What is the/a Missional Church? (5)

Last week I began a series on Craig Van Gelder’s, The Ministry of the Missional Church.  I reviewed his definition of the missional church, but now we begin to get more specific.  Today we discuss the specific relationship between a missional church and the Holy Spirit.

Here is Van Gelder’s big idea: “it is crucial to understand the ministry of the Spirit if we are to understand the ministry of the church in the world, or more aptly put, how the church is to participate in God’s mission in the world” (24).  This is because the Spirit created the church.  He gave the church its missional nature and commissions it on a missional ministry.

Van Gelder spends a considerable amount of time walking through the Holy Spirit in the Bible.  I’ll provide some of his specifics below, but let’s begin by looking at his conclusion, which also sets up the rest of his book:

“The ministry of the Spirit pervades the whole of Scripture but usually comes to expression more as subtext than text.  This is the nature of the Spirit’s work, i.e., to carry our the works of God and bring glory to the person of Christ.  It is critical for the church to understand the ministry of the Spirit if it is to understand how to participate fully in God’s mission in the world.  Attending to the ministry of the Spirit provides the framework for understanding this participation.  This framework represents the focus for the rest of ths book, where the ministry of the Spirit is examined in relation to congregations in the context of the U.S.” (46)

Again, the big idea of this chapter is this (my paraphrase): the Holy Spirit is on God’s mission.  The Holy Spirit created the church to do the same.  In order for the church to understand and participate in God’s mission, the church must understand and follow the Holy Spirit.

Now for some bonus information.  Here is how Van Gelder understands the work of the Holy Spirit in the Bible:

The Holy Spirit in the Old Testament:

• The Spirit particpates in creation.
• The Spirit participates in redemption.
  • The Spirit empowers God’s people with gifts and abilities.
  • The Spirit uses leaders to restore community in the midst of oppression or disruption.
  • The Spirit exposes evil spirits and confronts the forces of evil.
  • The Spirit uses the faith community to express mercy and extend justice to the oppressed and open up full access to the knowledge of God to everyone.
  • The Spirit reveals the promised Messiah and the hope of the eschatological future.

The Holy Spirit in the New Testament:

• The Gospels:
  • The Spirit was involved in the birth of the Messiah.
  • The Spirit was involved in the life and ministry of Jesus.
  • Salvation introduced in all its fullness through Jesus’s life and ministry.
  • Jesus promised the ministry of the Spirit in the church.
• Acts:
  • The Spirit is poured out on believers
  • Believers receive the Spirit and are converted
  • Believers were filled with the Spirit
  • The Spirit spoke through certain persons
  • Some persons opposed or lied to the Spirit
  • The Spirit directed decisions or actions
  • The church was comforted by the Spirit
• The Spirit in relation to the Church:
  • The Spirit creates a new type of reconciled community through accomplishing redemption and gives this community a new identity as the church of Jesus Christ (i.e., Rom 5:1-5; Eph 1:13-14; Gal 3:28).
  • The Spirit gives and empowers leadership to guide these communities (i.e., Acts 20:28; 1 Cor 12:7-11, 28).
  • The Spirit leads these communities into sanctified living consistent with their new nature in Christ (i.e., Rom 8).
  • The Spirit leads these communities into active ministry (i.e., Rom 12:14-21; Eph 4:7-8; 1 Cor 12:11-26).
  • The Spirit leads these communities into the world to unmask the principalities and powers through a ministry of suffering service (i.e., Rom 8:18-24; Eph 6:12)