Changes In Clergy Belief And Practice In Canada’s Largest Pentecostal Denomination

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PNEUMA 39 (2017) 457–481

Changes in Clergy Belief and Practice in Canada’s Largest Pentecostal Denomination

Adam Stewart* Crandall University

adam.stewart@crandallu.ca

Andrew K. Gabriel Horizon College and Seminary

agabriel@horizon.edu

Kevin Shanahan Environics Research Group

kevin.shanahan@environics.ca

Abstract

In 1985/86, Carl Verge conducted a survey of clergy belief and practice within The Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada (paoc). In 2014, Adam Stewart and Andrew Gabriel conducted a follow-up survey of paocclergy to determine if any changes to belief and practice had occurred within this group during the last three decades. In this article we, first, describe the methodologies used in both surveys, second, compare and discuss the relationship between graduate education in religion and clergy belief and practice in 1985/86 and 2014, and, third, describe the overall decrease that has occurred in clergy commitment to traditional Pentecostal belief and practice since 1985/86. Finally, we conclude by proposing a theoretical framework developed by the sociologist of religion Peter Berger that helps to explain the change in commitment to traditional modes of pentecostal belief and practice among paoc clergy as part of much broader realignments occurring across numerous religious traditions in late modern society.

* The researchers wish to thank the General Executive of The Pentecostal Assemblies of

Canada for granting permission to survey their clergy, facilitating the distribution of our

questionnaire, and funding this study.

© koninklijke brill nv, leiden, 2017 | doi: 10.1163/15700747-03904001

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Keywords

Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada – clergy – belief – practice – religion and education – religious change – Peter L. Berger – Danièle Hervieu-Léger

Introduction

In 1985 and 1986, Carl Verge distributed a questionnaire on religious belief and practice to two groups of credential holders, or clergy,1within The Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada (paoc), the largest pentecostal and largest evangelical denomination in Canada.2 The first group were those “who have completed a graduate program of religious studies,” and second were those “who have com- pleted only the required undergraduate Bible College program.”3 The primary purpose of Verge’s study was to determine whether or not there existed differ- ences between these two groups of clergy regarding religious belief and prac- tice, or, more specifically, to measure what effect educational attainment might have on clergy commitment to traditional pentecostal belief and practice. The research question was and continues to be particularly relevant within the con- text of thepaoc, given the historical and continued suspicion toward graduate theological education among Pentecostals.4 After comparing the responses of these two educational cohorts, Verge found that, overall, graduate education in

1 The term credential holder is used within The Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada to refer to

religious specialists and is a close, but not perfect, approximation to the termclergy. It refers

to those individuals that have applied for and received one of four classes of “credentials”

that officially qualifies them to perform specific ministry functions within congregations

and to participate in denominational governance. The largest group is “ordained” credential

holders, who in 2014 numbered 2,170 individuals, or 60 percent of all credential holders. In

this article we use the termclergyto refer to members of all four groups of religious specialists

credentialed by the denomination.

2 In 2014, the leadership of the paoc reported that the denomination claimed 1,064 affiliated

congregations, 3,584 clergy, and approximately 236,000 adherents. See “paoc 2020 Initiative

Update: July 2014,”Testimony Magazine95, no. 5 (2014): 3.

3 Carl Verge, “A Comparison of the Beliefs and Practices of Two Groups of Pentecostal Assem-

blies of Canada Ministers: Those with a Master’s Degree and Those with Only Three Years of

Bible College Training” (PhD diss., New York University, 1987), 5. See also Carl Verge, “Pente-

costal Clergy and Higher Education,”Eastern Journal of Practical Theology2 (1987): 41–47. 4 Verge, “Comparison,” 12–13, 45; Dean R. Hoge, “The Sociology of the Clergy,” in The Oxford

Handbook of the Sociology of Religion, ed. Peter B. Clarke (New York: Oxford University Press,

2009), 582.

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religion had a significant negative relationship to commitment to traditional pentecostal belief and a marginal negative relationship to commitment to tra- ditional pentecostal practice.5 In other words, graduate education in religion appeared to result in less traditionally committed pentecostal clergy.

In October 2014, Adam Stewart and Andrew Gabriel conducted a follow- up survey of paoc clergy that included some of the questions contained in Verge’s original instrument in addition to some new questions. The survey had two objectives: first, to determine whether the negative relationship between graduate education in religion and commitment to traditional pentecostal belief and practice observed by Verge continued to exist among paoc clergy, and second, to compare the data collected in 2014 with Verge’s original results in order to determine whether or not any overall changes in commitment to traditional pentecostal belief and practice had occurred among clergy during the course of the last three decades.

This comparison permits, for the first time, an examination of religious change among clergy in Canada’s largest pentecostal and evangelical denomi- nation. Our initial analysis revealed three noteworthy changes. First, the neg- ative relationship between graduate education in religion and commitment to traditional pentecostal belief among paoc clergy appears no longer to exist. Over the last thirty years, the undergraduate cohort’s precipitous decrease in commitment to traditional pentecostal belief has resulted in a remarkable con- vergence of belief among the two educational cohorts, leaving them substan- tially closer in agreement than was the case in 1985/86. Second, the negative relationship between graduate education in religion and commitment to tradi- tional pentecostal practice amongpaocclergy is no longer present. Moreover, we actually observed apositiverelationship between graduate education in reli- gion and commitment to traditional pentecostal practice—the inverse of the trend observed by Verge a generation ago. Finally, despite the graduate cohort’s increase in commitment to traditional pentecostal practice, the rather signif- icant decrease in commitment to both pentecostal belief and practice expe- rienced by the much larger undergraduate cohort meant that we observed an overall decrease in commitment to traditional belief and practice among all paocclergy between 1985/86 and 2014.

In what follows, we, first, outline the research methodologies used in Verge’s 1985/86 survey and in our subsequent 2014 survey, second, compare and discuss the relationship between graduate education in religion and clergy belief and practice in 1985/86 and 2014, and, third, describe the overall decrease that has

5 Verge, “Comparison,” 172–178.

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occurred in clergy commitment to traditional Pentecostal belief and practice during the last three decades. Finally, we conclude by proposing a theoreti- cal framework developed by the sociologist of religion Peter Berger as a lens through which, we believe, the change in commitment to traditional modes of pentecostal belief and practice among Canadian pentecostal clergy can best be understood as part of much broader realignments occurring across numerous religious traditions in late modern society.

Methodology

The 1985/86 Survey

Verge explained the methodological approach that informed his 1985/86 sur- vey in detail in his doctoral dissertation.6 In short, he distributed an English questionnaire containing 116 questions by mail to 100 clergy holding master’s degrees in religion and 100 additional clergy holding three-year ministerial diplomas—the normal educational pathway to ordained ministry within the paoc at the time. To improve reliability, Verge required participants to com- plete the questionnaire twice, separated by a three-week interval. The ques- tionnaire achieved an overall response rate of 74 percent, which included 69 responses from the graduate sample and 79 responses from the undergraduate sample.7There are a few elements of Verge’s methodology beyond these basic facts that are important to discuss so that readers may better understand, first, the representativeness of Verge’s original samples, and, second, the accuracy of the comparisons that we make between Verge’s original results and the data that we collected in 2014.

