On the Journey, Ep 167: Were the Church Fathers "Bible Christians?" – Sola Scriptura 2.0, Part VIII

Former Foursquare pastor Kenny Burchard concludes his discussion of fifteen key commonalities between the beliefs and practices of Catholicism and Pentecostalism, as a way of hopefully having more fruitful conversations about the role of the Holy Spirit in the life of Christians. In our final episode of the series, Kenny talks to Matt Swaim and Ken Hensley about five more elements common to Catholics and Pentecostals. So far, we’ve discussed: 1. Belief in the manifest, or "real" presence of God in worship 2. Ongoing spiritual gifts, miracles, and signs 3. Charisms expressed through unique callings 4. God's word spoken, read, preached, and alive 5. Impartation through the laying on of hands 6. Apostolic authority and anointing 7. Holy places, objects, and sacraments as channels of grace 8. Dreams, visions, and mystical encounters 9. Spiritual warfare and real deliverance 10. Disciplines that lead to practical holiness And in this episode, we discuss: 11. Fresh graces that follow initial conversion 12. The sobering reality of apostasy—and the call to perseverance 13. Breakthrough as the fruit of persistent, faithful prayer 14. Embodied worship: kneeling, lifting hands, incense, anointing with oil, song 15. A share in the priestly, prophetic, and kingly mission of Christ This discussion continues in the new book available Summer 2025 from The Coming Home Network, "Journeys Home 3: Pentecostals and Charismatics," which features thirteen conversion stories from people who come from this spiritual tradition. Find out more at https://www.chnetwork.org/jh3. Also mentioned was the Deep in History talk by Paul Thigpen, The Road From Topeka to Rome: How the Pentecostal Movement Has Brought Millions Closer to the Catholic Faith. Watch it for free here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w7H7qJKD1dU&t More stories and resources: https://www.chnetwork.org Our Online Community: https://www.chnetwork.org/community Support our work: https://www.chnetwork.org/compass

Former Foursquare pastor Kenny Burchard continues his discussion of fifteen key commonalities between the beliefs and practices of Catholicism and Pentecostalism, as a way of hopefully having more fruitful conversations about the role of the Holy Spirit in the life of Christians. In the second of three episodes on the topic, Kenny talks to Matt Swaim and Ken Hensley about five more elements common to Catholics and Pentecostals. Last week we discussed: 1. Belief in the manifest, or "real" presence of God in worship 2. Ongoing spiritual gifts, miracles, and signs 3. Charisms expressed through unique callings 4. God's word spoken, read, preached, and alive 5. Impartation through the laying on of hands   Added to the list this week:   6. Apostolic authority and anointing 7. Holy places, objects, and sacraments as channels of grace 8. Dreams, visions, and mystical encounters 9. Spiritual warfare and real deliverance 10. Disciplines that lead to practical holiness This discussion continues in the new book available Summer 2025 from The Coming Home Network, "Journeys Home 3: Pentecostals and Charismatics," which features thirteen conversion stories from people who come from this spiritual tradition. Find out more at https://www.chnetwork.org/jh3. Also mentioned was the Deep in History talk by Paul Thigpen, The Road From Topeka to Rome: How the Pentecostal Movement Has Brought Millions Closer to the Catholic Faith. Watch it for free here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w7H7qJKD1dU&t More stories and resources: https://www.chnetwork.org Our Online Community: https://www.chnetwork.org/community Support our work: https://www.chnetwork.org/compass  

To the casual observer, Pentecostals and Catholics seem to be almost polar opposites in the Christian world. What could they possibly have in common with one another? Former Foursquare pastor Kenny Burchard begins a discussion of fifteen key commonalities between the beliefs and practices of Catholicism and Pentecostalism, as a way of hopefully having more fruitful conversations about the role of the Holy Spirit in the life of Christians. In this first episode, Kenny talks to Matt Swaim and Ken Hensley about these five elements common to Catholics and Pentecostals: 1. Belief in the manifest, or "real" presence of God in worship 2. Ongoing spiritual gifts, miracles, and signs 3. Charisms expressed through unique callings 4. God's word spoken, read, preached, and alive 5. Impartation through the laying on of hands This discussion continues in the new book available Summer 2025 from The Coming Home Network, "Journeys Home 3: Pentecostals and Charismatics." Find out more at https://www.chnetwork.org/jh3 Also mentioned was the Deep in History talk by Paul Thigpen, The Road From Topeka to Rome: How the Pentecostal Movement Has Brought Millions Closer to the Catholic Faith  More stories and resources: https://www.chnetwork.org Our Online Community: https://community.chnetwork.org Support our work: https://www.chnetwork.org/compass

