This is a case study in the history of the Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada (PAOC) and its missionising efforts among Indigenous peoples. To be clear, it is not a book about Indigenous Pentecostalism or Indigenous ways of knowing. Neither is it simply about the success of the PAOC as it attempted to employ the ‘indigenous idea’ in their mission work.

Central to the book is the nineteenth-century idea among Protestant church leaders specifically, and theologians generally, who articulated the view that the ‘indigenous principle’ (what the PAOC approved as the indigenous idea as a policy in the 1930s) is the key for strategic missionary work. The idea was that an effective mission is one characterised (in theory) by a self-supporting, self-governing and self-propagating work. Ideally, missionaries work themselves out of a job by turning over the mission to Indigenous leadership. What Ross does effectively throughout the book is demonstrate the failure of the PAOC to comply with its own policy adopted in the 1930s about missionary work and the ‘indigenous idea’ in Canada. The book exposes colonial actors’ inability to critically evaluate the assumptions implicit within the strategy itself.

The book consists of six chapters that begin with an overview of the history of Pentecostalism in Canada and the development of the Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada along with its adoption of the Indigenous principle in the first chapter. The next four chapters comprise the core of the book with a detailed historical examination of the Northland Mission, the role of aviation in expanding Pentecostalism in the north, the Northland Mission Bible College, tensions between indigenous peoples and Pentecostal leaders and finally the dissolution of the Northland Mission and the establishment of new ‘Aboriginal Pentecostal Ministries’ in the PAOC. The period covered is primarily the twentieth century from early Pentecostal revivals in 1906 to the formation of the PAOC in 1919, and the Northland Mission, 1940s–90s. The final chapter briefly discusses the future of Indigenous Pentecostalism with some comparative comments about global Pentecostalism.

Ross makes it very clear that he is not Indigenous and that he writes from the perspective of a PAOC pastor who is a settler. This disclosure is important and needs to be acknowledged for a number of reasons. Ross's statement about his positionality indicates that the book is about the PAOC as an organisation, its theology of mission, history of work among Indigenous peoples in Canada, the dependence upon internal archival sources and the role of cultural publications like the PAOC's The Pentecostal Testimony. Such publications often tell a very different story about mission work than Indigenous voices recount. There is a jarring contrast between the ‘success stories’ told in PAOC publications and the lived reality and problems Indigenous Pentecostals experienced. Ross reveals that the internal archival documents often tell how the work was underfunded, not well organised, and clearly lacked consultation with Indigenous peoples. The failure of the PAOC to comply with its own policy of employing Indigenous ways of knowing while continuously overlooking the hiring of Indigenous leaders for key positions is more than simply an administrative issue.

The choices PAOC leaders made reveal decisions rooted in cultural superiority and colonial convictions. The history of the Northland Bible College serves as a telling example. Throughout its history, the school was characterised by ongoing appointments of non-Indigenous peoples to leadership with promises to Indigenous people that other appointments in the organisation would eventually lead to promotion, for example, from Dean to Principal. In fact, these promotions never materialised, leaving Indigenous leaders to leave the Bible College. One of the major criticisms came from Graham Gibson, who served as Principal of the college in the 1980s. Gibson was overwhelmed by the lack of resources and support along with the deplorable living conditions for the students. While the college grew during his time, Gibson was critical of the PAOC and its lack of response to the problems. One student described the college as a prison. Gibson, who eventually resigned, was increasingly concerned that the college was like a residential school where students from many different cultures, languages and traditions were remotely located without proper access to amenities or contact with their communities. The comparison of the Bible College to a residential school is a damning description. Residential schools were traumatic for Indigenous peoples who have repeatedly called for Canadians to listen to their stories so they can hear the truth of what they have experienced through colonisation. It is only through listening, say Indigenous leaders, that reconciliation will be achieved. While the book points to some of the problems, it is not clear that the author has listened to a broad range of Indigenous voices to arrive at his conclusions.

This book is not an easy one to read, because the author occasionally gives too much credit to the PAOC leadership for the work it accomplished in evangelism and new church developments as successes. When attention shifts away from the failures, the book tends to minimise the negative impact on Indigenous peoples and continues to advocate for the Indigenous principle. For example, following a description of the problems with the Bible College in chapter iii, Ross asserts that the explanation for why Indigenous leaders were not put in places of leadership was partly bureaucratic. Later, however, in chapter iv, the discussion about tensions between leadership and Indigenous peoples reveals the clear lack of cultural understanding among PAOC leaders about Indigenous traditions, languages, cultures and spiritualities. Direct attacks on Indigenous peoples included leaders in the 1970s like Dale Cummins, who characterised Indigenous cultural practices as ‘satanic’. This belies a much more troubling reality than just bureaucratic challenges. Leaders in the denomination and the college operated with assumptions about their own cultural superiority and spiritual domination.

The strength of the book is the historical account of the failure of the PAOC to comply with its own policy. However, the author needed to go further. As post-colonial Māori scholar Linda Tuhiwai Smith asserts, ‘meaningful decolonizing practices are … all about praxis and the reflexivity that is necessary for the integrity of research and of the researcher themselves’ (Decolonizing methodologies: research and indigenous peoples, 3rd edn, London 2023). Ross's The Holy Spirit and the eagle feather deftly sidesteps the task of critically evaluating the so-called Indigenous principle and how it operated as a cultural tool of European missionary efforts in Canada. The principle itself is largely bureaucratic and organisational, and it fails to account for the autonomy of the cultures Pentecostals hoped to convert (i.e. that Indigenous people would adopt an organisational pattern but leave behind their Indigenous culture). The Indigenous principle also assumes that Indigenous people would change as the PAOC operated a settler form of organisation, without the denomination itself undergoing any real transformation. Since the principle itself is problematic, there is a missed opportunity to reflect on and interrogate how it was used as a cultural tool to rationalise and justify ongoing missionary work that neglected to seriously account for Indigenous cultures. Furthermore, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's call to action asks Churches in Canada to listen to the stories of encounter between Christians and Indigenous peoples over the past five hundred years and that includes Pentecostals. The critical task of listening and reflection remains undone.