In 1985, Verge claimed that there were approximately 1,500 clergy within the paoc.8 It is not clear how he arrived at this number, as consultation with the records office of the paoc in 2015 revealed that in 1984 and 1986 there were, respectively, 3,068 and 3,366 clergy within the denomination (thepaocdid not record figures in 1985).9 Nonetheless, Verge imagined the total universe (that is, the total number of all potential participants) of paoc clergy to be 1,500 individuals. Of these 1,500 clergy, Verge also claimed that 100 held master’s degrees in a religious area of study. Verge similarly does not explain how he arrived at this number, but in an email sent to the authors in 2015 he wrote:

6 Verge, “Comparison,” 60–81.

7 Verge, “Comparison,” 66, 76, 84.

8 Verge, “Comparison,” 60.

9 Tanya Couch, Email to Andrew Gabriel and Adam Stewart, January 22, 2015.

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“I discovered the 100 with a master’s degree through my knowledge of most of them and through the district leaders and others who knew them. As you probably know, the master’s degree was just starting to become popular then so it was much easier to track them than it is now.”10 Here Verge essentially describes the use of a nonprobability sampling technique. Considering the limited universe of paoc clergy who possessed graduate degrees in 1985/86, it is safe to assume that Verge’s nonprobability sampling technique captured the vast majority, if not all, of the entire possible sample.

Having determined what he understood to be the limits of the two popu- lations that he desired to survey, Verge then sent 100 questionnaires to the 100 clergy that he identified as possessing a master’s degree and 100 questionnaires to a random sampling of the 1,400 clergy possessing a three-year Bible college diploma that he imagined comprised the remainder of the entire universe of paocclergy in 1985.11This meant that the undergraduate cohort sample repre- sented only about 7 percent of the imagined total universe of this group, and (although Verge was not aware of this at the time) the imagined total universe only comprised approximately less than 50 percent of the actual total universe of potential participants. Verge, in other words, sampled a much smaller pro- portion of clergy than he had intended, and he inadvertently excluded as many as 1,500 potential participants from his random sampling of the undergraduate cohort. Despite its shortcomings, the value of Verge’s research is due to the fact that it represents the only study of the religious beliefs and practices of paoc clergy prior to 2014, and, as a result, it serves as an important basis of compari- son for the study of religious change amongpaocclergy.

The 2014 Survey

The methodological approach adopted by the authors differed from Verge’s in several ways. In October 2014, we distributed a questionnaire hosted on Sur- veyMonkey in parallel English and French text via email to all paoc clergy for whom thepaochad email addresses, which totaled 3,095 of all 3,575 clergy on record with the paoc at that time. It was our objective to distribute the ques- tionnaire to as many clergy as possible without sending the instrument by mail, which would have been financially prohibitive. Of the 3,095 email addresses on record with the paoc, 2,971 were determined to be active by subtracting the 124 emails that were returned or “bounced back” from the total number of email addresses on record. The sample for the questionnaire, then, was 2,971

10 11

Carl Verge, Email to Andrew Gabriel and Adam Stewart, January 22, 2015. Verge, “Comparison,” 60.

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clergy. A total of three emails were sent to clergy over the course of a two week period—an initial invitation sent on October 6, a reminder sent on October 9, and a final reminder sent on October 15—before the questionnaire was closed on October 20. We received a total of 1,730 responses to the questionnaire, but removed 134 responses that failed to complete the survey past the demographic questions, which resulted in a total sample of 1,596, representing a 51.6 percent response rate.

We included what were assessed to be the forty most relevant of Verge’s original 116 survey questions. In order accurately to compare the results of the present study with those of Verge, it was important that both the wording of most of the questions and the specific metrics used to measure responses remained the same from 1985/86 to 2014 despite the fact that they were some- times outmoded, imprecise, or did not allow respondents to provide additional context by means of a qualitative response. The researchers strongly believe that any inherent weaknesses contained in Verge’s original instrument are far outweighed by preserving the ability to accurately compare the two sets of results. In addition to forty of Verge’s original questions, the researchers also added thirty-one new questions concerning demographics, ministry setting, marriage and sexuality, alcohol, biblical literalism, Spirit baptism, soteriology, theology of religions, the prosperity gospel, and eschatology. Many other ques- tions could have been added, however the researchers limited the number of questions in an attempt to minimize the risk of fatiguing respondents with an exceedingly long questionnaire.

In order to compare the beliefs and practices of the total number of respon- dents in 1985/86 to the total number of respondents in 2014, the results from Verge’s study required weighting. As previously explained, becauseVerge deter- mined that only 100 of the total number of 3,366 clergy12comprised the gradu- ate cohort from whom he received 69 responses, Verge targeted this entire sub- group, while randomly sampling 100 of fewer than half of the remaining 3,266 members of the undergraduate cohort from whom he received 79 responses, which made the universe of the study 100:3,266. In order to model the true universe in 1985/86, then, the numbers would have to be adjusted to 4.4 for the graduate cohort against 143.6 for the undergraduate cohort. When com- paring the total number of respondents to both surveys against one another, we employed this ratio adjustment on the 1985/86 study in order to shrink the graduate cohort to 3 percent of the entire sample.

12

We use the total recorded in 1986 as the basis for our calculations due to the absence of figures from 1985.

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In head-to-head comparisons between the 1985/86 and 2014 results, we use the full n=69 to speak about the graduate cohort and n=79 to speak about the undergraduate cohort from Verge’s study. Although an entire sample of 1,596 is used for the 2014 total, qualification into the cohort of those who had a grad- uate degree in religion required some filtering to remove those who answered ambiguously on the two education questions in order to ensure a clean grad- uate cohort. This resulted in a graduate cohort of n=258 and an undergrad- uate cohort of n=857 used to compare with Verge’s respective educational cohorts.

The Effect of Graduate Education in Religion on Clergy Belief and Practice

Relationship between Graduate Education in Religion and Clergy

Belief

An analysis of Verge’s results from 1985/86 reveals the existence of a clear differ- ence between the graduate and undergraduate cohorts regarding commitment to a number of traditional pentecostal beliefs, with the graduate cohort demon- strating less commitment on the vast majority of items. Those beliefs that reg- istered the most significant differences in 1985/86 (a difference in agreement of more than 15 percentage points) included: prohibitions against drinking alco- hol (ga=61 percent, ua=93 percent),13not supporting the election of women as presbyters (ga=29 percent, ua=61 percent), support for a pretribulation view of the rapture (ga=56 percent, ua=85 percent), the idea of hell consisting of lit- eral fire (ga=45 percent, ua=70 percent), denying church membership to those who smoke (ga=38 percent, ua=61 percent), not supporting the remarriage of divorced persons when a former spouse is living (ga=23 percent, ua=44 per- cent), requiring speaking in tongues as a necessary component of Spirit bap- tism (ga=65 percent, ua=86 percent), refraining from sports on Sundays (ga=54 percent, ua=70 percent), and the idea that someone cannot be a Christian and a practicing homosexual (ga=71 percent, ua=87 percent) (see Table 1).

