [as] the same, come forward.”
With that invitation, the small band of believers meeting in Monroe County, Tenn., formed a congregation that they called the Christian Union. In this unexpected region of the country, people hungry for the restoration of New Testament Christianity sought God and came together to be God’s church. Out of their vision of Christian union, with the later addition of the experiences of sanctification and Spirit baptism, came the “Church of God” as we know our movement today.
The vision for Christian Union rose first in the heart of R. G. Spurling (1857-1935) and his father Richard Spurling (1810-1891). The younger Spurling had been a licensed minister in the Pleasant Grove Baptist Church. Along with his father, an ordained Baptist elder, he began to seek God regarding abuses he saw in the churches around him. According to the earliest chronicler of these events, Spurling became disturbed about certain traditions and creeds that he considered a hardship for God’s people. He saw a need for further reformation of the church beyond the Great Reformation of the 16th century.
While Luther, Calvin and other reformers had brought about important changes, their legacy focused on assent to a particular doctrine rather than on a right relationship with Christ and His people. Their legacy was that creeds and human traditions became more important than the leading of the Holy Spirit and one’s own Christian conscience.
Spurling and his father were particularly troubled with the Landmark movement that dominated Baptist life in the South from the middle part of the 19th century. The name “Landmark” came from an emphasis on Proverbs 22:28, “Remove not the ancient landmark, which thy fathers have set” (KJV). Landmark adherents taught that Baptists were putting aside a significant boundary of the church when they worshipped and fellowshipped with non-Baptists. Landmark Baptists taught a line of Baptist succession from the time of Christ, the importance of believer’s baptism by a Baptist minister, and the exclusivity of Baptist churches.
For R. G. Spurling, where believers practice Christ’s command to love God and neighbor, a testimony of faith in Christ is sufficient for unity with one another. Spurling further taught that the New Testament is the only “infallible rule of faith and practice” and contains everything “necessary for salvation and church government.” He saw harshness and exclusivity in the teachings of the Landmark movement that stifled the gospel and led to dividing the body of Christ rather than to Christian unity.
His vision to restore the law of love and individual conscience to Christianity bore fruit on Aug. 19, 1886. For the previous two years he had prayed for reformation along with his father and John Plemons. After being barred from his own Baptist church and seeing little hope of any change in the existing churches, Spurling met with others of like mind in a meeting house along Barney Creek and issued his invitation.
Because his father Richard was ordained, the elder Spurling moderated the proceedings to formally establish the congregation. Once organized, the church then selected R. G. Spurling as pastor and ordained him the following month.
Little is known about the original Christian Union and the continuing ministry of R. G. Spurling. A. J. Tomlinson, who knew Spurling well in later years, wrote that he preached wherever he had an opportunity and “in this way the minds of the people were continually agitated, and gradually prepared for the work of the Spirit that was to follow.” A biographical sketch by his son, G. P. Spurling, reveals that between 1889 and 1895, Spurling organized three other Christian Union congregations. Although his ministry is less known than many who came later, his vision of reformation laid the foundation upon which we continue to build today.
Dr. David G. Roebuck is director of the Dixon Pentecostal Research Center and an assistant professor of the history of Christianity at Lee University.
http://www.charismamag.com/index.php/news/31744-church-of-god-celebrates-125-years
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A New Kind of Pentecostal
It’s no longer just about raising a hand to God. It’s also about reaching out a hand to the needy.
To get into the minds of today’s Pentecostals, visit a classroom of ministers in training, 20-somethings getting their first taste of practical ministry. Recently I posed several questions to a large group of them in one of my practicum classes:What are the changes going on among North American Pentecostal believers and Pentecostal churches today? In what ways does the new generation of Pentecostals differ from earlier generations? In what ways is it similar?
The first response was immediate. A young student named Emily said, „For years, Pentecostals had an inferiority complex. They felt as if they were the weird uncle of modern Christianity, as if they were not quite accepted by peer denominations. Today it is different. Pentecostal churches have become more accepted and now are part of mainstream Christianity. That may be good—in some ways, not so good.”
Indeed, Pentecostalism in North America has come a long way. It has moved from a faith to and of the disenfranchised to one that is recognized if not fully accepted across the board among evangelicals. From the movement’s origins among a few adherents in the Azusa Street Revival in Los Angeles (1906), Pentecostalism grew to some 12 million adherents by 1970, and now incorporates some 600 million worldwide in its various expressions, a fourth of all Christendom. David Barrett’s monumental World Christian Encyclopedia states that in 1900, only seven-tenths of 1 percent of Christians were Pentecostal; today, approximately 25 percent are.
