February 2010 / Volume 3 / Issue 1

From Far and Wide: The Canadian Faith Movement
by Catherine Bowler, Duke University
The Faith Movement, sometimes called the "Prosperity Gospel Movement," has garnered a fair bit of attention, much of it critical, in the Canadian media in recent years. The diversity of the movement has often been distorted when American narratives have been crudely and uncritically applied to its Canadian counterpart. Catherine Bowler gives us a groundbreaking introduction to a movement which established one of its first Canadian educational institutions in Québec and whose influences are truly global. She helpfully sketches the broad outlines of its teachings and its influence, shedding some much needed light on Faith.

Canadian Evangelical Congregational Income, 2003-2008
by Rick Hiemstra, Director, Centre for Research on Canadian Evangelicalism
While most would be loath to admit it, many evangelical ministry leaders reflexively evaluate a congregation's health first by attendance and then by income. So if income is a measure of church health, how were we doing as a movement when times were good? Did rural or urban churches fare better? Did congregations in certain regions or congregations of certain sizes have better income growth? What might it all mean for church planting and evangelism?

Evangelical Congregational Income During the First Four Months of 2009
by Sam Reimer, Crandall University
Was the recession that began in 2008 showing up in congregational giving at the beginning of 2009? Did changes in attendance affect giving? Sam Reimer gives us this first look at data from the Canadian Evangelical Congregations Survey.

Canadian Pentecostalism: Transition and Transformation
edited by Michael Wilkinson, McGill-Queen's University Press, 308 pages, Cloth $95.00, Paperback $32.95
reviewed by Brian Gobbett, Briercrest College & Seminary
How is a dynamic movement like Canadian Pentecostalism coming of age in a nation that is doing the same? What stories from the Pentecostal movement, both local and global, are weaving their way through the Canadian fabric? Brian Gobbett reviews Canadian Pentecostalism, a collection of papers by various authors, which help us to understand how Canadian Pentecostalism is changing.

Research News