13

Note: “ga” stands for graduate cohort average and “ua” stands for undergraduate cohort average.

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table 1

stewart, gabriel and shanahan

1985/86

Clergy agreement (%) with traditional pentecostal belief by educational cohort in

14

Questions regarding traditional pentecostal belief

g u n=69 n=79

δ

Absolute

δ

Sunday evening services should be maintained. 83 97 14** 14** Christian believers should never participate in the drinking of

alcoholic beverages.

61 93 32** 32**

paocbelievers should refrain from participation in sports activities on

Sundays.

54 70 16* 16*

Women ministers should not be elected to an office of Presbyter. 29 61 32*** 32*** paocchurch membership should not be granted to those who smoke. 38 61 23** 23** No individual has received the baptism of the Holy Spirit who has not

spoken with tongues.

65 86 21** 21**

Christian believers should not purchase lottery tickets. 87 92 5 5 An individual cannot be a born-again believer and a practicing

homosexual.

71 87 16* 16*

It is never scriptural for a divorced person to remarry as long as the

former spouse is living.

23 44 21** 21**

It is not scriptural to remarry even if the cause for the divorce is

adultery.

23 34 11 11

The rapture of the church will take place before the seven-year period

known traditionally as the tribulation.

56 85 29*** 29***

The serpent that tempted Eve (Gen. 3) was an actual snake. 60 62 2 2 The Sunday School is essential to the spiritual life of the church. 86 80 –6 6 Hell consists of literal fire. 45 70 25** 25** Speaking in tongues is the initial physical evidence of the baptism in

the Holy Spirit.

97 95 –2 2

paocmembership should not be offered to practicing homosexuals. 99 99 0 0 paocministers and churches should endeavor to directly influence

politics in Canada.

65 62 –3 3

paocministers should not become part of nonevangelical ministerials. 8 21 13* 13* As apaocminister, I am loyal to that denomination. 87 99 12** 12** Healing is in the atonement. 91 96 5 5 Evolution of humans from a lower form of life is incompatible with the

scriptural account of creation.

84 86 2 2

14

Note: in this and future tables, “g” stands for graduate cohort, “u” stands for undergraduate

cohort, and “δ” stands for difference.

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Questions regarding traditional pentecostal belief

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g u n=69 n=79

δ

Absolute

δ

Abortion on demand is morally wrong except where the life of the

mother is directly in danger.

77 84 7 7

The baptism of the Holy Spirit is a separate experience from being

born again.

97 96 –1 1

Personhood begins at the moment of conception. 89 93 4 4 Counselling for separation is acceptable for Christian couples in some

cases.