Another theme emerged in my classroom. As a student named Ross put it, „There is a new Pentecostalism emerging, a more meditative movement, a more social justice movement, more concerned about the outside of the church rather than [what goes on] inside.”
Ministry practitioners, denominational leaders, and scholars whom I have talked to have noted three prominent trends in North American Pentecostalism: a marked decrease in speaking in tongues in public worship; fresh developments in Pentecostal eschatology; and a broader engagement in compassionate ministry and social concern.
All three trends deserve comment, but I want to highlight the last trend: On numerous fronts and in an increasing number of ways, Pentecostals are engaging in compassionate ministries and social change.
A Different Kind of Awakening
„There is a huge awakening for social concern today,” says noted Pentecostal leader Jack Hayford, „especially from age 30 and down. It is profoundly present, and it is a welcomed renewal.”
But, says Hayford, this isn’t the first time Pentecostalism has seen such a groundswell of compassionate ministry. Hayford, a leader in the Foursquare Church, cites the hugely successful „commissary ministry” of Pentecostal revivalist Aimee Semple McPherson: „It touched millions during the Depression. It has significantly marked our movement. It spread over the first half of the 20th century.” McPherson’s compassionate work was carried out from the Angelus Temple in Los Angeles and through numerous „lighthouses” that sprung up across the nation.
Still, for many years North American Pentecostals were gunshy about using terms like „social concern” and „social justice.” Some feared losing a spiritual edge by embracing the „social gospel,” identified with Walter Rauschenbusch and mainline theology. Many worried that a social justice emphasis would undermine the message of salvation and the gift of the Holy Spirit. In addition, some felt the idea was too politically volatile and smacked of socialism.
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Rugați-vă pentru Vegard un tânăr din Norvegia care a venit pentru a sluji în Dobrogea
Vegard Løkhammer este un tânăr din Norvegia care a venit pentru a sluji în Dobrogea alături de alți 50 de tineri. Au sosit lunea trecută și s-au împărțit pe diverse echipe și activități, ajutând la construcția unei case în Satu Nou, la evanghelizarea copiilor, în proiectele sociale de la Centrul Comunitar sau de la Biserica Turcă etc.
Din nefericire, pentru Vegard misiunea s-a încheiat brusc și devreme, la două zile după sosirea în zonă. În timp ce se afla în localitatea Peștera, pe un câmp, o mașină condusă de un (…) s-a apropiat în mare viteză de grupul de tineri – în jur de 30 – și l-a lovit din plin pe Vegard. Putea să fie oricare dintre noi. Așa a rânduit Cel care ține toate în mâna Sa, ca Vegard să fie cel încercat.
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Liceele teologice protestante – printre cele mai bune la examenul de bacalaureat
Examenul de bacalaureat a arătat o diferență substanțială între pregătirea elevilor din liceele de filieră teologică și media țării, conform unui comunicat al Liceului teologic adventist „Ștefan Demetrescu” din București.
În urma analizării rezultatelor primei sesiuni a Bacalaureatului Naţional 2011 se evidenţiază diferenţe semnificative între ratele de promovare în liceele adventiste, baptiste şi penticostale şi media naţională sau judeţeană. În România funcționează 13 licee care aparțin bisericilor baptistă (6 unități), penticostală (4 unități) și adventistă (3 unități). Procentul de promovare în cadrul celor 13 unități de învățământ a fost de 72,91 % față de procentul general naţional de 44,47%. În timp ce la liceul baptist din Oradea promovarea a fost de 100%, doar în Arad procentul de promovare a fost sub media județeană.
Un „10 curat” a fost obținut de o elevă de confesiune penticostală a liceului adventist din Cluj Napoca care se pregătește să dea apoi la medicină. Următoarele rezultate de excepție au fost obținute de un elev de la liceul adventist din Craiova (nota 9,98) și un elev al liceului baptist din Cluj Napoca (nota 9,91).
Pentru liceul adventist din București „procentul de promovare nu diferă semnificativ față de anii anteriori” iar „notele obţinute la Bacalaureat reflectă cu exactitate notele obţinute în timpul celor patru ani de studiu” afirmă în comunicat Adrian Mihalcea, directorul instituției. „Pentru noi, faptul că s-au introdus camerele de supraveghere nu a contat deloc”, a mai spus pastorul și profesorul Mihalcea, susținând că „o asumare reală şi nu doar declarativă a valorilor biblice legate de cinste şi corectitudine ar aduce beneficii tuturor, indiferent de confesiune.”
http://www.semneletimpului.ro/
Istorie Evanghelica 