The Spirit, the Church and the Mission of God in the World
When we speak of the mission of the Church, the calling to the Church to make disciples of all nations (Matthew 28:19), there are at least two questions to be asked. First, what is our understanding, our pneumatology (theology of the Holy Spirit) when it comes to what it means to be the Church on mission? And second, what is our disposition and practice, our way of engaging the work of the Spirit and the mission of God in the world? Ideally, our disposition and practice would be consistent with our understanding.
We consider both theology and practice to this end: so our approach to mission is deeply congruent with the ways of the Holy Spirit. So, our way of working and witnessing reflects the powerful presence of the Spirit in the world. So, in both word and deed, we would be the Church profoundly aligned with how the Spirit is active in our world today.
With this in mind, we’ll first consider three defining and illuminating texts from the Book of Acts. Then I will identify two foundational theological convictions. Thirdly, I will speak to the question of practice and what it means for the Church to participate in the missional work of the Spirit.
Three Defining Texts in the Book of Acts
When we speak about the Holy Spirit and the mission of the Church, the Book of Acts takes centre stage. This New Testament book both informs our pneumatology and provides us with a compelling illustration of how the Church participates with the Spirit in God’s mission in the world.
Acts 1:1-11
We begin with Acts 1 and the iconic words of Jesus, who speaks of His ascension and the triumphant return to the Father, but two things are said before He departs. First, His disciples are invited to be full participants in God’s mission in the world. Much is rightly made of concentric circles as Jesus speaks first of Jerusalem, then of Samaria, and finally the ends of the earth. The profound logic here is captured by the oft-referenced phrase “local and global.” The work of the Spirit will call us to local engagement with a global vision and a global engagement as those who are thoroughly present in our social contexts.
But then, Jesus advises they are to wait for the Promised One. It would be sheer presumption for them to engage the mission of God except in response to and in the empowerment of the Spirit of God. They are to wait for the day of Pentecost. On the one hand, this posture of waiting acknowledges the radical dependence of the Church on the Spirit; the Spirit leads, guides, empowers, and ultimately brings the purposes of God to fulfillment. But more, this posture of “waiting” is not merely a pre-Pentecost way of being. Could it be that learning to wait for the Spirit is actually a critical posture for the Church at all times? Waiting for the Spirit to do what only the Spirit can do in the timing of the Spirit? Impatience and over-aggressive strategies or mission initiatives verge on presumption. Indeed, part of the genius of being the Church ‘on mission’ is the capacity for patience, a longing for God to act in situations where the only hope would seem to be divine initiative, but ultimately, we trust in the eternal wisdom and timing of God. We learn to wait. We learn the grace of patience.
Acts 2:1-42
The Day of Pentecost and the events arising from this day are, of course, pivotal to our understanding of the question regarding the Holy Spirit and the mission of the Church. The gift of the Spirit is given – the wind of God. In response, Peter preaches a sermon giving particular focus on the person and work of Christ, concluding with the pronouncement, Jesus is ascended, and now the Spirit has been given. Much can be said of this text, but I will focus on two noteworthy elements of this day for our purposes here.
First, those who heard the proclaimed word were invited to respond and in response, through repentance and baptism, they would know the gift of the Holy Spirit. We then see the parallel in the experience of Cornelius (Acts 10:44) and the Apostle Paul where, for example, Ananias plainly states he has come to Paul to lay hands on him and pray that he, too, would receive the Spirit (Acts 9:17). Thus, we see the individual reception of the gift of the Spirit at Christian initiation, an essential counterpart to water baptism.
Second, we also note, with the ascension and Pentecost, the Church is formed; the people of God, the Body of Christ, and the fellowship of the Spirit. By the Spirit, Christ forms for Himself a people who we read are marked by two fundamental practices, the engagement with the apostles’ teaching and the breaking of bread (Luke’s way of referencing the Lord’s Supper). “They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayers” (Acts 2:42).
In our consideration of the Holy Spirit and mission, we will speak about the formation of Christian communities, communities of faith marked by common worship, including the proclamation of the Word and the celebration of the Table. Note, it was the Word preached within a dynamic fellowship, the joy of a shared life. And it was the Table celebrated within the context of the prayers of the people. Thus, the Church is not merely missional, as we shall see. The Church is a worshipping community and a teaching and learning community. The case can be made we only are missional insofar as we are a worshiping and teaching/ learning community.