63 51 –12 12

Average 65.52 76.16 10.64 12.56

z-Test: * p < .05, ** p < .01, *** p < .001 Concerning the twenty-five questions regarding traditional pentecostal beliefs from Verge’s study that were also included in the 2014 survey, there was an average absolute difference in agreement between the two educational cohorts of 12.56 percentage points in 1985/86. Unlike Verge’s original survey, the results of the 2014 survey do not reveal a significant negative relationship between graduate education in religion and commitment to traditional pentecostal beliefs. There was not a single question regarding belief where the difference in agreement between the two cohorts was greater than 15 percentage points. In fact, there were only four questions on which the two cohorts differed by more than five percentage points, including: support for a pretribulation view of the rapture (ga=52 percent, ua=64 percent), the idea of hell consisting of literal fire (ga=47 percent, ua=58 percent), the belief that the serpent that tempted Eve was an actual snake (ga=43 percent, ua=51 percent), and commitment to the idea that abortion on demand is morally wrong except when the life of the mother is directly in danger (ga=89 percent, ua=83 percent) (see Table 2). In 2014, there was an average absolute difference in agreement of only 3.12 percentage points between the two educational cohorts, which represents an overall change in the average difference in agreement between 1985/86 and 2014 of 9.44 percentage points. The mostly marginal differences in agreement between the two groups do not support the ongoing claim for a significant negative relationship between graduate education in religion and commitment to traditional pentecostal beliefs amongpaocclergy. PNEUMA 39 (2017) 457–481 9 466 stewart, gabriel and shanahan table 2 Clergy agreement (%) with traditional pentecostal belief by educational cohort in 2014 Questions regarding traditional pentecostal belief g u n=258 n=857 δ Absolute δ Sunday evening services should be maintained. 24 22 –2 2 Christian believers should never participate in the drinking of alcoholic beverages. 30 31 1 1 paocbelievers should refrain from participation in sports activities on Sundays. 15 14 –1 1 Women ministers should not be elected to an office of Presbyter. 8 9 1 1 paocchurch membership should not be granted to those who smoke. 18 19 1 1 No individual has received the baptism of the Holy Spirit who has not spoken with tongues. 44 47 3 3 Christian believers should not purchase lottery tickets. 58 59 1 1 An individual cannot be a born-again believer and a practicing homosexual. 57 60 3 3 It is never scriptural for a divorced person to remarry as long as the former spouse is living. 16 15 –1 1 It is not scriptural to remarry even if the cause for the divorce is adultery. 9 10 1 1 The rapture of the church will take place before the seven-year period known traditionally as the tribulation. 52 64 12*** 12*** The serpent that tempted Eve (Gen. 3) was an actual snake. 43 51 8* 8* The Sunday School is essential to the spiritual life of the church. 63 64 1 1 Hell consists of literal fire. 47 58 11** 11** Speaking in tongues is the initial physical evidence of the baptism in the Holy Spirit. 83 84 1 1 paocmembership should not be offered to practicing homosexuals. 91 89 –2 2 paocministers and churches should endeavor to directly influence politics in Canada. 57 54 –3 3 paocministers should not become part of nonevangelical ministerials. 15 11 –4 4 As apaocminister, I am loyal to that denomination. 92 91 –1 1 Healing is in the atonement. 90 90 0 0 Evolution of humans from a lower form of life is incompatible with the scriptural account of creation. 75 80 5 5 Abortion on demand is morally wrong except where the life of the mother is directly in danger. 89 83 –6* 6* PNEUMA 39 (2017) 457–481 10 changes in clergy belief and practice 467 Questions regarding traditional pentecostal belief g u n=258 n=857 δ Absolute δ The baptism of the Holy Spirit is a separate experience from being 94 97 3 3 born again. Personhood begins at the moment of conception. 94 95 1 1 Counselling for separation is acceptable for Christian couples in some 82 77 –5 5 cases. Average 53.84 54.96 1.12 3.12 z-Test: * p < .05, ** p < .01, *** p < .001 In most areas of belief measured in the 2014 survey, then, the two educa- tional cohorts are converging in agreement. What is, perhaps, most interesting about the comparison of the beliefs of the graduate and undergraduate cohorts is not simply that the two groups of clergy are converging, but, rather, the way in which this convergence is taking place. It is not, as one might imag- ine, that in 1985/86 the graduate cohort was already extremely progressive in their theological opinions and that, not having changed much since that time, it is the change of the undergraduate cohort only over the last thirty years that accounts for this convergence. Rather, the graduate cohort has, indeed, experi- enced notable changes in commitment to traditional pentecostal beliefs over the last thirty years, while the undergraduate cohort has, quite simply, expe- rienced even greater changes, on some questions more than quadrupling the rate of change in agreement experienced by the graduate cohort. We suspect that the absence of the type of negative relationship between graduate educa- tion in religion and commitment to traditional pentecostal beliefs observed by Verge thirty years ago might be explained by the fact that—unlike clergy pos- sessing graduate degrees in religion during the mid-1980s—clergy who have earned graduate degrees in religion more recently did so in institutional con- texts (including mainline or evangelical theological schools and secular univer- sities) in which Pentecostalism was viewed more positively than a generation ago, so that graduates’ commitments to traditional pentecostal belief and prac- tice were not disincentivized, as might have been the case for earlier graduates of these institutions. PNEUMA 39 (2017) 457–481 11 468 stewart, gabriel and shanahan Relationship between Graduate Education in Religion and Clergy Practice Much like the difference regarding commitment to traditional pentecostal belief that existed between the graduate and undergraduate cohorts in 1985/86, Verge’s research also revealed a difference concerning commitment to tradi- tional pentecostal practices between the two cohorts.Verge, for instance, found that the two cohorts differed by more than one point of frequency (number of times that respondents indicated that they engaged in a given practice dur- ing the past twelve months) on six questions. These included: the number of meals fasted for spiritual reasons (ga=11.5 times, ua=26.3 times), the number of times a message in tongues was given (ga=2.1 times, ua=15.0 times), the num- ber of physical healings witnessed (ga=6.2 times, ua=9.1 times), and the number of times clergy had preached on the themes of holiness (ga=5.3 times, ua=11.6 times), Spirit baptism (ga=2.2 times, ua=4.7 times), and the second coming (ga=2.0 times, ua=5.0 times) (see Table 3). Concerning the seven questions relating to traditional pentecostal practices from Verge’s study that were included in the 2014 survey, there was an aver- age absolute difference in frequency of 6.16 points in 1985/86.15 As they did with belief, the results of the 2014 survey did not reveal a significant nega- tive relationship between graduate education in religion and commitment to traditional pentecostal practice. Our research showed that convergence had occurred regarding six of the seven practices that we measured, with the result beingthatthetwocohortsdifferedbymorethanonepointof frequencyononly three questions as opposed to six questions in 1985/86. This convergence had taken place because the graduate cohort had increased their participation in all seven traditional pentecostal practices, whereas the undergraduate cohort had decreased their participation in all but one of the practices.16 There was not simply a convergence of religious practice among the two cohorts in 2014, but, contrary to what Verge found in 1985/86, the graduate cohort actually surpassed the undergraduate cohort in their frequency of par- ticipation in five of the seven practices, including: the number of meals fasted for spiritual reasons (ga=19.2 times, ua=13.7 times), the number of times a message in tongues was given (ga=4.6 times, ua=2.9 times), and the number 15 16 We replicated five additional questions from Verge’s survey regarding religious practice that did not relate specifically to pentecostal religious practices (such as the number of seminars clergy had attended). The two cohorts diverged on only one practice: prophecy. They, however, diverged by only one point of frequency and both cohorts increased their participation in this prac- tice. PNEUMA 39 (2017) 457–481 12 changes in clergy belief and practice 469 table 3 Clergy Frequency of traditional pentecostal practice by educational cohort in 1985/86 17 Questions regarding traditional pentecostal practice g u n=69 n=79 δ Absolute δ Approximate number of times within the past 12 months you gave a 2.1 15.0 12.9 12.9 message in tongues. Approximate number of meals you fasted for spiritual reasons within 11.5 26.3 14.8 14.8 the past 12 months. Number of times in past 12 months you preached on holiness. 