Cultivating Communities Which Depend Upon The Holy Spirit:
Discerning Missional[1] Faithfulness

"When the Spirit of truth comes, this One will guide you into all the truth." (John 16.13)

"So that it may be made clear that this extraordinary power belongs to God and does not come from us." (2 Corinthians 4.7b)

"Do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that you may prove what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect." (Romans 12.1-2)

Patterns of Christian "Practice" for a Church discerning and driven by Missional Faithfulness: To be the church, the body of Christ, is to be completely dependent upon the Spirit's intimate relationship with the Father (Romans 8.26-28) and to be engaged with the Spirit so that those who follow Jesus find the Father's perfect will performed in them. To "pray God's blessing" (or power or presence or any other demonstration of God's grace) upon a congregation's missional efforts is to presume the Spirit's active involvement in the life and work of this body. The provision of material means, protection from the powers of darkness, growth in unconditional love extended even to enemies, inexplicable peace when everything appears to be in disarray, hope which confidently envisions the reign of God both present and future, sheer courage and unmitigated joy in the face of severe testing -- all such resources are unstintingly provided to people who constantly seek their God in prayer, which is essential to faithfulness in the missional venture.

"The missional community which depends upon the Holy Spirit shows specific, regular, structured, practices of corporate prayer[2].

The distinctive character of the missional congregation is that the Holy Spirit creates and sustains them. Their identity (who they are), their character (how they are), their motivation (why they are), and their vocation (what they are) are theological, and thus missional. That is, they are not formed solely by human intentions and efforts, individual or collective, but instead by God's empowering presence:

"The Spirit of God is the dynamic, life-giving power of the Church, the unseen Lord, Master, Guide, and inspirer of the Christian community"[3]. Through this power of the Holy Spirit a "people gathered and sent" are cultivated through the practices by which they are formed, trained, equipped, and motivated as missional communities.

The community-forming activity of the Holy Spirit challenges us to move beyond the contemporary assumption that the Spirit's actions center exclusively or even primarily, on the individual soul. This fundamental understanding of the Spirit as "the Lord, the giver of life," is grounded in the biblical witness to the Spirit as the animating principle of all creation. That which lives does so because of the Spirit.

Because in Jesus Christ "everything old has passed away, see, everything has become new" (2 Corinthians 5.17), the church owes its destiny, its structure, its ongoing life, its ministry --- in short its mission --- to this divine Spirit of life.

Confronting a community in which people "bite and devour one another" (Galatians 5.15), the Apostle Paul throws the light of day upon attitudes, motivations, and behaviors of those who live in accord with their own and the world's basic fallen - ness. A missional people, walking in the Spirit, led by the Spirit and sowing seeds of the Spirit, manifest the "fruits of the Spirit." The very phrase, which is one of the descriptions of the New Testament church, as the "first-fruits of the Spirit," emphasizes divine empowerment, rather than human works.

So when we might ask whether or not we want to be a "missional" or "maintenance" driven church, being led by the Holy Spirit is just this essential.

The fullness of Christian life in the Spirit does not spring forth without intentional cultivation. To live a "life worthy of your calling" (Ephesians 4.1-2) is to put into practice this different quality of life which is God's promise to them and to the world.

The quality, character and witness of Christian missional communities are determined by the social or ecclesial[4] practices that shape, train, equip, guide and their identity, vision and action. As they practice their practices, so shall their missional purposes be shaped.

The church is not simply a gathering of well-meaning individuals who have entered into a social contract to meet their privately defined self-interests. It is, instead, an intentional and disciplined community, witnessing to the power and the presence of God's kingdom ... being led by the Holy Spirit.

Roger A, Sizemore, Ph.D.
Consulting Pastor for Discerning Missional Faithfulness
Epiphany, February, 2007

Endnotes:

  1. See the essay on the web page, http://www.firstatlantachristian.com to know the difference between a "Maintenance"/"Management" driven congregations and those who are "Missional" in their very core, nature.
  2. Walter C. Hobbs, "Depending on the Holy Spirit," Lois Y. Barrett, Editor, Treasure in Clay Jars: Patterns in Missional Faithfulness (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans, 2004), pp. 119-190.
  3. R. P. C. Hansen, "The Divinity of the Holy Spirit," Church Quarterly 1, no. 4 (1969), p 302, quoted in Inagrace T. Dietrich, "Missional Community: Cultivating Communities of the Holy Spirit," Missional Church: A Vision for the Sending of the Church in North America (Grand Rapids: Wm B. Eerdmans, 1998), pp. 142ff.
  4. The New Testament Greek word for church (ek klasia) means the "called out" ones.

"All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us." Gandalf, in The Fellowship of the Rings, J. R. R. Tolkien

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