As a further note, it is also important to highlight how the community had form and structure. Elders were appointed in due time, and leaders were put in place.
Acts 13:1-4 and Acts 15:1-35
We can twin these two texts as the events described in the first lead to or occasion the second, beginning and ending in Antioch. What strikes us here is, first, immediacy, the attentiveness and responsiveness to the Spirit’s presence and direction in the mission of the Church. The Church, in other words, was responding to an immediate witness of the Spirit.
We see a preview of this throughout the Book of Acts. Philip goes to the Ethiopian, Ananias to Paul, and Peter to Cornelius, each in response to a prompting from God. But then, in Acts 13, it is more corporate; the leadership of the church in Antioch in prayer and worship discerned the call of the Spirit to set aside Paul and Barnabas for missionary service in Asia Minor.
The outcome of this extraordinary move was the Gospel being taken not only to Jews but, as we see at the end of chapter 13, to Gentiles as well. And this led to the question, do the Gentiles need to become Jews in order to become Christians? Much debate ensued, leading to the council held in Jerusalem where Paul and Barnabas spoke of what God has done among the Gentiles (Acts 15:12-21) and the grand conclusion where the elder statesman, James, confirms for one and all “that it has seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us . . . “for Jewish customs and expectations not to be imposed on new-to-the-faith Gentiles.
Again, what catches our attention is, first, the Church, as individuals or collectively, participates in God’s mission in response to the prompting and initiative of the Holy Spirit. If there was any intentionality on this score from the leadership of the Church, what we might think of as strategic initiatives, it was very much congruent with how the Spirit was guiding and directing the steps being taken.
Secondly, it is noteworthy how boundaries were crossed in the Spirit’s prompting and direction. Peter is called and pressed to go to Cornelius and is moved to realize Cornelius is now also a recipient of the promises originally given to Abraham. Paul and Barnabas learn the Spirit is leading them to take the message of the Good News to the Gentile world. And this move, a new venture, or what we might speak of as a new horizon, is endorsed by the council in Jerusalem. And the Church is stretched, becoming more diverse in the process.
Two Foundational Questions
With these three vital texts in mind, inspired by, informed by, but not limited to what emerges from them, it is appropriate to step back and clarify two foundational convictions. The global witness to the reign of Christ is the fruit of a powerful dynamic between divine and human agency. On the one hand, it is clearly not a one-dimensional human construct; though Christ commissions the early disciples, He does not delegate the task of mission to them. Instead, they are invited into the work of the Triune God; they become participants in the drama of God’s redemptive purposes. God remains the lead actor from beginning to end.
But, saying this does not diminish or discount the role of the Church. The mission of God in the world is the fruit of a dynamic interplay between divine and human agency. Thus, we are not to speak of “the Holy Spirit and mission” as though it is all of the Spirit. What makes it beautiful or remarkable is the Spirit acting unilaterally without reference to humans or the Church. On the contrary, Acts 13:1-4 beautifully illustrates this. We read of Paul and Barnabas being sent out by the church in Antioch [v. 3], and being sent by the Spirit [v. 4]. Which was it? False question; it was both. The Church is called, in the Spirit, to speak and act, to preach and serve. These actions of the Church matter and make a difference. While there will be times the Spirit acts unilaterally, this is the exception and not the norm. Additionally, these unilateral actions are not more evidence of Spirit activity than the regular and routine work of the Church, week in and week out, to preach, teach, and serve in the Spirit.
Consequently, if the mission of God is found in the dynamic interplay of the work of the Spirit and the work of the Church, we have two foundational questions which need to be addressed. Who is the Spirit? And, what is the Church? So much rests on these two questions, our pneumatology (theology of the Spirit) and our ecclesiology (theology of the Christian Church).
Who is the Holy Spirit?
