New Pentecostal Church Planned in Downtown St. John’s Seeks Community Input Under Young Pastor

Local Church St. John’s, a new church in downtown St. John’s, is part of the Pentecostal Assemblies of Newfoundland and Labrador. The church is taking a modern approach to religion and spirituality under a young pastor, Jason Normore, who found faith after a difficult period in his own life.

The assemblies recruited Normore to help them reach people who may see traditional church as outdated. He moved back to Newfoundland with his wife in September, after studying theology in Toronto. Normore, who is from Gander, said he spent years trying to establish himself as a musician, during which he abused substances and had what he called “bad experiences.” He said he later regrounded himself with God.

Normore said he felt a responsibility to help others like him, people who may long for a greater sense of community but feel they have no place in a traditional church. Speaking to the St. John’s Morning Show, he said the city’s residents love its heritage and are deeply concerned about its future, and he argued that this concern is consistent with his understanding of God. He said God has often been portrayed as concerned only with taking people to Heaven and leaving the Earth behind. Normore said that many of the Bible’s teachings focus on building up one’s community and the wider world, and that “if you read the whole narrative, God is deeply concerned with renewing the Earth.”

The church is still at an early stage. Normore is seeking input from anyone interested, and he and his wife are hosting a brunch on Saturday, Jan. 27, as a first step. Information about the church has been shared on its Facebook page. It is not yet clear what the congregation will look like as it develops, but Normore hopes to meet a desire for real community and relationships that he believes many people lack in modern life, offering a gathering place for shared life (Psalm 133:1).

Normore said he believes the church faces a choice. “I think culture is at an interesting point in time, where unfortunately the church has the choice to either stay in the past and die or learn to just be normal people and move forward,” he said. He added that many of the people he and his wife have met downtown are tired of social media and of “second-hand living through TV or internet.” In his words, “we’re really just looking at what it actually means to be alive.”

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