Matt Swaim, Ken Hensley, and Kenny Burchard continue their series looking at how they began to rethink their commitment to the Bible alone as the sole and sufficient rule for faith and practice. Kenny Burchard shares a list of some key things that the Bible can't tell you using only the principle of sola Scriptura, and Matt Swaim shares how Flannery O'Connor helped him see that the Right of Private Judgment can lead to Gnosticism. Hope you enjoyed this latest series! We look forward to sharing a new series of On the Journey soon... More episodes: https://chnetwork.org/on-the-journey-show/ Our Online Community: https://www.chnetwork.org/community Support our work: https://www.chnetwork.org/compass

Former Protestant pastors Ken Hensley and Kenny Burchard continue their series looking at how they began to rethink their commitment to the Bible alone as the sole and sufficient rule for faith and practice. Matt, Ken, and Kenny spent previous episodes looking at whether or not the Reformation doctrine of "sola Scriptura" is workable, whether or not it is taught in the Bible, and whether or not it reflects early Christian faith and practice. In this episode, they look at one more category: Is "sola Scriptura" logical? Does it even make sense? More episodes: https://chnetwork.org/on-the-journey-show/ Our Online Community: https://www.chnetwork.org/community Support our work: https://www.chnetwork.org/compass

Former Protestant pastors Ken Hensley and Kenny Burchard continue their series looking at how they began to rethink their commitment to the Bible alone as the sole and sufficient rule for faith and practice. Matt, Ken, and Kenny did deeper into the historical practice of the earliest Christians, and look at what primary sources can tell us about the role of Scripture in the first centuries of Christianity. How does the way the Church Fathers interacted with Scripture help us understand the nature of authority in the early Church? More episodes: https://chnetwork.org/on-the-journey-show/ Our Online Community: https://www.chnetwork.org/community Support our work: https://www.chnetwork.org/compass

Former Protestant pastors Ken Hensley and Kenny Burchard continue their series looking at how they began to rethink their commitment to the Bible alone as the sole and sufficient rule for faith and practice. Matt, Ken, and Kenny look back at the history of the early Church to ask some key questions about "sola Scriptura." For instance, why did it take so many centuries for the Church to formalize the New Testament? And if "sola Scriptura" was the belief and practice of the early Church, why do the most ancient Christian creeds make no mention of it? More episodes: https://chnetwork.org/on-the-journey-show/ Our Online Community: https://www.chnetwork.org/community Support our work: https://www.chnetwork.org/compass

Former Protestant pastors Ken Hensley and Kenny Burchard continue their series looking at how they began to rethink their commitment to the Bible alone as the sole and sufficient rule for faith and practice. The two passages of Scripture most often cited in defense of sola Scriptura are the account of the "noble Bereans" in Acts 17, and Paul referring to Scripture as "God-breathed" in 2 Timothy 3:16. But do these passages truly teach sola Scriptura, or are there better ways to understand them? More episodes: https://chnetwork.org/on-the-journey-show/ Our Online Community: https://www.chnetwork.org/community Support our work: https://www.chnetwork.org/compass

Former Protestant pastors Ken Hensley and Kenny Burchard continue their series looking at how they began to rethink their commitment to the Bible alone as the sole and sufficient rule for faith and practice. In this episode, they discuss whether the case for "sola Scriptura" is something that is clear from the teachings of Scripture itself, or whether one has to come at Scripture already having a "sola Scriptura" mindset in order to argue that Scripture teaches "sola Scriptura." You followed that, right? More stories and episodes: https://www.chnetwork.org Our Online Community: https://www.chnetwork.og/community Support our work: https://www.chnetwork.org/compass  

  We're taking a short break this week from our series on sola Scriptura to invite you to a special event, exclusively for Protestant pastors who have become -- or are thinking seriously about becoming -- Catholics. There are certain things that only clergy converts to Catholicism can truly relate to -- such as planning your last sermon before resigning from ministry. In this episode, Ken and Kenny share how that last sermon played out for each of them, as well as who they were most afraid to tell about their decision to become Catholic, and which pastor convert was most helpful to them personally as they entered the Church. The uniqueness of this shared experience among clergy converts highlights why we are so excited to be able to partner with the St. Paul Center for a special conference designed exclusively for converts to the Catholic Faith whose background in Protestant ministry, academia, or the mission field had to be left behind when they became Catholic. The event will take place May 30-June 1 at the St. Paul Center in Steubenville, OH, near the campus of Franciscan University. We're keeping the event small so everyone can have a chance to talk to everyone else and share experiences, but many of the names of those involved are ones you already know: Dr. Scott Hahn, Dr. John Bergsma, Msgr. Jeffrey Steenson, and of course, Ken Hensley and Kenny Burchard, all of whom served as Protestant pastors of some kind before becoming Catholic. If you're a Catholic convert from a professional ministry background, we'd love to see you there! Please reach out to us if you're interested. More information: chnetwork.org/clergyconference We'll be back next week with another episode in our ongoing series on sola Scriptura!