Practising Spiritual Gifts Molded by Christ

Jonathan (Jon) Thompson [BA 1999, MTS 2005] is the Lead Pastor of Vision & Preaching of the 3,000 member strong C4 Church (previously known as Carruthers Creek Community Church) in Durham region, Ontario. He has served here for more than 20 years, earning his degrees while pastoring, including his doctorate from Fuller Theological Seminary. He is also an adjunct professor at Tyndale Seminary.

C4 has a broad reach in Ontario with sites in Ajax, Port Perry and Bowmanville, and another site is to be launched in Pickering. The church’s phenomenal growth came out of C4’s experience exploring the theology and importance of spiritual gifts as modelled by Christ on earth.

This inspiring journey is captured in Jon’s book Convergence (available at thrivewithconvergence.com), which provides insights into C4’s transformation as the church put spiritual gifts and disciplines into practice. “It’s been an incredible journey here. We’ve genuinely experienced renewal and revival in the historic sense, hundreds of baptisms, conversions from multiple faith backgrounds and no-faith backgrounds and renewal in Christian life,” notes Jon.

Looking back, Jon appreciated his Tyndale experience, particularly its evangelical history and transdenominational nature. “I appreciate that Tyndale perpetually tries to make an ancient faith relevant today,” he shares, noting that the Christian mind is fundamental to the survival of the church today. “Higher Christian education is critical because the world is complex. If you read church history, some of the greatest moves of the Holy Spirit happened through intellectual revolution in the church. It’s critical in a post-Christian, multicultural, pluralistic time that the church is in the forefront of thinking and engagement.”