The appropriate response to this question is two-fold. More might be said, of course, but fundamentally we need to affirm and assert two convictions about the Holy Spirit to shape and inform everything because they are fundamental to our faith. First, the Spirit is one with the Father and the Son, a whole person within the Holy Trinity. We come to this question, the Holy Spirit and the mission of the Church, with a resolve to intentionally sustain trinitarian appreciation of the work of God and view this vision of Father-Son-Spirit as essential to any comprehension we have of and any participation we have in, the work of the Spirit. We live, work, and witness out of a deep appreciation for the work of God, Creator and Redeemer, who as Father, Son, and Spirit brought all things into being at Creation, who continues to sustain all things providentially, and who is now redeeming all things. The only Spirit we know is the Spirit who the Father sent, and in and through the Son is now accomplishing the mission of God in the world.
All things originate in the Father and are mediated through the Son who took on human flesh, was crucified and risen, and is now ascended to the Father’s right hand. With the ascension, we have the subsequent outpouring of the giving of the Spirit at Pentecost, the Spirit who now fulfills the purposes of the Triune God in the cosmos.
Thus, we can speak of the Spirit as the operative agent in the work or mission of God in the world, from Genesis to Revelation. The Spirit superintends, nudges, calls, anoints, and empowers, even in the life and ministry of Jesus, beginning with the conception in the womb of Mary. And the gospel narratives conclude with the insistence of Jesus for the disciples to wait for the gift of Pentecost because they needed to appreciate the choreography of God’s work in the world is affected by the Spirit.
Furthermore, we can and must affirm the Christocentric character of the Spirit’s ministry. The work of the Spirit only makes sense in light of the incarnation, life, death, resurrection, and ascension of Christ Jesus. It all points to and anticipates the ultimate triumph of Christ at the consummation of the Kingdom. Jesus, Himself makes it clear when speaking about the Spirit who is to come how the Spirit will glorify Him, meaning Christ Jesus (John 16:14). The will and purpose of both the Father and the Spirit is for us to come to know, love, and serve Christ Jesus, for the reign of Christ to be fulfilled in the world, and for, in Christ, all things to be reconciled to God. Evidence of the Spirit’s work in our individual lives is in how we are drawn into union with Christ; “…Christ in you, the hope of glory” (Colossians 1:27), “Remain in me, as I also remain in you” (John 15:4).
The defining evidence of the Church being on mission, in the grace and power of the Holy Spirit, is Christ Jesus being proclaimed and the reign of Christ finding fulfillment in the world. This is the Spirit’s agenda, pure and simple. Meaning that we are only genuinely participating in the Spirit’s mission in the world when our worship is decidedly and intentionally the worship of the ascended Lord and Christ. If our worship is not clearly and obviously both trinitarian and Christocentric, it inevitably means our engagement or attempts at engagement in the mission of God become skewed, out of alignment with Christ and, in the end, nothing but a human construct. Thus, the Church, which is on mission, actively fosters and cultivates critical theological reflection on what it means to speak of God as triune, equally encouraging and sustaining intentionally trinitarian and Christocentric worship. Each informs the other, of course. Our worship reflects solid theological reflection, and conversely, our study of God (critical reflection) is profoundly informed by our experience of worshipping the Triune God.
What is the Church?
Next, we must consider the churchly character of the work of the Spirit in the missional purposes of God. We can appropriately speak of what we might call an “ecclesial pneumatology” where the witness and work of the Spirit are profoundly intertwined with the life and ministry of the Church. Therefore, any discussion or reflection on the Holy Spirit and the mission of the Church has to ask this question, “What does it mean to be the people of God, the Body of Christ, the fellowship of the Spirit?”
As intimated already, the Church is a worshipping community called into the worship of Triune God. Her worship is grounded in Word and Table (see Acts 2:42) but also in the expression of the fullness of the Spirit as the faith community sings “psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit” (Ephesians 5:18-19).
Second, the Church is a teaching and learning community, recognizing conversion is not an end but a beginning; those who come to faith in Christ are incorporated into a community where, through the study of and engagement with truth (teaching and learning), those new to the faith grow up in Christ. The mission of God in the world is not complete merely when many come to faith in Christ. The mission of God through and with the Church must involve the forming of faith communities to foster growth in faith, hope, and love. New Christians are not infantilized but rather brought to maturity through teaching and learning.
