The Christian Ministers' Association (CMA) is a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

Pentecostal Pentecostalism or classical Pentecostalism is a Protestant Charismatic Christian movement

group of over 450 members. The CMA originates from the Pentecostal movement of the early 20th century. It is not a traditional

Christian denomination A Christian denomination is a distinct religious body within Christianity that comprises all church congregations of the same kind, identifiable by traits such as a name, particular history, organization, leadership, theological doctrine, worsh ...

, but "a relational networking of friends and colleagues." As a Pentecostal fellowship, CMA believes in the Pentecostal distinctive of

baptism in the Holy Spirit In Christian theology, baptism with the Holy Spirit, also called baptism in the Holy Spirit or baptism in the Holy Ghost, has been interpreted by different Christian denominations and traditions in a variety of ways due to differences in the doctr ...

with the evidence of

speaking in tongues Speaking in tongues, also known as glossolalia, is a practice in which people utter words or speech-like sounds, often thought by believers to be languages unknown to the speaker. One definition used by linguists is the fluid vocalizing of sp ...

Objectives

The objectives of the fellowship are threefold: # The propagation of the gospel of Jesus Christ. # To provide united support to the doctrines of Scriptures as are outlined in the statement of faith. # To provide government credentials and to encourage and strengthen accepted ministers who wish to function within the framework of a ministerial fellowship, rather than a denominational organization of churches.

History

Like many

Pentecostal Pentecostalism or classical Pentecostalism is a Protestant Charismatic Christian movement

denominations, the CMA originates from the exponential growth of the modern Pentecostal movement of the early 20th century. As the early Pentecostalism movement rapidly expanded, multiple Pentecostal denominations sprung up to help sustain the movement. Of these groups, the Evangelical Churches of Pentecost (ECP), originated in a town called

Radville, Saskatchewan Radville is a small town in Canadian province of Saskatchewan. The town is in the RM of Laurier No. 38. It was incorporated in 1911 after being settled in 1895. Highway 28 and Highway 377 pass through the town. Nearby communities include ...

, under the leadership of Alan H. Gillett and David Bradley. These two men mobilized a group of ministers and churches under a provincial charter titled Full Gospel Mission. As the denomination grew, it founded a Bible School in

Eston, Saskatchewan Eston is a town in Snipe Lake Rural Municipality No. 259, Saskatchewan, Canada. The population was 1061 at the 2016 Census. The town is located at the junction of Highway 30 and Highway 44 approximately 70 km south-east of Kindersley. ...

on 6 November 1944 called the Full Gospel Bible Institute, and it also began sending missionaries to other countries. So much growth took place in the first decade that the provincial charter had to be expanded to other Canadian provinces. Because of the inter-provincial growth, the Full Gospel Mission sought a Dominion Charter in 1944 and incorporated under the Canadian private act for Religious and Charitable Organizations in 1946 with the new title Evangelical Churches of Pentecost (ECP). In 1953, the ECP merged with the

Apostolic Church of Pentecost The Apostolic Church of Pentecost (ACOP) is a Pentecostal Christian denomination with origins in the Pentecostal revival of the early 20th century. Although multi-national, ACOP has its strongest membership in Canada. In 2002 ACOP reported "appr ...

(ACOP) another early (1921) Canadian Pentecostal denomination. The reason for the merger was motivated by “the belief that walking together in unity and fellowship is the heart of God.” In spite of the merger with ACOP and the fact that most ECP members switched over to the ACOP denomination, ECP retained its charter so that its members could finalize any outstanding business items. Ironically, the charter for ECP was never dissolved, and the name was changed again in 1967 to The Christian Minister's Association (CMA).

Beliefs

The doctrinal position of the CMA is based in a classical Pentecostal and an

evangelical Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide Interdenominationalism, interdenominational movement within Protestantism, Protestant Christianity that affirms the centrality of being "bor ...

framework. The CMA holds to *A tri-unity perspective on the Godhead *The

verbal inspiration Biblical inspiration is the doctrine in Christian theology that the human writers and canonizers of the Bible were led by God with the result that their writings may be designated in some sense the word of God. This belief is traditionally ass ...

of the accepted canon of the Bible as originally given *The

total depravity Total depravity (also called radical corruption or pervasive depravity) is a Protestant theological doctrine derived from the concept of original sin. It teaches that, as a consequence of man's fall, every person born into the world is ensla ...

of humanity *The need for all of humanity to hear the

gospel Gospel originally meant the Christian message ("the gospel"), but in the 2nd century it came to be used also for the books in which the message was set out. In this sense a gospel can be defined as a loose-knit, episodic narrative of the words an ...

and turn to Christ in

faith Faith, derived from Latin ''fides'' and Old French ''feid'', is confidence or trust in a person, thing, or In the context of religion, one can define faith as "belief in God or in the doctrines or teachings of religion". Religious people often ...

for redemption. *

Baptism by immersion Immersion baptism (also known as baptism by immersion or baptism by submersion) is a method of baptism that is distinguished from baptism by affusion (pouring) and by aspersion (sprinkling), sometimes without specifying whether the immersion is ...

in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. *The reality of a spiritual realm, which includes God, Heaven, Satan, a final judgment, etc. * Communion practiced as a memorial of Christ's death and resurrection. As a Pentecostal fellowship, the CMA believes in the Pentecostal distinctive of

with the evidence of

. It also believes in the present day use of other spiritual gifts, such as divine healing.

External links

Official Website of CMA

References

{{Christianity in Canada Pentecostal denominations established in the 20th century