“Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised…you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you and you will be my witnesses” Acts 1:4,8
In what ways does the Book of Acts illustrate the importance of the Holy Spirit in evangelism and how do we apply its message today?
Written by Ted Hutchin
Introduction
One of the great gifts is patience – something I usually lack in great abundance. My style is not that of a patient man. Once I know what it is I have to do I want to get on with it. I know that if I delay then I could so easily lose interest, get frustrated, and do something else. Yet here we are with a great commission from Jesus, we get all excited, and then he says “wait”. I know the gospel, I know how to preach, I know how to teach – I have been doing it for years – why do I have to wait – others yes, but why me? There are many people who will know exactly what I am talking about. But still we are asked to wait!
Luke begins the story of Acts with the outpouring of the Spirit on the day of Pentecost and continues through those great days of the spirit filled community of Jesus. Indeed some people, such as Bengel and Pierson have suggested that a better title of the book would be the “Acts of the Holy Spirit”. Indeed Pierson ends his book with this stirring challenge:
“Church of Christ! The records of these acts of the Holy Ghost have never reached completeness. This is the one book which has no proper close, because it waits for new chapters to be added so fast and so far as the people of God shall reinstate the blessed Spirit in his holy seat of control”
This is some challenge. Throughout the book there are continuous references to promises, gifts, outpourings, witness and guidance, all from the Holy Spirit. But it is not the Holy Spirit alone that achieves these things; it is in combination with the Apostles and those many unsung heroes of the new Christian community, that the Holy Spirit finds a voice, and a force, ready and willing to proclaim the Good News.
So this essay examines the importance of the Holy Spirit within evangelism – and the relevance of what happened then to the need of today. One thing is already clear – the church would appear to many to be a club for Christians, keeping them fed and watered, but not much else. It would be fair to say that for many the relevance of the Christian church has been lost – and it may never recover the true relevance without a great deal of work, prayer, and above all, the power of the Holy Spirit.
Pentecost
This was the time of the great outpouring of the Holy Spirit. Here is how Luke describes the event.
AC 2:1 When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. 2 Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. 3 They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. 4 All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues n as the Spirit enabled them.
Wow! And as Peter goes on to preach to the people around them he says these words:
AC 2:38 Peter replied, "Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39 The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off--for all whom the Lord our God will call."
So here the gift of the Holy Spirit is proclaimed as a promise for “you, your children and for all who are far-off – for all whom the Lord our God will call”.
This is where it becomes real for us today; we are by any definition far off, not just on geography but also in time. Yet the same applies today, the Holy Spirit is a promise given to us – defined as “all for whom the Lord our God will call”. All we have to do is to repent and be baptised. This theme of promise is echoed by Christou when he quotes F.D. Bruner: “The Church will receive the Holy Spirit inclusively and indicatively – as a promise. The Holy Spirit comes as inclusively as he does unconditionally. Both belong to his character as a gift.” (p34)
Christou goes on to state that the “coming of the Spirit at Pentecost was not just a promise for a select few disciples, or the Jewish people – it was a gift on a universal level for all nations” (p35)
This is central to the wider perspective of the evangelical commitment. This process that had its inauguration in Jerusalem was to expand in a fairly short period of time to most of the known world. It would expand throughout the Mediterranean countries, beyond towards India, beyond towards the north and beyond towards the south. It would move beyond the Jew to the Gentile. This was the true nature of the universality of the gift – it was designed to spread, and spread fast. Again Christou “The magnitude of the historical significance of Pentecost is undeniable. It is the inauguration of the new age of salvation, through the giving of the Holy Spirit.” (p36)
This new dimension of the Jewish faith was not to be hemmed in by anyone or by any other interpretation of religion – it was going to spread irrespective. And let us not forget as Christou reminds us “It is the Spirit who energises the evangelism of the church and drives its often unwilling members into the task for which God laid His hands on them: mission” (p39) This also works in the other direction. Many people feel a great desire to preach and teach the Gospel, they feel empowered to do so, and this empowerment can only come from the Holy Spirit. And in so doing, we seek more and more from the Holy Spirit, our prayers change into a new dimension, a seeking after both power and insight to deliver the message, a seeking after grace and fortitude to embolden us in the tasks that lie ahead. Without the Holy Spirit we are without all power, without all direction – but with this power and direction then we become true ambassadors for Christ. Thus Pentecost was the true birthplace of evangelism – governed and driven by the Spirit.
