One of the areas I work at has been quite fun lately. I’ve been working to infuse some of the Nieu Communities DNA into a local church here and have just begun working them through some of our “submerging posture” objectives. In blending us with them, I have sought to expose this congregation to various parts of the Bible that aren’t always talked about. This section on “submerging” I felt God suggest we discuss the role of the Holy Spirit in mission (which submerging is trying to get after).
In understanding the Holy Spirit, we always go to the book of Acts where we’re introduced to its role with humans. In preparation, I was reminded of a video we used earlier this year in some of our training at Nieu Communities. It was a video of Paul Ford (author of “knocking over the leadership ladder” and key proponent in the Grip Birkman testing… by the way, if you’re part of a team, you MUST check out Grip Birkman stuff. It will give you language and tools that can take you exponentially further together). In this video, Paul discusses the role of the Holy Spirit in mission as he saw it unfold in Acts chapter two. His illustration was an oreo cookie (immediately he has my attention as I run to the kitchen for a glass of cold milk for dunking).
The idea he revealed was that the first twelve verses show the power of the Holy Spirit. Verses 14-41 revealed the message of the gospel, which, in my camp, has tended to be the central part of mission. Then in verses 42-47, there is the presence of a love filled community. The power of the gospel message is sandwiched and delivered in between the shell of the Holy Spirit’s power and the love filled community. Most of the rest of Acts, this is a similar pattern we see.
Now, when it comes to mission, one thing that I’ve been notorious for neglecting is the central role the Holy Spirit has in initiating, guiding, empowering and sustaining mission. If we want to do small things, then we just go about ministry out of our own strength. But if we want to see deep and wide transformation in a city, country, continent or globe, we must learn to follow the guidance of the Spirit in the context of our love filled communities. God wants to do immeasurably more than we ever asked or imagined possible, and what I’m starting to think is that the way in which the Holy Spirit functions in mission is in the context of a love filled community that, when leaning into the Holy Spirit’s guidance, proclaims a powerful message to all.
Over the next few posts, I’d like to discuss what we’re seeing as to why each of these components is so critical for submerging into mission.
