Reformed-Pentecostal dialogue distilling five years’ of discussion

The sixth session of the Reformed-Pentecostal Dialogue, which has revolved around the understanding of “mission,” focused on bringing together the fruits of their five years of work:

• mission and salvation
• the Holy Spirit and mission
• mission and the unity of the church
• mission and eschatology

The work will be presented in a single document to be published next year. Dialogue participants hope that this publication will be useful for Reformed and Pentecostal churches to better understand each other and encourage common witness in word and action.

For this session, dialogue participants were graciously hosted on the campus of the Asia Pacific Theological Seminary. The seminary is a cooperative ministry of the Assemblies of God national churches of Asia, Pacific Oceania, and the Assemblies of God World Missions-USA, serving theological students throughout Asia and Oceania.

Seminary students were invited to learn about the value of bilateral dialogues during a panel discussion, which included a time for questions from the students. David Daniels preached during a chapel service. On Sunday, the dialogue group attended a Pentecostal worship service at the Epicenter Church in Baguio, Philippines. The next evening, the dialogue participants enjoyed a dinner with the faculty of the seminary, hosted by seminary President Tham Wan Yee, who expressed their enthusiastic support for the dialogue.

At the beginning and end of each day, participants gathered to pray, sing, read and reflect upon the Bible together. This time of sharing in spirituality and worship helped to contextualize the discussions that took place and to build greater community between the participants.

The Pentecostal team included Cecil M. Robeck, co-chair (Assemblies of God, USA), David Daniels (Church of God in Christ, USA), Jean-Daniel Plüss (Swiss Pentecostal Mission) and Olga Zaprometova (Church of God, Russia). Teresa Chai (Assemblies of God, Malaysia/Philippines) and Jacqueline Grey (Australian Christian Churches) were unable to attend.

The Reformed team included Karla Ann Koll, co-chair, (Presbyterian Church (USA), Costa Rica), Hanns Lessing (World Communion of Reformed Churches, Germany), Setri Nyomi (Evangelical Presbyterian Church in Ghana), Bas Plaisier (Protestant Church in the Netherlands), Gabriella Rácsok (Reformed Church of Hungary) and Nadia Marais (Dutch Reformed Church of South Africa). Carmelo Alvarez (Disciples of Christ, Puerto Rico) was not able to attend.

The meeting was held 23-30 October 2019.