Holy Spirit's Role in Missions

For the next few weeks, I’d like to explore the stream of thought about the role of the Holy Spirit in missions. I guess the best way to do this will be to start with the biblical record and then move into the historical perspectives as well as denominational/theological stances. I’ll admit from the start that my approach will be geared toward actual observable behaviors of the Holy Spirit rather than His dynamic inner work. This can get controversial, of course, because not everyone in a given denomination believes the exact same things. Therefore, my approach will be both historical and generic; my apologies in advance if I generalize too much. If I do, write me on it, and I’ll stand corrected.

Since the Missio Dei debate began in the 1960s, the big question (as to whether you can see God’s spiritual work only by faith or not) has taken the forefront in a long line of questions regarding how to really tell what God is doing in modern history. Moreover, the integration of the social sciences and missiology as a science has led some to question even the validity of this kind of analysis. If God’s hand in history is really spiritually discerned, expanding the effort to place a behavioral analysis on the Holy Spirit creates a dilemma for theologians. A proper theology entails observation of both tangible and intangible actions, direct and indirect.

            Most of what the church thinks today about the Holy Spirit is in terms of his gifts that humans enact or internal transformational changes that cannot be quantified, but there are specific measurable actions the Holy Spirit himself completes apart from the human component. Much of popular Christian writing about the Holy Spirit relates to spiritual gifts or the fruits of the Spirit. Although some have framed the role of the Holy Spirit in indirect or passive terms, Luke employed words that supposed an active role of the Holy Spirit in Missio Dei, and this understanding has met broad support in varied ecclesiastical and theological traditions. The Holy Spirit’s actions as observed and recorded in the Book of Acts were identified as having direct impact in church planting in the early church and would thereby be classified as Missio Dei. It is my thesis that there is some unifying continuity between the active aspect of Lukan pneumatology and modern Christian thought.

To demonstrate this continuity, Lukan pneumatology in the Book of Acts can be categorized into the roles of sender, facilitator, director and inspirer. A survey of various ecclesiastical and theological stances shows how the Christian world has continued to verbalize the Holy Spirit’s active role in Missio Dei. Because any pneumatological suppositions have missiological implications, those specific direct actions of the Holy Spirit in the Book of Acts that led to tangible results and promoted church planting currently have theological applications on mission fields.