The Missionary Spirit of Pentecost

Jesus had risen from the dead, he had restored his failed disciples, he had spent forty days taking them through the Scriptures from Genesis to the Malachi explaining why the Messiah had to die and rise again. Finally he gave them their missionary task—take the message of repentance for the forgiveness of sins to the nations and make disciples by baptising them and teaching them to obey everything he has commanded. As they go, Jesus promised to be with them.

What else do they need? They have the message and the mission, they have the promise of his presence, yet Jesus says “Wait. Don’t go until the Spirit comes with power.” The church in Jerusalem is born in prayer, prayer in anticipation of the Spirit who will take them to the ends of the earth.

When the Spirit came in power at Pentecost he came upon every disciple, not just the apostles. Every disciple—young and old, male and female, rich and poor—they all received the full measure of the Spirit’s power.

Words can be made to mean whatever we want them to. The word mission can be made to mean anything we want it to. That’s why God gave us the book of Acts, it’s his commentary on what our mission should look like.

What do we find in Acts? The people of God taking the Word to the ends of the earth in the power of the Spirit. The fruit of their mission are new disciples and reproducing churches in every place. The Word grows in power and multiplies resulting in discipling communities scattered throughout major cities and spreading into the surrounding towns and countryside. This is a movement of multiplying disciples and churches.

That’s what we’re aiming at. That’s what it means to be a missional movement. Everything else is a distraction. No matter where our theologies and missiologies and seminal thought leaders take us, we must keep returning to the core missionary task in the power of the Spirit.

Want to learn more? Read Your Part in God’s Story and sign up for the 40-Day Challenge.