5.3 11.6 6.3 6.3 Approximate number of distinct physical healings you witnessed during 6.2 9.1 2.9 2.9 the past 12 months. Number of times in past 12 months you preached on the second 2.0 5.0 3.0 3.0 coming. Number of times in the past 12 months you preached on the Baptism of 2.2 4.7 2.5 2.5 the Holy Spirit. Number of times you gave a word of prophecy during past 12 months. 6.0 5.3 –0.7 0.7 Average 5.04 11 5.96 6.16 of times they had preached on the themes of holiness (ga=7.4 times, ua=6.8 times), Spirit baptism (ga=4.1 times, ua=3.8 times), and the second coming (ga=4.2 times, ua=3.8 times) (see Table 4).18 In 2014, there was an average absolute difference in frequency of only 1.6 points between the two educational cohorts, which represents an overall change in the average absolute difference in frequency between 1985/86 and 2014 of 4.56 points. The limited differences between the two groups do not reveal a continued negative relationship between graduate education in reli- gion and commitment to traditional pentecostal practice amongpaocclergy. 17 18 Verge reported that there were no statistically significant differences between the grad- uate and undergraduate cohorts in 1985/86 regarding these practices. We were, unfor- tunately, unable to verify Verge’s work since only the results, and not the actual data, were available to us. The variances of the distributions for the behavioral counts are also unknown, making a calculation of the pooled variance impossible. Nor is there any indi- cation of the treatment of outliers, which could dramatically affect his calculations. The two religious practices that the undergraduate cohort continued to participate in more than the graduate cohort were prophecy (ga=7.7, ua=9.4) and witnessing physical healings (ga=6.7, ua=7.7). PNEUMA 39 (2017) 457–481 13 470 stewart, gabriel and shanahan table 4 Clergy frequency of traditional pentecostal practice by educational cohort in 2014 Questions regarding traditional pentecostal practice g u n=258 n=857 δ Absolute δ Approximate number of times within the past 12 months you gave a message in tongues. 4.6 2.9 –1.7 1.7 Approximate number of meals you fasted for spiritual reasons within the past 12 months. 19.2 13.7 –5.5*** 5.5 Number of times in past 12 months you preached on holiness. 7.4 6.8 –0.6 0.6 Approximate number of distinct physical healings you witnessed during the past 12 months. 6.7 7.7 1.0 1.0 Number of times in past 12 months you preached on the second coming. 4.2 3.8 –0.4 0.4 Number of times in the past 12 months you preached on the Baptism of the Holy Spirit. 4.1 3.8 –0.3 0.3 Number of times you gave a word of prophecy during past 12 months. 7.7 9.4 1.7 1.7 Average 7.7 6.87 –0.83 1.6 z-Test: * p < .05, ** p < .01, *** p < .001 In addition to the questions regarding religious practice that we repeated from Verge’s survey in our 2014 instrument, we included some new practice- oriented questions that allowed us also to learn that, in 2014, the graduate cohort reported spending more time than the undergraduate cohort each day engaged in prayer (ga=35 minutes, ua=33 minutes) and Bible reading (ga=31 minutes, ua=25 minutes), and (although only marginally) reported praying or singing in tongues more times during the past twelve months than the undergraduate cohort (ga=155 times, ua=154 times).19 We suggest that the observed positive relationship between graduate edu- cation in religion and commitment to traditional pentecostal practice among paoc clergy might be due to preselection. That is, clergy who go on to pur- sue graduate degrees in religion are likely already more religiously active or engaged than those who decide not to pursue graduate education in religion (demonstrated, perhaps, by their decisions to expend considerable amounts 19 Verge also asked questions about prayer and Bible reading, and found that the undergrad- uate group participated more often (Verge, “Comparison,” 142). Our questions regarding prayer and Bible reading, however, were not worded the same as Verge’s, therefore a direct comparison between the two sets of results cannot be made. PNEUMA 39 (2017) 457–481 14 changes in clergy belief and practice 471 of time and money, as well as, in some cases, forfeit potential earnings, in order to pursue further religious education), which means that the relation- ship between graduate education in religion and commitment to traditional pentecostal practice is likely incidental rather than causal. Further research, however, needs to be conducted in order to confirm this. Overall Decrease in Clergy Commitment to Traditional Belief and Practice When comparing the responses of clergy in 1985/86 to those in 2014, we ob- served an overall decline in commitment to traditional pentecostal religious belief on all but two questions.20 Of the twenty-five questions regarding tra- ditional pentecostal belief that we repeated from Verge’s survey, for instance, agreement declined by more than 25 percentage points regarding nine ques- tions. These included questions concerning: the need for Sunday evening ser- vices (1985/86a=97 percent, 2014a=26 percent),21prohibitions against drinking alcohol (1985/86a=92 percent, 2014a=34 percent), a belief in refraining from sports on Sundays (1985/86a=70 percent, 2014a=16 percent), not supporting the election of womenas presbyters(1985/86a=60 percent,2014a=9 percent),deny- ing church membership to those who smoke (1985/86a=60 percent, 2014a=20 percent), requiring speaking in tongues as a necessary component of Spirit baptism (1985/86a=85 percent, 2014a=46 percent), a belief in refraining from purchasing lottery tickets (1985/86a=92 percent, 2014a=61 percent), the idea that someone cannot be a Christian and a practicing homosexual (1985/86a=87 percent, 2014a=60 percent), and not supporting the remarriage of divorced per- sons when a former spouse is living (1985/86a=43 percent, 2014a=18 percent) (see Table 5). Perhaps most important for understanding the declining commitment to traditional pentecostal belief among paoc clergy, is an examination of the decrease in clergy commitment to the idea of speaking in tongues as a com- ponent of Spirit baptism, which is, for most historians of Pentecostalism, the litmus test for classical, North American pentecostal identity and experience. Although we found that overall agreement with the statement, “Speaking in 20 21 There was no change in belief regarding the idea that Spirit baptism is a separate expe- rience from conversion, and an increase of only two percentage points in agreement regarding the personhood of a human zygote (1985/86a=93 percent, 2014a=95 percent). Note: “a” stands for average. PNEUMA 39 (2017) 457–481 15 472 table 5 stewart, gabriel and shanahan and 2014 Comparison of clergy agreement (%) with traditional pentecostal belief in 1985/86 22 Questions regarding traditional pentecostal belief 1985/86 2014 δ n=148 n=1596 Absolute δ Sunday evening services should be maintained. 97 26 –71*** 71*** Christian believers should never participate in the drinking of alcoholic beverages. 92 34 –58*** 58*** paocbelievers should refrain from participation in sports activities on Sundays. 70 16 –54*** 54*** Women ministers should not be elected to an office of Presbyter. 60 9 –51*** 51*** paocchurch membership should not be granted to those who smoke. 60 20 –40*** 40*** No individual has received the baptism of the Holy Spirit who has not spoken with tongues. 85 46 –39*** 39*** Christian believers should not purchase lottery tickets. 92 61 –31*** 31*** An individual cannot be a born-again believer and a practicing homosexual. 87 60 –27*** 27*** It is never Scriptural for a divorced person to remarry as long as the former spouse is living. 