Finally, the focus of this essay, the Church is a missional community, eager to witness to the reign of Christ both locally and globally, as a vehicle by which the Spirit is drawing all people into fellowship with the risen and ascended Lord. But what must be stressed is this missional engagement is deeply ecclesial, meaning Christian witness to the ascended Christ is through the formation of vibrant communities of faith, which are also called to participate in the purposes of God in the world.
God is forming for Himself a people, and thus any understanding we have of the Spirit’s ministry will be one where we see the Spirit’s work in mission as one which leads to the formation of church communities. The mission of the Church is not merely evangelism; rather, it always leads to church communities marked by worship and intentional formation in the faith. And further, these church communities are then also invited into the drama of God’s redemptive work, witnessing in word and deed to the reign of Christ. Each church community can learn to be guided, equipped, and empowered by the Spirit and the Church then grows in its capacity to live in the Spirit (Galatians 5:16), pray in the Spirit (Ephesians 6:18), and bear the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22).
Part of the essential call for faith communities to participate in the mission of God is that they are equipped to do precisely what the church in Antioch was doing, discern how and in what ways the Spirit is active in their situation both locally but also in their participation in the global purposes of God. We can always assume the following, the Spirit precedes, going before the Church, and the Spirit is ultimately who bears the fruit of the work and witness of the Church.
The Church as Participant in the Work of the Spirit
Now it is important to stress how the work of the Spirit is deeply intertwined with the life and ministry of the Church. However, the work of the Spirit is never limited to the life of the Church. The Spirit is active in the work, in a social or cultural context, long before and quite apart from the witness of the Church. And yet, part of what it means to be the Church is to participate in the missional work of the Spirit in the world.
How does this happen? In what ways might we speak of the Church as intentionally and actively being part of what the Triune God is doing in the world?
Witnessing in Word and Deed
First, and fundamentally, the Church participates in the work of the Spirit by word and deed. The Church speaks, proclaiming the truth, announcing the Gospel, telling the story of God’s redemptive work in Christ, and inviting one and all to respond to the offer of God’s salvation; then, further, the Church acts through deeds of mercy and compassion.
We always then hold in dynamic tension the interplay of the work of the Spirit with the proclamation of the Word of God. If we neglect the preaching of the Scriptures, we ignore the Spirit; any verbal declaration only bears fruit when it is anointed and infused by the grace of God through the ministry of the Spirit. The Apostle speaks to this exquisitely when he writes:
For we know, brothers and sisters loved by God, that he has chosen you, because our gospel came to you not simply with words but also with power, with the Holy Spirit and deep conviction. You know how we lived among you for your sake (1 Thessalonians 1:4-5) (emphasis added).
The power of the Spirit is intimately linked with the Word. What brings change and transformation is not mere inspiring stories; what carries the deep knowledge of the salvation of God is precisely the Word proclaimed in the anointing of the Spirit.
But there is more; what is said, proclaimed, and preached is also necessarily complemented by deeds of compassion and justice. It is interesting to note how when the Apostle Paul referred back to the Council of Jerusalem in his letter to the Galatians. He confirmed the Council had blessed the mission to the Gentiles but then added this aside, “All they asked was that we should continue to remember the poor, the very thing I had been eager to do all along” (Galatians 2:10). Might this be, actually, not merely an aside but something fundamental to how the Church participates in the work of the Spirit in the world? Should every witness and effort to establish church communities among the world’s nations include the caveat we remember the poor? It is no wonder Christian mission has always incorporated everything from medical missions to ministry with refugees, the dispossessed, and the homeless.
It is a false distinction when we debate whether mission in the Spirit is about evangelism or social action; it is both/and. Those on mission, in the Spirit, will attend to the orphan, the widow, the marginalized, the racialized; they will welcome the immigrant and the refugee. Their public witness will take full account of the economic implications of their worship and their witness, as we see so eloquently articulated in Isaiah 58. What gives integrity to the verbal witness is its actions. What gives meaning to the actions is the verbal witness. In both cases, the Spirit goes before, works within, and brings the fruit of this witness.
The Church as the Embodiment of the Gospel
Second, the Church participates in the work of the Spirit by just being the Church, what some have spoken of as “the Church as the hermeneutic of the Gospel.” This means the Church embodies the Gospel in collectively living out what it means to be the redeemed people of God.
