Pentecostal people
are sensing a renewed
call to reach out again
with the full gospel

The signs of fresh hope

Chris Cartwright draws inspiration from the story of Pentecost, which comes with both a compelling sense of mission and a clear message

This year, Pentecost falls at the end of May. From the beginning of the fresh outpouring of the Holy Spirit and the wave of worldwide evangelism that began the Pentecostal Movement 120 years ago, Pentecostals have seen Pentecost as something of a defining moment.

From the story of Pentecost comes both a compelling sense of mission and a clear message. The 120 or so disciples who had gathered in the rented upper room, as commanded by Jesus, received not merely a personal encounter with the Holy Spirit, but a transformative ‘together’ experience which birthed the church in and from Jerusalem with extraordinary power and immediate spiritual force and momentum.

On the Ascension Mount, Jesus had promised: “You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and to the ends of the earth,” (Acts 1:8). The Great Commission of Matthew 28 was about to be supernaturally enabled by the active presence and power of the promised Holy Spirit coming upon and flowing through every disciple.

As they poured onto the streets that first Pentecost, they did so taking the first steps as witnesses of Jesus, filled with the Holy Spirit’s power and led by the Spirit into the new, fresh adventure as ‘gospel missionaries’.

At the end of the day, 3,000 plus accepted Christ as Saviour and Lord and devoted themselves to Jesus. Having become ‘new creations’ in Christ, they began to become a ‘new community’, learning to live for him and to love him and one another in the real pressures and challenges of everyday life in a culture and city that was immediately hostile to Jesus Christ and his gospel.

In the book of Acts, Luke is very clear that what happens next is a season of the continuing works of Jesus, in the power of the Holy Spirit, through the apostles and believers. So, Pentecost is not a ‘stopping moment’ but a springboard for radical and real witness, and, for that first church, that would be less about gathering in a place or moments of fellowship and community than a commission to live out the gospel. In other words, not merely to stay, but to go.

At our Leaders’ Summit and Annual General Conference in Harrogate this month, we met with the theme ‘Co-Missioned’. We are praying for a fresh outpouring of the presence and power of the Holy Spirit upon every leader, every church and every member across Elim. We are praying for a new season of ordinary people, baptised in the Holy Spirit, to be moved again into outward mission with courage and compassion.

We are ‘co-missioned’ with Jesus and the Spirit, and we are to be ‘co-missioned’ with one another. All over the world, Pentecostal people are sensing a renewed call to reach out again with the full gospel and signs following into places and people groups near and far who have not yet heard the gospel of Jesus or witnessed his love and power for themselves.

Our message once again is that Jesus who calls also commissions us, and will also empower us and lead us to see this generation respond to the gospel.

This article first appeared in the May 2023 edition of Direction Magazine. For further details, please click here.

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