Evangelism Today
So if Pentecost was the true birthplace of evangelism, what can be said of the child of Pentecost today? What can we learn from those early days that has relevance today? Peter knew Jesus personally, as all the apostles did, and that is certainly not the case for us today. But we can still learn from Jesus, through the power of the Holy Spirit. But this begs the question of spirituality – just how spiritual are our church leaders and evangelists today? Do we follow in the path laid out for us by the early church? Are we engaging in the concept of holiness? Do we demonstrate and practice what the early church did? There is a need to recapture the vibrancy of the early church and that means we have to open up to the power of the Holy Spirit. The sequence is defined by Christou, quoting John Stott, in the following manner. “First they were related to the apostles (in submission) They were eager to receive the apostles instruction. Secondly they were related to each other (in love).. supporting each other and the needs of the poor. Thirdly they were related to God (in worship). Fourthly they were related to the world (in outreach). They were engaged in continuous evangelism…” (p59) This gives a kind of model to follow. It starts with the notion of submission as the starting point, submitting to the power and majesty of the triune God, and through the examples of the apostles. They understood the importance of Love – and not just as a notion – but a real and empowered love that did things especially with the poor and the needy. They then understood the true nature of worship in all manner of ways, and finally they understood that they were not expected to keep this good news to themselves – they had to preach to everyone, without exception. Christou states with some confidence “The Holy Spirit is a Missionary Spirit, so a Spirit-filled church is a missionary church” (p59)
Turning Evangelism into practice
OK so we have to do evangelism! But how? This is not the place to critique the various methods such as Alpha and Emmaus, rather to consider how to manage the process of evangelism. Content is relatively easy, there is a huge volume of material just waiting to be used – that is not the question – the real question is how do we make it work today?
First an observation, when the church is not doing evangelism it is no threat to the devil – it simply appears irrelevant and sidelined. When it is doing evangelism the devil must be alert – now the church is in the eye of the storm. It should expect difficulties, oppression, attack, and all balanced by the joy of seeing more and more people come to know and accept Jesus as Lord! So as God the father directs, God the Holy Spirit empowers.
So what are the steps of evangelism? It starts with a deep understanding within the local church of what is meant by the term ‘evangelism’ and how that links with other activities the church is already undertaking. Just where is the focus of the local church? What level of spirituality exists? Is the leadership focused on the importance of outreach, or has it become bogged down on the day to day issues that affect most if not all churches? How good is the local church at spotting talent, those with gifts that lend themselves to the process of evangelism? Has the church laid out a platform for evangelism, recruited people to drive and lead the process, given them training, and support in the formation of a focused team? Now this might all sound like some consultant preaching his own particular theme, and that is partly right. Yet history shows that those who understand the task in hand and the goal to be achieved are much more likely to achieve it. What is the goal of evangelism? What is the goal of the church? Without asking, and answering these questions, then there is no doubt that any church, and any evangelical activity will only produce limited, and very localised, results at best. Having created a team ready for evangelism, are they praying together? Are they studying the bible together? Are they tapping in to the shared experience that they all bring to the evangelical activity? These elements all work towards creating an effective team within the local church – and beyond. But much more important than all of these necessary but insufficient elements is one final question. Are they waiting, as the original apostles did, for the Holy Spirit to come and empower them? This is why it is important to wait until the Holy Spirit has given the team power – they cannot be effective witnesses without it! All the training, all the reading, all the studying, all the praying in the world cannot be effective until the Holy Spirit empowers, then and only then can we be effective evangelists, be effective witnesses to the Good News.
Conclusions
Evangelism is central to the development of both Church and the Kingdom of God. Church because this is the time of Church, and the Kingdom of God because that extends well beyond the life of Church. The two are connected – but they also make different demands.
The picture of evangelists joining in the story of God is a powerful one, and one I wish to be a part of. A story that began many years ago – and will end with the second coming – and one in which we are all to play a part. But this is all dependent on working within the power of the Holy Spirit. If evangelism is about the proclamation of our encounter with Jesus, then it is the Holy Spirit that provides the words. There is a clear message in both the Old and New Testaments that the Holy Spirit is the prime mover of events. Those in tune with the Holy Spirit receive the blessing of the Spirit, those not in tune give no fruit.
Evangelism is about proclamation and demonstration. You simply cannot have the one without the other. The closer we are to the power of the Holy Spirit the greater the impact of the message, and the results of that message.
References
Christou, S 2004 Evangelism and Collaborative Ministry Phoenix Books
Stott, J. 2003 The Book of Acts