43 18 –25*** 25*** It is not Scriptural to remarry even if the cause for the divorce is adultery. 34 12 –22*** 22*** The rapture of the church will take place before the seven-year period known traditionally as the tribulation. 84 64 –20*** 20*** The serpent that tempted Eve (Gen. 3) was an actual snake. 62 49 –13** 13** The Sunday School is essential to the spiritual life of the Church. 80 68 –12** 12** Hell consists of literal fire. 69 58 –11** 11** Speaking in tongues is the initial physical evidence of the baptism in the Holy Spirit. paocmembership should not be offered to practicing homosexuals. 95 84 –11*** 11*** 99 90 –9*** 9*** paocministers and churches should endeavor to directly influence politics in Canada. 62 54 –8 8 paocministers should not become part of non-evangelical ministerials. 21 13 –8** 8** 22 Note: the 1985/86 results are weighted to match the graduate/undergraduate ratio for the 2014 data in Tables 5 and 6. PNEUMA 39 (2017) 457–481 16 changes in clergy belief and practice 473 Questions regarding traditional pentecostal belief 1985/86 2014 n=148 n=1596 δ Absolute δ As apaocminister, I am loyal to that denomination. 99 92 –7** 7** Healing is in the atonement. 96 89 –7* 7* Evolution of humans from a lower form of life is incompatible 86 80 –6* 6* with the Scriptural account of creation. Abortion on demand is morally wrong except where the life of the 84 83 –1 1 mother is directly in danger. The baptism of the Holy Spirit is a separate experience from 96 96 0 0 being born again. Personhood begins at the moment of conception. 93 95 2 2 Counselling for separation is acceptable for Christian couples in 51 76 25*** 25*** some cases. Average 75.88 55.72 –20.16 22.32 z-Test: * p < .05, ** p < .01, *** p < .001 tongues is the initial physical evidence of the baptism in the Holy Spirit,” decreased only from 95 to 84 percent, there was a more significant change among those whostrongly agreedwith this statement in 1985/86 (75 percent) as compared with those who did in 2014 (48 percent), suggesting less enthusiastic support for the idea of tongues speech as the only initial evidence of Spirit baptism. Decline in overall agreement with the statement, “No individual has received the baptism of the Holy Spirit who has not spoken with tongues,” was much more significant. In 1985/86, 85 percent of respondents agreed with this statement while in 2014 only 46 percent did. Clearly, this change in belief among paoc clergy points, at the very least, to a reinterpretation of the initial evidence doctrine and the experience of Spirit baptism more generally.23 In addition to an overall decline in commitment to traditional pentecostal religious belief, our survey also revealed that paoc clergy were less engaged 23 For further analysis of the changing beliefs of paoc clergy regarding Spirit baptism, see Andrew K. Gabriel, Adam Stewart, and Keven Shanahan, “Changing Conceptions of Speaking in Tongues and Spirit Baptism among Canadian Pentecostal Clergy,” Canadian Journal of Pentecostal-Charismatic Christianity7 (2016): 1–24. Regarding the views of paoc laity, see Adam Stewart,The New Canadian Pentecostals(Waterloo: Wilfrid Laurier Univer- sity Press, 2015), 109–136. PNEUMA 39 (2017) 457–481 17 474 table 6 stewart, gabriel and shanahan 2014 Comparison of clergy frequency of traditional pentecostal practice in 1985/86 and 24 Questions regarding traditional pentecostal belief 1985/86 2014 δ n=148 n=1596 Absolute δ Approximate number of times within the past 12 months you gave a message in tongues. 14.6 3.3 –11.3 11.3 Approximate number of meals you fasted for spiritual reasons within the past 12 months. 25.9 16.9 –9.0 9.0 Number of times in past 12 months you preached on holiness. 11.4 7.3 –4.1 4.1 Approximate number of distinct physical healings you witnessed during the past 12 months. 9.0 7.5 –1.5 1.5 Number of times in past 12 months you preached on the second coming. 4.9 4.2 –0.7 0.7 Number of times in the past 12 months you preached on the Baptism of the Holy Spirit. 4.6 4.0 –0.6 0.6 Number of times you gave a word of prophecy during past 12 months. 5.3 9.7 4.4 4.4 Average 10.81 7.56 –3.26 4.51 in a number of traditional pentecostal practices than they were three decades ago.This was true for all but one of the seven questions pertaining to traditional pentecostal practice that we replicated fromVerge’s 1985/86 study. For example, our research showed that in 2014, clergy reported giving fewer messages in tongues than in 1985/86 (1985/86a=14.6 times, 2014a=3.3 times), with 81 percent of clergy in 2014 reporting that they had not given a single message in tongues during the previous twelve months, whereas in 1985/86 only 42 percent of clergy responded in the same way (see Table 6). Furthermore, in 2014, clergy reported fasting less for spiritual reasons (1985/ 86a=25.9 times, 2014a=16.9 times), preaching less on the theme of holiness (1985/86a=11.4 times, 2014a=7.3 times), and witnessing fewer physical healings (1985/86a=9.0 times, 2014a=7.5 times) than they did in 1985/86. In 2014, clergy also reported preaching less on the second coming of Christ (1985/86a=4.9 times, 2014a=4.2 times) and Spirit baptism (1985/86a=4.6 times, 2014a=4.0 24 Regarding Table 6, statistical testing of Verge’s work is again hampered by not having access to the dataset. PNEUMA 39 (2017) 457–481 18 changes in clergy belief and practice 475 times) than in 1985/86. Although more a marker of identity than a religious practice per se, clergy also reported drinking substantially more alcohol in 2014 than they did in 1985/86 (1985/86a=0.2 times, 2014a=9.8 times), with 33 percent of clergy in 2014 reporting having had one or more alcoholic drink during the previous year compared to only 7 percent of clergy in 1985/86. There was, interestingly, one area of traditional pentecostal religious prac- tice in which clergy reported an increase in participation over the last three decades. In 2014, clergy reported prophesying nearly twice as frequently as they did in 1985/86 (1985/86a=5.3 times, 2014a=9.7 times). This finding is consistent with the earlier work of Stewart who found that—amidst an overall narra- tive of decline in commitment to traditional pentecostal emphases among the Canadian Pentecostals that he studied—the transformation of Canadian pen- tecostal identity, belief, and practice is not a simply linear process.25 Rather, the decline in commitment to some elements of the tradition and mainte- nance (and even increase) of others suggests what Danièle Hervieu-Léger calls a “recomposition” or “restructuring” of the tradition in which Canadian Pente- costals, clergy and laity alike, are reinterpreting or reframing the tradition with the hope that it might be better able to address the challenges faced by all reli- gions in late modern society.26 Explaining Religious Change in Late Modern Society The decline of denominationally distinctive belief and practice within paoc congregations has been well documented by sociologists Sam Reimer, Michael Wilkinson, and Adam Stewart.27 By participating in what Reimer has coined as “generic evangelicalism,” or more specifically, a “transdenominational trans- national evangelical subculture,” these congregations have experienced, as Stewart writes, “a gradual but continual transformation from traditional and denominational identities, theologies, and practices to homogenous, generic 25 26 27 Stewart,The New Canadian Pentecostals, 89–99, 109–110, 135–138, 163–164, 168–169. Danièle Hervieu-Léger, La Religion pour Mémoire(Paris: Cerf, 1993). Sam Reimer, Evangelicals and the Continental Divide: The Conservative Protestant Subcul- ture in Canada and the United States (Montreal and Kingston: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2003), 17, 39, 42; Sam Reimer and Michael Wilkinson, A Culture of Faith: Evangelical Congregations in Canada(Montreal and Kingston: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2015), 103–104, 132–133; Stewart,The New Canadian Pentecostals, 77–136. PNEUMA 39 (2017) 457–481 19 476 stewart, gabriel and shanahan versions.”28Building on the contributions of these scholars, we similarly argue that the overall decrease in commitment to traditional pentecostal belief and practice that we observed among paoc clergy is the result of their participa- tion in this generic evangelical subculture, which promotes the adoption of a homogenous kit of evangelical beliefs and practices and the concomitant dilution of many of the distinctively