The Pentecost-Full Church
How a Loss of Purpose Leads to the Spirit-Less Church
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Sunday is Pentecost. It is the day the Christian church celebrates the coming of the Holy Spirit to the people gathered in Jerusalem. In the Book of Acts 2, Luke tells the story of how the Holy Spirit arrived like tongues of flames. People began to speak in every language and the people of those languages understood the gospel of Jesus Christ in their OWN languages.
Pentecost is a beautiful miracle. Many preachers will connect this miracle with the Genesis 11 story of the Tower of Babel where God creates the many languages to keep the people from building a tower so that they could be gods. Other preachers will lift up how the Holy Spirit is active today in their communities. Still, others will call this the Birthday of the Church and cake (chocolate please) may be involved.
What may be missing is the acknowledgment of how little this seems to matter in so many churches.
If the Holy Spirit is alive in our congregations, where is the energy for change, newness, and creativity? In reality, many churches have lost their purpose, and each year is a reframing of the past year. Forward motion has been lost.
The church needs to know its purpose. The big purpose is often Jesus’ command found in Matthew 28:19-20:
Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”1
This is a great command and a powerful mission statement. If - IF - your church can define it to mean something significant in your context.
Otherwise, it remains a squishy dream. Squishy as in we can say the words, but not show how they are lived out in the church community.
For example, many of our churches are stuck working hard to please ourselves. Nothing can be too new or it engenders criticism from Sunday morning members who enjoy a good coffee hour roast (and not the delicious fair-trade kind) - of their church’s worship.
The church staff hears criticism many Sundays. People who like the changes often don’t say anything leaving the critics the only ones at the podium. This leaves church leadership with a negative flavor that snuffs the oxygen out of any fire.
On some Pentecost Sundays, our churches have used multiple voices to share the scripture reading in Russian, Spanish, and Greek languages spoken by parishioners. Even this small moment of recreation of the Acts 2 story has generated complaints as some thought it disrupted their Sunday morning.
Maybe Sunday morning deserves more disruption not less.
Pentecost is all about disruption.
What if each church or congregation could discover its own purpose as called by the Holy Spirit? What if we could build a Pentecost season around a new purpose (or a renewed purpose) to breathe new life.
Here are some Purpose-full, dare I say Purpose Driven, churches:
One church is a hands-on mission full. They have 2-3 activities a month for mission for their small-town local needs, an hour-a-way inner-city project, and two international mission partners: one an orphanage in South Africa and the other a medical mission in Haiti.
One church has an education focus. They offer great options for preschool families, elementary-age children and their families, and mid-high and high school youth groups. Plus a vibrant adult education ministry for parents, singles, older adults, and everyone in between.
One church pours its energy into multiple worship services with excellent preaching, different music, and great energy at each of the three types of services.
One church set aside much of its historical way of doing things to be all-in on being a multicultural/multi-social/economic church with vibrant worship. This church overflows with children, laughter, and joy. They define themselves as a place that believes “in the power of God to change lives.”
Each of these churches has put its energy into living out its purpose. They follow where the Holy Spirit is leading them. Their purpose is well defined. They are Pentecost-Full churches.
New Revised Standard Version, Updated Edition. Copyright © 2021 National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.