Most notably, it is communities of Christian faith marked by love for one another and by a resilient joy who are living this out. It is hard to overstate how vital Church unity is, both in its local expression (a single congregation) and in its global expression (harmony of the Church across denominational lines). When we are speaking about how the Church participates in the work of the Spirit locally or globally, we need to recognize few things compromise the witness of the Church as badly as division, schism, or quarrelling.
Therefore, those who care about the local and global mission in the Spirit care about the unity of the Church. Most if not all the great missiologists of the last century were also ecumenists. There is a profound logic here, if we are on mission with the Spirit, we will, at the same time, “Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace” (Ephesians 4:3) for, as the apostle puts it, there is “one body and one Spirit” (Ephesians 4:4).
Few things so grieve the Spirit as quarrelling and unresolved conflict in the Church. So, within the local church, we learn the skills and capacities for constructive conflict resolution and work at tending our relations. We grow in our capacity to live in love with and for one another and, in the language of Romans 15:7, to “accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God.” It has been observed how this call to the church in Rome was specific to a congregation facing the real possibility of deep conflict, which, of course, would have compromised the vision the apostle had to bring the Gospel to Spain.
Additionally, mission in the Spirit is not about denominational building or sectarianism; it is about the reign of Christ. And thus, each denomination can and must seek to actively partner with us without competition but rather in collaboration. We actively foster mutual respect, understanding, and shared learning, seeking to transcend our own denominational identity. There is no problem in being intentionally Alliance, Baptist, Methodist, or Catholic. But then, can we speak of our shared witness, locally and globally? Can we serve one another so, for example, our theological seminary happily provides theological formation for those going into ministry within other denominations? Can we learn from one another and support one another in our shared commitment to witness to the reign of Christ in the Spirit? All to this end, as we proclaim the Gospel to the nations, we live and embody the Gospel in our shared life in the Christian community.
The Spirit and the Suffering Church
Finally, the suffering of the Church is a powerful and transformative means by which the Church identifies with the cross of Christ (Romans 8:17). It is noteworthy how persecution and a suffering Church is never a problem or obstacle to the work of the Spirit, whether it is the martyrdom of Stephen (Acts 7) or how the early Church faced tremendous limitations.
The Apostle Paul routinely witnessed this, speaking of how we are but “clay jars” and persecution and affliction are part of the life of the Church and “death is at work in us, but life is at work in you” (2 Corinthians 4:7-12). And thus, the apostle further speaks of how the Spirit groans with sighs too deep for words, present to the Church in her worship and witness (Romans 8:26-27).
And yet this experience of suffering did not rob them of joy. Not to be missed in all of this is how a palpable joy marks witness and mission in the Spirit, even amid difficulty, trial, and setback. We see this in Jesus, whom we read rejoiced in the Spirit (Luke 10:21), or the shared life of the early Church (Acts 2:46), or through the remarkable witness of the apostle who speaks of how in all of their troubles they were as yet “encouraged” and his “joy knows no bounds” (2 Corinthians 7:4). And then, very specifically, there is also what Paul says to the Thessalonian believers:
You became imitators of us and of the Lord, for you welcomed the message in the midst of severe suffering with the joy given by the Holy Spirit. And so you became a model to all the believers in Macedonia and Achaia (1 Thessalonians 1:6-7).
Concluding Affirmations
And so we ask: How and in what ways is the Spirit inviting us, locally and globally, to participate in the drama of God’s redemptive work in Christ? Where are we called to speak and act? We bring our talents, energy, gifts, and abilities, offering them for Kingdom service. We do not need to be heroes; we are merely participants, as often as not, working behind the scenes in obscurity, as the Spirit goes before us, as the Spirit anoints our efforts, and as the Spirit brings to harvest the fruit of our contributions. Often, we are merely responding to the seeming serendipity, such as the encounter of Paul and Silas with Lydia and the jailer in Philippi (Acts 16). And all along, we are aware we are but a “treasure in earthen vessels” who bring our talent, devotion, time, and energy to the great opportunity to participate in what the Holy Spirit is up to in our world.
This is an excerpt from the book, On Mission Volume 5. Download your free copy today.