pentecostal elements of the tradition. Although it is true that by participating in a generic evangelical subculture paoc clergy have reframed their religious beliefs and practices so that they more closely emphasize, in the words of Reimer and Wilkinson, “evangelical boundaries instead of denominationally specific boundaries,” this observation does not explain the underlying reasonwhypaocclergy—or indeed, Canadian Pentecostals more broadly—felt the need to make this realignment in the first place.29 One particularly helpful framework for understanding what is driving Cana- dian Pentecostals to adapt their religious beliefs and practices at this particular point in history is Peter Berger’s theory of religious change contained in his seminal 1967 book, The Sacred Canopy.30 Although his idea of inevitable sec- ularization has since been challenged by other scholars and even recanted by Berger himself, several individual components of Berger’s theory of seculariza- tion, in the words of British sociologist James Beckford, “still ring true.”31 Riskingoversimplification,thesubstance of Berger’sexplanationof religious change in late modern society is that, in Western societies such as those found in much of Europe and North America, modernity brought with it the devel- opment of widespread pluralism and individualism (both of the religious and nonreligious kind), which, according to one’s perspective, poses either chal- lenges or opportunities for the continuing vitality of religion in late modern society. Some sociologists argue that the proliferation and acceptance of non- Christian religious alternatives precipitated by globalization and an increase in migration to the West of individuals of non-Christian origin, as well as the now taken-for-granted assumption of the right of the individual to choose their own set of religious identities, beliefs, and practices (or none at all) in the quest 28 29 30 31 Reimer, Evangelicals and the Continental Divide, 15, 21; Stewart, The New Canadian Pente- costals, 9. Reimer and Wilkinson, A Culture of Faith, 104. Peter L. Berger,The Sacred Canopy: Elements of a SociologicalTheory of Religion(New York: Anchor Books, 1967). Peter L. Berger, “Protestantism and the Quest for Certainty,” The Christian Century 115, no. 23 (1998): 782–796; James A. Beckford, Social Theory and Religion (Cambridge, uk: Cambridge University Press, 2003), 83. PNEUMA 39 (2017) 457–481 20 changes in clergy belief and practice 477 for self-fulfillment, threaten the future of religion, particularly in its institu- tional forms.32 Other sociologists, however, alternatively argue that pluralism and individualism need not sound the death knell—and, in fact, may even con- tributetotheongoingvitality—of religion.33Despiteone’sinterpretationof the outcome, most sociologists of religion agree that pluralism and individualism are among the most important forces influencing the development of religion in late modern society.34 Berger’s explanation of religious change becomes particularly relevant for understanding changes that are currently taking place within Canadian Pente- costalism when he discusses the specific ways in which religions must respond to the proliferation of pluralism and individualism within late modern soci- ety. Berger explains that in religiously pluralistic, individualistic societies such as Canada, religions must compete with other religious as well as nonreli- gious ideologies “in the business of defining the world,” in which religion “must be ‘sold’ to a clientele that is no longer constrained to ‘buy,’” which results in the emergence of a “market situation.” Now that religious institutions are forced to become essentially “marketing agencies and the religious traditions become consumer commodities,” they develop extensive religious bureaucra- cies and begin to train and select their clergy, not on the basis of their prophetic, 32 33 34 Berger, The Sacred Canopy; Bryan Wilson, Religion in Sociological Perspective (New York: Oxford University Press, 1982); Steve Bruce,GodisDead:SecularizationintheWest(Oxford: Blackwell Publishing, 2002). On the rise of religious individualism and the development of a spiritual quest culture in the West, see Wade Clark Roof, A Generation of Seekers: The Spiritual Journeys of the Baby Boom Generation(San Francisco: HarperCollins, 1993); Grace Davie, Religion in Britain Since 1945: Believing Without Belonging (Oxford: Blackwell Pub- lishers, 1994); RobertWuthnow,AfterHeaven:SpiritualityinAmericaSincethe1950s(Berke- ley: University of California Press, 1998); Wade Clark Roof, Spiritual Marketplace: Baby Boomers and the Remaking of American Religion (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1999); Robert C. Fuller, Spiritual But Not Religious: Understanding Unchurched America (New York: Oxford University Press, 2001); Paul Heelas and Linda Woodhead,The Spiritual Revolution: Why Religion is Giving Way to Spirituality(Oxford: Blackwell Publishing, 2005); Lorne L. Dawson, Comprehending Cults: The Sociology of New Religious Movements, 2nd ed. (New York: Oxford University Press, 2006); Robert N. Bellah, Richard Madsen, William M. Sullivan, Ann Swider, and Steven M.Tipton,Habitsof theHeart:IndividualismandCom- mitment in American Life, 3rd ed. (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2008). Jose Casanova,Public Religions in the ModernWorld(Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1994); Rodney Stark and Roger Finke, Acts of Faith: Explaining the Human Side of Religion (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2000); Hervieu-Léger, La Religion pour Mémoire. Lorne L. Dawson and Joel Thiessen,The Sociology of Religion: A Canadian Perspective(Don Mills: Oxford University Press, 2014), 143–150. PNEUMA 39 (2017) 457–481 21 478 stewart, gabriel and shanahan priestly, scholarly, or saintly attributes, but, rather, on the basis of how well they have adapted themselves to their new bureaucratic roles as marketers of religious content (think, for instance, of televangelists and the leaders of megachurches). In essence, clergy become managers of religious firms who compete with other firms for the allegiance of a limited clientele. Furthermore, the types of clergy that the religious bureaucracy tends to attract and create are markedly similar regardless of religious affiliation (which is seen in the case of the paoc where clergy are increasingly recruited from outside of tra- ditional denominational boundaries based on their record as successful mar- keting managers). This breeds both ecumenicity and the rationalization of the competitive market (as seen in the development of a generic evangelical sub- culture), which rejects both politically and economically costly unrestrained competition in favor of the cartelization of the religious market in order to ensure a stable constituency for all religious firms. In this type of pluralistic, individualistic market situation, each firm and its religious contents becomes relativized in relation to others and, as a result, suffers a loss of plausibility. In Berger’s language, a firm’s religious contents become deobjectivated or subjec- tivized because no matter how “real” it may appear to an individual adherent, it loses its ability to provide a truly objective, taken-for-granted explanation of reality that is equally accepted by all members of society (what Berger calls a cosmos or “sacred canopy”). He summarizes: “insofar as religion is common it lacks ‘reality,’ and insofar as it is ‘real’ it lacks commonality.”35 Berger concludes by arguing that firms can respond to the problems created by the loss of plausibility in one of two ideal-typical options: (1) “accommo- date themselves to the situation … by modifying their product in accordance with consumer demands,” or (2) “entrench themselves behind whatever socio- religious structures they can maintain or construct, and continue to profess the old objectivities as much as possible as if nothing had happened.” This second option amounts to what is ostensibly religious fundamentalism and is not, at present, the direction that is being chosen by the leadership of thepaocor the majority of its clergy. Firms that choose the first option, Berger continues, must ensure that their religious contents are: (1) demythologized (that is, secular), (2) relevant to private life, namely, the moral and therapeutic needs of individu- 35 Berger,The Sacred Canopy, 134–152. For a very interesting earlier discussion of marketing religion from Berger, see Peter L. Berger, “A Market Model for the Analysis of Ecumenicity,” Social Research 30, no. 1 (1963): 77–93. For a more recent analysis of this phenomenon, see Mara Einstein, Brands of Faith: Marketing Religion in a Commercial Age (New York: Routledge, 2008). PNEUMA 39 (2017) 457–481 22 changes in clergy belief and practice 479 als (individualistic), and (3) lay-oriented (consumer-based).36As noted earlier, even Berger himself admits that the passage of time has demonstrated that firms that have reshaped their religious contents in order to meet consumer demand are not limited to addressingonly secular concerns,but also frequently address issues relevant to public life. His claim, however, that firms that choose thisapproachmustbesensitivetoindividualdesiresandconsumerpreferences remains applicable.37 Finally, and especially important for understanding the role that the generic evangelical subculture has played in Canadian Pentecostalism’s transforma- tion over the last three decades, Berger explains that firms that choose to accommodate their religious contents in order to meet consumer demand— the first of his two options in the face of the loss of plausibility—must pay particular attention to: (1) the standardization of their religious contents in order to meet a common set of perceived consumer preferences through the development of an ecumenical cartel, and (2) the marginal differentiation of their religious contents, or in other words, adjusting their now nearly identi- cal religious contents according to mostly minor matters of consumer taste in order to distinguish themselves from the many other very similar firms operat- ing in the same standardized religious market.38 Regarding standardization in particular, Berger writes: “This standardization of religious contents, brought about by consumer pressures, tends to de-emphasize traditional confessional cleavages.”39 In other words, standardization is not an arbitrary process, but, rather, tends to achieve its objective of greater perceived consumer appeal by specifically adapting those traditional denominational emphases, a process that Hervieu-Léger calls “doctrinal reduction” or “theological minimalism.”40 “The net result,” Lorne Dawson and Joel Thiessen explain, “is a plethora of sim- ilar yet slightly different religions, like toothpastes or shampoos, which focus primarily on the private needs of individuals and families and are careful to be consonant with the largely secular consciousness of the citizens of modern societies.”41 36 37 38 39 40 41 Berger,The Sacred Canopy, 146–148, 153. On the continuing role of religion in public life, see Peter Beyer,Religion and Globalization (London: Sage Publications, 1994); Casanova, Public Religions in the Modern World. Berger,The Sacred Canopy, 148–149. Berger,The Sacred Canopy, 148. Danièle Hervieu-Léger, “In Search of Certainties: The Paradoxes of Religiosity in Societies of High Modernity,”The Hedgehog Review8, nos. 1–2 (2006): 64. Dawson and Thiessen,The Sociology of Religion, 103. PNEUMA 39 (2017) 457–481 23 480 stewart, gabriel and shanahan This simplified outline of Berger’s explanation of religious change in late modern society provides a lens through which, we believe, many of the changes currently taking place within Canadian Pentecostalism—such as the changing beliefs and practices of paoc clergy—can be more clearly understood. paoc clergy, for instance, who have seen demand for the traditional religious con- tents that they supply decrease due to the loss of plausibility brought about by the acceleration of pluralism and individualism within Canadian society over the last three decades, have joined an ecumenical and cartelized reli- gious market in the form of a transdenominational transnational evangelical subculture. It is through participating in this subculture that traditional pente- costal belief and practice have been accommodated to the perceived consumer demand for a standardized kit of homogenous evangelical religious contents— which Hervieu-Léger calls “a ‘minimum creed’”—that, it is hoped, will expand Canadian Pentecostalism’s market share of potential adherents. The religious contents of Canadian pentecostal congregations are then differentiated from what is on offer by other evangelical congregations that also participate in the generic evangelical subculture in only marginal ways in a process that Hervieu- Léger calls “personalization,” which amounts to little more than adjustments on matters of style, such as the types of emphases within preaching, music, programs, and facilities, which, it is hoped, will appeal to a sufficiently large enough market niche of potential adherents to keep the congregation numer- ically viable.42 Ironically, by accommodating their religious contents in order to meet con- sumer demand through participating in a standardized ecumenical cartel such as the generic evangelical subculture, such congregations: (1) weaken or elim- inate whatever denominationally distinctive competitive advantage they may have originally had, (2) encourage transcongregational migration based almost solely on matters of style and taste given that all members of the cartel adhere to the same common stock of doctrine and theology, (3) accelerate the loss of plausibility within all member firms as they are now nearly indistinguishable from one another, (4) validate and proliferate the idea that the primary role of religion is to meet individual needs and consumer preferences, which, thereby, (5) creates an ongoing, cyclical process of religious adaptation that is difficult, if not impossible, for member firms to escape.43 42 43 Hervieu-Léger, “In Search of Certainties,” 64–65. Dawson and Thiessen,The Sociology of Religion, 103; Hervieu-Léger, “In Search of Certain- ties,” 64–65. For descriptions of what the standardization of religious contents looks like in specific congregations, see Donald E. Miller,Reinventing American Protestantism: Chris- PNEUMA 39 (2017) 457–481 24 changes in clergy belief and practice 481 Conclusion In this article we have demonstrated that graduate education in religion no longer has a negative relationship with commitment to traditional pentecostal belief among paoc clergy like it did a generation earlier. We suspect that this might be explained by the fact that—unlike clergy possessing graduate degrees in religion during the mid-1980s—clergy who have earned graduate degrees in religion more recently did so in institutional contexts in which Pentecostal- ism was viewed more positively than a generation ago. We have also shown the existence of a positive relationship between graduate education in religion and commitment to traditional pentecostal practice amongpaocclergy—the inverse of the trend observed by Verge a generation ago. We suggest that this might be the result of preselection, that is, those clergy who go on to pur- sue graduate degrees in religion are likely already more religiously active or engaged than those who decide not to pursue graduate education in religion. Finally, we have demonstrated that, overall, paoc clergy have experienced a decrease in commitment to traditional pentecostal belief and practice over the last thirty years. This, we argue, is the result of their participation in a generic evangelical subculture that promotes the adoption of a homogenous kit of evangelical beliefs and practices, which is further driven by the broader trend towards the standardization of religious contents seen across many reli- gious traditions in late modern society. More research needs to be done in order to confirm this claim, particularly a national study of belief and prac- tice among laity within the paoc. The growing body of research that points toward the influence of generic evangelicalism withinpaoccongregations and among paoc clergy, however, greatly increases the plausibility that a better understanding of the transnational evangelical networks in which Canadian Pentecostals increasingly participate may hold the key to explaining the con- temporary transformation of Canadian Pentecostalism. tianity in the New Millennium(Berkeley: University of California Press, 1997); Kimon How- land Sargeant, Seeker Churches: Promoting Traditional Religion in a Nontraditional Way (New Brunswick,nj: Rutgers University Press, 2000); Stephen Ellingson,The Megachurch and the Mainline: Remaking Religious Tradition in the Twenty-First Century (Chicago: Uni- versity of Chicago Press, 2007); Stewart,The New Canadian Pentecostals. PNEUMA 39 (2017) 457–481 25